UK property: five lucrative ways to make money from your home without selling up

Spare parking places could help generate extra revenue. Photo: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

We often think the only way our homes can generate any additional value is through the property market, as we hope to make some money in extra equity.

But there are lots of ways to use your home to reduce the burden of a mortgage or just put some money in your pocket each month.

Residential property is a treasure trove of money-making opportunities. Here are five ways you might be able to cash in on your home without selling up:

Lodger

Taking in a lodger is an age-old way to make money from your home. If you have a spare bedroom and you don’t mind sharing your property with other people, lodgers will pay good money to rent from you.

There’s plenty of demand for lodgings, be it from young professionals starting out their careers or postgraduate students who want an affordable place to stay.

Holiday lets

The explosion in popularity of sites such as Airbnb means that a spare room, or even your whole home, can serve as a holiday let by clicking a few buttons. It’s easy, flexible, and lucrative if you live in an area popular with tourists.

If you’re going on holiday, why not let your place out through Airbnb at the same time? Perhaps you’ve got a spare room, but don’t want a permanent lodger — using it as a holiday let could be a great option.

Members of the public cast their vote at a polling station in a garage in Croydon. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Garage

If you’re not putting your garage to use, why not let somebody else? Lots of tradespeople need workshop space. Maybe a startup producer — a small brewer, cheesemaker, or baker — needs extra room.

Or, if there’s a supply shortage of desk space, perhaps you could convert your garage into a small co-working space. Maybe a small firm would want to rent the entire area from you. Chances are, you could undercut local competitors on rent.

Even simpler: storage. Hiring lock-ups long-term can get expensive. Your garage can be a great storage solution for someone with lots of stuff they need to keep secure.

Parking space

You could, of course, let out your garage for its intended use: parking. But you don’t need a garage to do this.

Simply having space on your driveway for another car is enough for you to make money if you live somewhere that parking is a premium, such as near the centre of town or a train station.

Commuters will pay good money to park close to work or a station. Your garage or parking space is an opportunity to cash in on that demand.

Surplus land

Lots of homes have huge gardens. While it’s nice to have all that outside space, are you sure you really need it?

Land is in hot demand. You might have enough surplus land on your property to build a new home, or maybe more, making it valuable to small developers.

If you can live with a smaller garden, this is a great way to make tens of thousands of pounds, perhaps hundreds of thousands.