Coastal House Shares is owned and run by Marc and Elaine and our first rental property was Marc’s flat, which was turned into a rental in 2011.  The business has expanded since then, with two personal Buy-To-Lets added in 2014, and then two properties purchased through the limited company of Coastal House Shares in 2016 and 2020.  We are both members of the National Residential Landlords Association.

We live locally and have both been in Brighton and Hove since the 90’s (Marc is Sussex born and bred, Elaine saw the light and came south from Yorkshire).  Our current home is in the same area as our rentals, which we share with our house rabbits and tropical marine fish and corals.

Being in the same area means we know it well (we’ve been in our current home since 2010) and we’re readily available to help solve any problems. 

Because we’ve been in the city for so long, we’ve both rented for some time, and have experienced both the good and the bad side from the renter’s perspective.  As a result, we do our best to ensure that our properties are well looked after and somewhere our housemates are happy to call home.

Marc does all the maintenance work on the houses himself (where he’s allowed to of course) as well as most of the face-to-face interactions with the housemates, whereas Elaine does all the clever ‘back office’ work to keep the business running smoothly.  This has been the case since Marc gave up his office job (running a data management team in the insurance industry) at the beginning of 2021.  Elaine plus contractors pretty much did everything before that!

The houses themselves are all locally licenced HMO’s (Houses of Multiple Occupation) and except for sizes and numbers of housemates, are all set up and run in the same way:

• Each housemate rents their own room on a specific ‘Room Only’ assured shorthold tenancy agreement, which means they pay their own rental amount each month and nothing more (amounts vary depending on room size and location).
  • No extra or hidden charges – all bills are included, so no worrying about council tax, electricity, gas or water bills, and all houses have 400mb unlimited broadband (and this is available throughout the houses, drawing on Marc’s IT background to make sure everyone gets coverage).
  • No complications if a housemate needs to move out, they don’t have to worry about having others moving out at the same time or covering other housemate’s rent.
• Fully Furnished Rooms – All rooms have a double bed, at least a double wardrobe (triple if there’s space), drawers, bedside tables and a desk and chair.
• Fully Equipped Shared Areas
  • 50inch TV’s, either smart or with an amazon firestick / android TV attached
  • Induction hobs in all kitchens with full sets of pans, ovens, dishwashers, microwaves
  • Gas Central Heating with the ability to boost the heat outside normal heating hours if required
  • BBQs in all gardens
  • Secure bike storage
  • Gym equipment (where possible)
• All safety certificates are kept up to date (we have long standing relationships with our Gas and Electrical contractors who work on our own home too).
• Compliant with all local and national legislation.