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17/12/25 3:30 pm
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Alvarine Coulton is proud of being named Landlord of the Year in the National LIS Awards – an award she previously won in 2022.
So what’s the secret of her success?
“I want to be a good landlord who’s proactive and provides good quality homes where people want to live,” Coulton (pictured right) explains.
That’s evident in her ongoing programme of upgrading properties to an EPC C; to streamline the work, this is typically done when other improvements are being carried out. One of her HMOs is being converted to an Airbnb and another has had more bathrooms added, and she calls in an EPC assessor each time.
“Changes, such as insulation, can make up 10% of the total cost but it means I’m ahead of the legislation,” she tells LandlordZONE.
She’s spent £120,000 turning this six-bed HMO into an Airbnb “to a very high standard” and has plans to turn another property into flats. She’s also been gradually reclaiming management duties from managers so that her new company Let’s Move is in charge of the day-to-day running of all the properties.
After being made redundant from an office job, London-based Coulton bought her first property in Manchester in 2012, and since then has built her 15-strong portfolio within half a mile of the city centre, where she quickly realised there was good demand and decent returns.
She acknowledges that this can make it logistically tricky to deal with problems, although her sister Lavina Williams (pictured left) and trusted broker are on hand. Although also a carer for her grandparents she is now considering buying somewhere in Manchester as her base.
Coulton has also taken over a trust set up by her landlord grandfather and is partnering with a care company to help clients access suitable accommodation.
“It’s part altruism and part business – I want to help people find the properties they need on a non-profit basis and would like for this to eventually make up 20-25% of my business.”
Her willingness to help others also extends to those tenants who have got into arrears. Coulton is reluctant to go down the court route and instead has offered payment plans to help them get back on track or worked with them and other landlords to find alternative accommodation, which has proved successful.
“Being a landlord gets me up early and to bed late, but I still enjoy it,” she adds.
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