If you have a spare bedroom it might be a good way to generate extra cash. And there are plenty of websites to help you do it.
Apparently there’s a mini-boom going on in the rental sector, especially in London where rising demand means the cost of renting is on the way up, with a room costing on average £600 a month.
Fivenights.com is one of them. They put landlords and lodgers in touch, with rooms to let throughout the working week. So at the weekends, you have your home to yourself.
Fivenights is affordable and convenient, a practical solution for people who work away from home that saves lodgers money on the expense of a B&B or hotel, and it’s much less lonely too. As well as having cooking and laundry facilities to hand, lodgers appreciate having someone to talk to in the evenings, and homeowners enjoy a decent income in return. Spareroom.co.uk offers much the same kind of service.
If you live in a town with a shifting summer population of language students over here to learn English for the summer, your local TEFL schools might advertise for lodgings for students, another way to generate spare cash through a spare room. If you live somewhere scenic, on a tourist trail, you might be able to advertise locally and offer a room to walkers, hikers, climbers and other holidaymakers.
Letting a room can even be a tax free way to earn extra money. The Government operates a rent-a-room-relief scheme, whereby you can earn up to £4,250 gross per year from lodgers tax-free. To qualify you have to let a furnished residential room in your main home – it does’t apply to a room you let as an office or business. You need to include food, cleaning, laundry etcetera and so on, and you can’t deduct expenses. There’s lots more information about the tax side of letting a room on the Which website: http://www.which.co.uk/money/tax/guides/tax-on-property-and-rental-income/rent-a-room-letting-a-room-in-your-home/.
