IN need of some extra cash? You might not know that you can easily make some quick money out of your own home.
From renting it out while you’re on holiday or even selling a bit of your garden, The Sun’s property experts Rea Hill and Tonya Barnard have revealed four ways you can cash in on your own home.
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The duo are known as the Property Twins on social media, and have decades of experience buying, selling and renting out homes.
We will be featuring their advice and top tips as part of a six-part series. Send your questions to [email protected].
They’ve already dished out tips on the mistakes they made buying their own homes, to how to add thousands of pounds onto the value of your home.
Here’s what they say about making a side hustle out of your own property.
Airbnb your home
Instead of letting your home sit empty while you’re not using it, you could rent it out and make some cash.
For example, you could put it on Airbnb.
However, the exact amount of money you could make depends on where you live, and how in demand your home is.
You can make £7,500 tax-free each year from renting out a room or your home according to government rules.
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After you pass this threshold, you’ll have to tell the taxman, do a tax return, opt into the Rent a Room scheme and pay tax on whatever extra you earn above £7,500.
Rea had one client who would rent out her home for six months every year on Airbnb, because she split her time living between the UK and Australia.
We reckon she made about £1,300 from doing this.
Become a landlord
If you’ve got a spare room, then you might want to consider renting it out and becoming a landlord.
We know plenty of people who do this.
The same rules apply – you can make the first £7,500 of your rental income tax free.
But going over this threshold and paying tax could still be worth it as you could make tens of thousands of pounds – and it could cover your mortgage.
Rea knows a client who lives alone in a three-bed townhouse.
She decided to rent her top floor out as she never used it – she gets £700 a month, which totals £8,400 a year.
It made a massive difference to her financially.
If you do decide to become a landlord, you need to get clued up on you and your prospective tenants’ rights.
For example, you’ll want to make it clear that money will be taken out of the tenant’s deposit if they have caused extensive damage, draw up a contract and do references and credit checks.
Plus, you’ll need to check your mortgage terms – sometimes there are clauses stating that you cannot rent a room out.
This is most commonly the case if you have used the Shared Ownership or Help to Buy scheme.
Advertise spare car park spaces
If your car parking space is empty during the weekdays because you’ve driven to work or you just don’t use it, you could be sitting on untapped cash.
There are apps you can use like Kerb, YourParkingSpace or JustPark to advertise your space and charge drivers for using it.
Tonya rents out a couple of car parking spaces at a property she owns in the centre of Chelmsford, where commuters coming into the town are desperate to find somewhere cheap to park.
She can easily get £100 a month per space – it’s a great way of bringing in extra income.
In 2022-23, you can make up to £12,300 tax-free under capital gains tax rates.
Make the most of your shed
People who live in the city or a town often have less space compared to what they could get living further out.
It means that many people often need storage space to hold their stuff that won’t fit in their home.
That’s where you could make money out of your own spare space in the loft or in the garden shed.
Tonya has made the most of this demand by renting out garages that aren’t in use at her rental properties.
She can easily get up to £150 per garage – you’d be surprised by how many people need space to store their tools.
We also told you about the common mistakes first time buyers make when buying a home.
We also explained four cheap ways to add thousands of pounds onto the value of your home.
And we explained how to bag a super quick deal when selling your home.
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