Renting out a room becomes increasingly popular

The website Spareroom.co.uk said 15,878 homeowners placed an

advertisement for a lodger on its site during the first quarter of the year, 31 per cent more than during the previous three months, and the highest level since the website launched in 2004.

The number of people looking to become live-in landlords was also 10 per cent higher than the same period of 2009 and 68 per cent up on the first quarter of 2008.

The group said the trend to rent out a room had been particularly

strong since the beginning of the year, with a record 5,763 advertisements placed on the site during January, while 5,007 homeowners were looking for lodgers in April, 17 per cent more than a year earlier.

People renting out a room in their home charge an average of 381 a month, rising to 598 in London.

Homeowners do not have to pay income tax on the first 4,250 a year they receive through taking in a lodger under the Government's Rent a Room scheme.

Matt Hutchinson, director of Spareroom.co.uk, said: "Millions of people across the UK are struggling to pay off their debts and maintain their mortgage payments and it won't take much, even a small rise in interest rates, to tip them over the edge.

"And with unemployment still rising, and tax hikes to tackle the deficit on the cards, there are more difficulties ahead.

"In an effort to pre-empt looming financial problems, or to stay afloat right now, more and more people are choosing to take a lodger in to give them some crucial extra money."