LEA Property Solutions has specialised exclusively in HMOs in Ipswich since 2004. Founded by Managing Director Lucy Lea, the business manages a portfolio of shared living properties across the city, working with both experienced landlords and those setting up their first HMO. Communication and tenant experience sit at the core of how they operate.

As the portfolio grew, it became clear that the systems they had always relied on weren’t going to hold. Information lived in different places, admin duplicated itself, and things risked being missed.

Two requirements stood out:

• Software designed specifically for shared living (not a traditional lettings model stretched to fit).
• A single platform that could bring tenants, landlords and the team together without switching between tools.

It wasn’t a planned search. A call from COHO raised the question of whether there was a better way to manage HMOs specifically, that was enough to make Lucy curious.

The first thing Lucy noticed was communication. Tenants, landlords and the team were all connected through one platform. The amount of chasing, emailing and system-switching dropped immediately.

The tenant app gave residents clearer visibility over their tenancy from day one. That had an effect beyond efficiency, it changed how tenants saw LEA as a business.

Lucy describes COHO as software built by people who understand shared living from the inside. The product doesn’t add HMO features onto a generic base, it’s designed around the realities of managing house shares.

But the relationship with COHO has grown into something beyond the product itself.

A business built on 20 years of HMO expertise now runs on software built to the same standard. Less admin, less duplication and a tenant experience that reflects the quality of the properties LEA manages.