Letting 
out spare bedrooms could net over £69bn

Around 13.7 million bedrooms in owner-occupied households across the country are currently lying “idle”, according to flatsharing website easyroommate.co.uk.

Based on current average flatshare rents, these rooms could potentially generate £5.8bn a month or around £69bn a year if they were opened up to renters, the website estimated.

London home owners were found to be missing out on the biggest pool of potential rents. The capital was found to have more than four million unoccupied bedrooms which could result in rents of over £28bn a year if they were let out at the average monthly flatsharing rent in London of £580.

Easyroommate based its estimates on a combination of English Housing Survey figures, its own research and average rents recorded by lettings network LSL Property Services, owner of Your Move and Reeds Rains.

Flatshare rents have risen by four per cent over the last year to reach £390 a month typically.

The website urged the Government to increase the threshold on the “rent-a-room” relief scheme, which allows people to receive up to £4,250 a year tax-free from letting out accommodation in their home. Those who earn more than the threshold must complete a tax return.

Based on average rents, home owners in London, the South East, East Anglia and the South West would go over the threshold if they rented out a room for a year, the study said.

Jonathan Moore, director of easyroommate.co.uk, said: “It’s been 16 years since the current rent-a-room relief threshold was implemented.

“Increasing the threshold would tempt more owners into the market to provide much-needed accommodation to the private rental sector.”

Separate research released today from BM Solutions, the buy-to-let brand of Lloyds Banking Group, found that landlords are increasingly relying on the private rental sector to supplement their monthly income amid the squeeze on household budgets.

More than two-fifths of landlords surveyed by BM Solutions said they were using their rental income to support their immediate living costs, showing a marked shift from two years ago, when landlords tended to be mainly turning to the rental sector to top up their retirement funds.