Spare bedrooms could earn homeowners £69bn a year

Spare Bedrooms Could Earn Homeowners £69bn a Year

·         Unused spare bedrooms in England could generate £5.8bn each month if homeowners rented them out

·         13.7 million bedrooms in owner occupied homes are currently sat idle

·         These bedrooms would double the size of the private rental market if they were let to tenants

The English housing market is currently suffering a £69bn black hole with nearly 14m bedrooms sat unused across the country, according to flatsharing website easyroommate.co.uk.

Research carried out by easyroommate.co.uk shows there are currently at least 13.7m unused bedrooms in the households of England’s owner-occupiers. If these bedrooms were to be rented to flatsharers or lodgers, using current average regional flatshare rents, they could generate revenues of £69bn per year.

There are currently 7.7m household in the private rental sector in England generating rents of £68bn in rent per year. If the unused bedrooms within owner-occupied households were introduced to the market it could more than double the size of the sector.

London homeowners are missing out on the biggest pool of potential rent that could be generated if spare rooms were to be let out to lodgers and flatsharers. The capital has over 4m unoccupied bedrooms which could generate rents of more than £28bn pounds a year if they were let out for twelve months at the average London flatsharing rent (£580). 

More homeowners might choose to rent out spare rooms if they were aware of the rent-a-room relief scheme. This government scheme allows homeowners to receive up to £4,250 gross income each year from lodgers tax free.  However, the relief level has not been updated since 1997 despite rents having risen.

If homeowners were to rent a room to a lodger for 12 months, those in London, the South East, East Anglia and the South West would generate income over the threshold. And this may be holding owners back from putting rooms onto the market.