- Start Up Cost:
- Franchise Type:
- Sector Type:
- Investment Type:
- Market:
- £175,000
- Home Based, Mobile
- Property Management
- Start-up
- B2C
Since 2007, Platinum partnered with more than 400 people, helping them build long-term, sustainable property businesses that give them a secure, lifelong income and more time.
Unlike many other franchises, we have no brand standards – meaning our Franchise Partners build their own businesses and brands, which they keep and can continue to operate when their franchise term is over.
In contrast to most franchises, our Partners keep their assets, too, benefiting from any long-term capital growth as well as a continued lifelong income after their franchise term has ended.
And with the majority of our Partners requiring just a few days a month to manage their businesses, they get back that most precious of commodities – time.
Any great franchise should have a proven, tried, and tested business model for franchisees to follow.
Our Franchise Partners follow a robust model that de-risks their investment in co-living properties or HMOs.
What is an HMO?
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) might spark images of student houses or ‘low quality’, cramped properties.
The co-living properties our Franchise Partners offer couldn’t be further from that stereotype – they’re beautifully renovated, high-quality, safe, and bespoke homes for professional people.
They’re also extremely profitable for our Franchise Partners – up to three times more lucrative than standard buy-to-lets.
On average, our Franchise Partners earn £20,000 per year from each property they own and generate returns on equity of between 10% and 15%.
We encourage and guide our Franchise Partners to grow their properties businesses over time, with many enjoying annual incomes in excess of £100,000.
How much does the franchise cost?
The franchise fee for an 8-year partnership with Platinum is £24,000 + vat, and Franchise Partners will need between £175,000 and £700,000 of working capital to fund both the franchise fee and the purchase and renovation of their first property.
The actual amount of capital depends, of course, on where you’re looking to invest – for example, a property in London will cost more to purchase and renovate than one in the North West.
There is also a 7-year franchise term available which is £41,475 + VAT.
We are more than just a franchisor; our Franchise Partners tell us we are a way of life. We truly believe in the power of a network and helping people achieve their goals. We don’t just provide ‘information and inspiration’ but also ‘implementation’.
We have a strong team of over 50 industry experts involved in our partnership. They include the PPP Head Office team, specialist mortgage brokers, accountants, solicitors and letting agents, as well as renovation and negotiation experts.
They all offer ongoing mentoring, coaching, and support, throughout their franchise term – eliminating potentially costly mistakes and protecting our Franchise Partners’ investment capital.
We help our Partners to:
The benefits of a Platinum Property Partners franchise
Why can’t I do this on my own? https://youtu.be/zRjeBwCJi54
‘I can invest in property on my own – why do I need to pay a franchise to do it?’
It’s a question we hear frequently and, of course, the answer is: ‘You don’t.’
But any investment is a risk and co-living property investment comes with some hugely costly potential mistakes – not least buying a property that either can’t be converted into an HMO due to licensing restraints or won’t work as a co-living home due to its layout or size.
Our planning, licensing, purchasing and renovation mentors simply don’t allow those kinds of mistakes to happen.
They de-risk the process of building a property business and helps to ensure our Franchise Partners generate the highest possible returns.
What experience do I need?
The short answer is ‘none’.
The most important traits we look for in Franchise Partners is determination, positivity, and a community-minded outlook.
By that, we mean we want Franchise Partners to become part of our community and play their part in the continued growth of what has become a powerful and collaborative network.
Our Franchise Partners come from all walks of life: some have property experience, others have none; some have owned their own businesses, while others are employed and remain so while they grow their property businesses.
There is no typical day as a PPP Franchise Partner; one day they could be viewing potential properties with a personal mentor and the next day they could be working on a HMO license application with our planning team. They could be conducting a house viewing, or carrying out quarterly checks on their properties, or buying furniture for their newest HMO.
Joined PPP
April 2020
Previous career
Change Management
Portfolio Location
Hertforshire
Biggest Benefit
Family and financial freedom
After 20 years as a change manager, entering a huge number of high-profile businesses and exiting with them performing and making more money, Paul switched tack late in 2019 and started looking for investment opportunities that had the potential to change his family’s life.
“I went through redundancy a few months ago after working for TUI, so my income coming to an end was an additional incentive to get my property portfolio going,” said Paul, reflecting on his decision to join Platinum in April 2020 – in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic!
“I’ve loved all of my jobs, and I did enjoy the corporate life but the last few years I’ve been getting to a point where we are in a financial situation to make some investments.
“I’ve made a lot of people very rich, and I wanted to do that for myself and my family for a change!”
A model that works
After a working life firmly as an employee, Paul has stepped well outside of his comfort zone to join Platinum.
Indeed, he actually considered joining a business coaching franchise prior to taking the plunge on property with Platinum – a well-trodden and familiar path for someone with 20 years in change management.
But it was at a Platinum Discovery Day where Paul began to see the value of the franchise fee when reflecting on the meagre 5% margin being made by a buy-to-let flat he purchased following redundancy several years ago.
“When I was sat in the Discovery Day at Heathrow, I was thinking ‘the franchise fee is a lot of money and that’s the deposit on another BTL property. Could I just go it alone’? But now I’m going through the journey and I’m meeting the experts that support me at each step, I realise the fee pays for itself.”
Opportunity from uncertainty
Paul’s confidence in the Platinum business model was backed up by his decision to join in April – just as the UK was still getting to grips with the coronavirus lockdown.
After a small delay to his purchase mentoring with Platinum’s Malcolm Crabbe due to the lockdown, Paul went sale agreed on his first HMO at the end of July after several days of viewings.
“We looked at 15 properties with Malcolm and it was a really interesting few days. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it,” reflected Paul. “We narrowed the 15 properties down to five and, to me, they all looked fine. But drilling into the projected returns on each property showed they ranged from 8% to 15%. Without Malcolm alongside me, I could have easily bought one at the lower end and the difference between 8% and 15% over 10 years is the entire franchise fee.”
Paul also absorbed all of the support offered to Franchise Partners throughout the Covid-19 peak, again reinforcing his confidence in Platinum.
“The business has just adapted very well and carried on running seamlessly, which gives us a great deal of confidence that we’re in the right place, and that it can adapt to and survive any future changes to the wider environment,” he added.
“Covid-19 really stress tested the model, we’ve seen it in action and it’s given us confidence that it’s really robust for the future.”
A five year plan
Now Paul has three HMOs under his belt, and plans in place for the next five years, having been given a solid picture of his family’s finances and a cashflow projection by Platinum’s financial team.
“Looking ahead, I have a long list of things I want to do when I have those four properties up and running. I want to make sure I’m still making a difference and I’d love to be more involved in the mentoring side of being a long-standing Franchise Partner.
“Platinum has given me so many possibilities and in five years’ time, I will be able to do whatever I want to do, whether it’s joining another franchise, starting a new business, pursuing my coaching and mentoring or just travelling. I’ve never had freedom like this in life before.”
Joined PPP
January 2018
Previous career
Teachers
Portfolio Location
Rugby
Biggest Benefit
Time for family
Everything changed for Kelly and Simon Merry when they had children. The couple had met at the school they worked at – Kelly as a science teacher and Simon as a systems manager – and both were highly dedicated to their jobs. When their first daughter, Louise, came along, Kelly found she was burning the candles at both ends; and by the time their second daughter Charlotte had arrived, Kelly knew something had to give.
She loved her job, but she didn’t want to be married to it, and felt bad that she couldn’t give 100% anymore. Job satisfaction was important to Kelly, as was being there for her daughters, but what alternative was there?
Assessing their finances
Both Kelly and Simon were on decent salaries and had made shrewd investments in their own homes when they were younger. Moving in together and subsequently upsizing made them accidental landlords of three buy-to-lets, all with low mortgages and a lot of equity.
Attending a Platinum Discovery Day helped Simon and Kelly to understand their wealth profile and finance options for starting their portfolio, which made their HMO dream accessible. However, it wasn’t until their visit to the head office that Kelly was convinced to join.
Kelly added: “That’s really when we made the final decision that it was the right thing to do. It quantified the size of the business and support available. We were blown away by the warmth, energy and positivity of the people who worked there. You could see they enjoyed it and I thought, ‘if we can’t join as Franchise Partners, I want to work here!’. The Partnership Team were also really helpful and patient, answering all of our questions and putting us in touch with the right people.”
Leap of faith
In January 2018, Kelly and Simon officially joined after re-mortgaging all of their properties, including their own home, to raise enough money to start building their HMO portfolio. And as early as purchase mentoring, they were able to see the value of the franchise fee. Kelly explained: “I was keener on a property closer to home, which without Platinum’s advice, we would have bought only to find out later that we wouldn’t have been able to extend.”
Luckily, they went sale agreed on another property just 10 minutes from where they live in Rugby. Kelly worked part-time until the refurbishment started on their first property.
Before the first property was even finished, Kelly and Simon had all six rooms committed to and are now achieving a 15.5% return on investment. Their second property, which will be five bedrooms, was finished in December 2019, after which Simon will give up work completely. He’d already gone part time to help Kelly manage the properties as they do all of the cleaning, maintenance and management themselves.
A longer term life-changing experience
Just 18 months after joining, Kelly was approached by Platinum to take on the role as a Regional Coach. The team felt her enthusiasm and willingness to help others would facilitate regular workshops for Franchise Partners in her area, and therefore she now acts as a liaison between them and head office.
“The change to our work-life balance has been phenomenal already,” said Kelly. “We can clock on and off when we want to, work around our family and friends and more importantly, provide consistency to the girls. We’re basically living and loving life.”
With their first HMO up and running, Kelly and Simon probably spend about five hours per week on management and while refurbishments can be more intense, they still have the flexibility they always craved. They answer emails and calls when they want to, have free weekends and go to sports days, help on school trips and are hands-on with school projects.
The short-term plan is to get to five properties and then after that, they will have the freedom and flexibility to make even more choices.
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