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Five ways to cash in on your home
You don't have to sell your home to make money from your property. Find out if you can cash in on your house with our top five tips.
Your house is generally your most valuable asset - but as well as hopefully rising in value, how else can you turn bricks and mortar into pounds and pence?
We take a look at five ways your property can pay you money instead of costing you it:
1. Let a room
The number of homeowners taking in lodgers has boomed since the start of the recession with insurer LV reporting an increase of 15% over the last three years. Gone is the stereotype of the middle-aged landlady - today the typical live-in landlords are thirty-something couples looking to get help paying their mortgage.
Renting out a spare room can be a great money-spinner. According to LV the average lodger pays £4,700 for their room and thanks to the government's rent a room scheme you don't have to pay tax on the first £4,250 a year.
Opening up your home to a stranger doesn't have to be overly intrusive. Websites like Mondaytofriday.com can help you find lodgers that only need a room during the week, allowing you to keep your weekends to yourself.
[See also: All you need to know about the rent a room scheme]
2. Rent your driveway
If you live close to a train station, airport or city centre why not consider renting any spare parking space? According to staylocally.com renting out an unused parking space is easy way to earn yourself up to £200 a month without any inconvenience to yourself. Those that live near conference centres, stadiums or high streets are also well poised to cash in.
With the price of parking up 12.5% more drivers are looking for alternative places to park, and in many cases residential spaces are not only cheaper but safer and more convenient than commercial car parks.
Check out websites like staylocally.com and parkatmyhouse.com to help you find drivers in need of a parking space.
3. Get your house on TV
You don't need to live in a Georgian town house to get your home on TV. Location companies are always on the look out for a broad range of property types and architectural styles for TV, film and photo shoots.
Production companies always prefer shooting in authentic environments rather than building sets so everyday homes are always in demand as well as grander period properties.
According to the location company, Amazing Space, size is an important consideration as is parking due to the number of people and vehicles that are attached to the shoot. As most production companies are based in London, they also prefer homes within the M25.
This isn't the easiest way to profit from your home, but if it does get selected you could be onto a real money-spinner. Amazing Space says short photo shoots can earn you a few hundred pounds a day up to £2,000 for filming.
4. Host exchange students
If you have spare space but don't fancy a permanent lodger why not play host to foreign exchange students for a few weeks at a time? Simply providing a bed and meals for a student could earn you in the region of £100 a week, more if you can provide an ensuite bathroom.
An easy way to find students in need of accomodation is to contact local language schools in your area. Idiom.co.uk allows you to search for schools across the UK.
5. Offer short-term rentals
Short-term lets are an option for any homeowners living in areas where specific sporting and cultural events mean there is a big demand for short-term accommodation, for example in Edinburgh during the festival or Wimbledon during the tennis championship and East London for this year's Olympics.
There are numerous websites that can help you find tenants like edinburghfestivalrentals.com, wimbledontennislettings.co.uk, londonrentmyhouse.com. While there is fantastic money to be made, the downside of course is that you will typically have to vacate your home.
