Rent your storage space discussion

[MSE Rose]

Hi all, this is a special discussion as part of the Boost Your Income guide, on renting your storage space to make extra cash.

We want to know if you've used Storemates.co.uk to find or rent spare storage - how much did you make, and did it all go smoothly? Would you recommend it to others? Just click 'reply' to add your feedback,

Thanks for your help,

MSE Rose

[courtenay110]

Glad to see you featuring Storemates, as I think it's a great idea. I have a friend who is also starting to make £40 per month storing a few boxes of household items for a local family who are having a child and need the space. They're happy to leave their stuff with him because they were able to meet and chat a bit before committing themselves and he's able to make a bit of money towards his household costs. I'm hoping to find someone close to home so I can store my tent and camping equipment. I wouldn't be saving if I used commercial storage as the costs are so high. If I can find a cheaper option, I can also save money on fuel costs, as otherwise they'd be in the boot of the car.

[Louthulin]

I believe I was one of the first people to get a "Storemate", and it's working out really well. I heard about the website from a friend and after looking through the contract etc we registered. A lovely couple from our local area got in touch and after meeting them, they moved some boxes and a few chairs into our loft. Of course you never know, but it's our best judgement that these people are trustworthy and I like the fact that we have gotten to know someone from our local community. My partner helped move their stuff into our loft so we know what is in the boxes and we have signed a contract. They paid upfront for the first two weeks and have now set up a direct debit, so we will not have to chase them for money. We get £45 a month which will help save up for things like new dining room chairs etc - things we otherwise couldn't afford. And we even have more space in our basement so perhaps we can rent that out to someone else...

[Maya3]

I think many people will find that the space they create through clearing a space is more valuable to them then the clutter they'll be storing. If it's cheaper than self storage than it's like paying a small amount to get an extra room in your home. My spare room in my small flat is full of years of uni course work and stuff I can't bear to part with. I'm seriously considering clearing it out to create a 'yoga room' which I think is easily worth paying £30-£40 a month. If I moved to a bigger flat instead the additional rent for an extra room would be much more.

I'll give the site a go if I can find some like minded people in my area, the profiles seem very personable, and my clutter isn't really worth insuring.

[militantconsumer]

The first three posts on this topic have been added by users with only 1 post to their name - that means it's hard to know who they really are and why they're posting.

Part of my loft is used to store the possessions of somebody who used to rent one of my bedrooms - and I don't charge him anything for this. Hence my interest.

Although this looks like an easy chance to make money, I'd be very worried about questions like this:

• How do you know what somebody is storing in your property? There could be illegal items such as drugs or weapons hidden in the boxes. What if the police search your house and find this? What if there is a dispute over ownership of the drugs? I wouldn't want to get mixed up in that kind of thing.

What are you going to do if they stop paying? Seize their stuff, dispose of it if it's worthless? What if they then decide to claim against you?

If I was looking to store my own possession in somebody else's house then I would be concerned about:

• What happens if your stuff gets lost or damaged? What if the roof blows off in a storm?
• What if your stuff damages their property - e.g. something leaks and causes a stain?
• If someone is renting out part of their loft for £10 per week then maybe they have money problems. What if their house gets repossessed or they get evicted (if renting)? What if the bailiffs come round and take your stuff, assuming it belongs to the occupant? What if they're SO desperate that they sell your stuff?

What about access to the items?

It's all very well to say you have a contract, but how are you going to enforce it? How could you even prove what was in the boxes?

If people know each other then fair enough, but otherwise I urge anyone considering this to exercise extreme caution!

[patman99]

Glad I'm not the only one to notice all the first few threads are posted by newbies. Kind of makes me suspicious right from the off.

FFS, a tent and a few camping bits that fir in a car boot would take-up a small amount of cupboard space, so are not worth paying storage fees on.

As for the risks involved, what about the household insurance?. Surely this would be classed as commercial use and therefore items stored would not be covered by contents insurance.
Also, doing this could incurr council tax changes and possibly even require you to submit a Tax return each year.

I feel the cons outwiegh the pros on this one.

[lincroft1710]

Originally Posted by patman99

Also, doing this could incurr council tax changes

No, as only household items are being stored there is no change of use and it certainly wouldn't affect the value of the dwelling concerned.

[BargainGalore]

Its first thing I was suspicious off 3 new posters just happen to come across this thread, signed up to only make one post, ummm

[tbs624]

Presumably the income is declared to HMRC?

Would you need to notify your house insurance company?

[tbs624]

Originally Posted by BargainGalore

Its first thing I was suspicious off 3 new posters just happen to come across this thread, signed up to only make one post, ummm

...and all within 2 or 3 hours of one another on the same morning.........

[Sparhawke]

I have only just heard about this and I think it is a very good idea really, unfortunately I do not have access to our very empty attic right now lol

[fsmyth]

I have put up my attic space on this site because I'm not adverse to a little extra cash in hard times and I'd like to think that I could help someone out in the local area. I think its a great idea and its a shame that others haven't got a bit more community spirit. If a contract isn't good enough for you maybe the whole thing just isn't for you but it works for me! Bring on the enquiries for my space!

[tescodisco]

I'm interested in this as I'm currently storing a load of stuff for a friend for free.....

This sounds like a good idea - akin to renting out parking spaces in
front of your house I suppose, I know people who make a fari amount of money doing that. I guess it needs to work on a certain amount of good will and trust, but so do lots of things that are still very worthwhile like freecycle.
Reading the site they do seem to have thought about lots of the issues mentioned above.

Maybe Storemates have encouraged their customers to leave feedback - it doesn't mean the feedback isn't true - and small, struggling businesses that are seemingly fairly alturistic towards consumers in their aims are surely to be encouraged on this site?

I'll probably be too lazy to look into this further, but if I was a bit more skint I'd definately be interested.

[Antispam]

Maybe not seems highly suspicious given a new thread and 4 new posters who only joined that day and only posted once, wonder if IP address match.

Originally Posted by tescodisco

Maybe Storemates have encouraged their customers to leave feedback - it doesn't mean the feedback isn't true - and small, struggling businesses that are seemingly fairly alturistic towards consumers in their aims are surely to be encouraged on this site?

[Louthulin]

I have just caught up on today's discussion, and would like to confirm that I am a genuine user! I have been getting MSE newsletters for a long time and regularly use the website. However, couldn't log on to join the debate so had to re-register. I had seen on Facebook that Storemates were mentioned on MSE and as one of the first users I was of course keen to have a look!

Anyway, I am glad to see that some people still have faith in others and would trust their gut feeling. As I said, of course you never know, but it is as easy as to ask to have a peek in the boxes that your Storemate is bringing and maybe do a list of the content as part of the contract.

I noticed that the people who are suspious about us "newbies" are also those who are suspicious about the whole idea, so it probably just isn't for them!

Best of luck to those who do join; I hope your experience is a positive as mine.

[NeverInDebt]

Yeah my gut feeling is there a lot of spam on here

[breiz]

i feel really disappointed reading other users' comment as some just haven't understood the idea behind "storemates", which is about promoting the community. In these tough economic times, it is also about sharing already existing resources, meeting your neighbours and offering support to each other. Shouldn't it be what we should all be looking for? ....


myself and my husband couldn't fault the system and the experience was an extremely positive one, which allowed us to meet some very lovely people in our neighbourhood, where we know our stuff will be well looked after (and to some of you making comments, "no, i don't expect a hurricane and i don't think the roof will be torn apart....") The owners couldn't have done more to help us store our stuff in their loft (i even didn't carry any box, the owner carried the boxes up the ladder with my husband) and couldn't have been more accommodating.

a) the owners of the loft and i communicated by email and discussed what we had to store. within a week , we had arranged to meet up for us to check the space and for the owners to meet us and assess our suitability. we discussed the contract at that meeting and the need to be thorough in the packing of items. we arranged to come and store our stuff the following week.

(the stuff i needed to have stored was kept in an expensive storage company so i cancelled the contract there and moved the items to the owners' loft in the following weekend).

b) we arrived late on a saturday night but the owners welcomed us to their home. The owner helped my husband bring the boxes upstairs whilst i was discussing the arrangements with the owners' wife.

c) we went carefully through the written contract with the owners (which is on the website) and checked the contents of our boxes.

d) we gave the owners some money for the first week of storage and to allow time for the direct debit to be set up.


Common sense would dictate that you do not store any valuables and i do not anticipate any difficulties whatsoever. (we have books and folders, files etc) Should we have had any concerns, i could have easily discussed all the issues mentioned in other emails with the owners in our previous meeting or in emails. (i know someone mentioned hundred of "what ifs..." but i prefer to remain an optimist and do not believe that we live in a hurricane prone country!!!. i understand that in "business" it is important to be clear, transparent and think of all the eventualities in order to prevent problems but that is a community-based enterprise.

i do really hope others like us will use "storemates" and i wish i had known about it before rather than wasting hundred of pounds in these expensive commercial storage companies. (i had heard about it in the press).
i would recommend to use storemates unreservedly and people to use their common sense and make their requirements clear such as "do they need to access the storage?" etc.


(PS: yes i am a first time user of MSE and yes i have been prompted by "storemate" to leave a review and yes i am completely genuine. i hope that by describing my experience step-by-step you can see that.)

[NeverInDebt]

well at least your honest and owned up still its not good of a company to ask customers to give favourable reports and I have reported this thread to abuse

Any company that asked me I tell them where to go, I give feedback when I think its earned and not prompted. Also company rep Shaff need permission to post as a rep

Originally Posted by breiz

(PS: yes i am a first time user of MSE and yes i have been prompted by "storemate" to leave a review and yes i am completely genuine. i hope that by describing my experience step-by-step you can see that.)

[Shaff]

Originally Posted by NeverInDebt

well at least your honest and owned up still its not good of a company to ask customers to give favourable reports and I have reported this thread to abuse

Any company that asked me I tell them where to go, I give feedback when I think its earned and not prompted. Also company rep Shaff need permission to post as a rep

I already stated in my post that we mentioned the MSE feature on our facebook site and that the The forum was seeking feedback from people who had used and experienced the service. You can see the post your self on our fb site to validate. We have not in anyway been asking for favourable reports it says - "have your say.." We only launched a few weeks ago , there aren't many users yet so it seems quite sensible to make those aware of a debate they may want to contribute to.
Its up to people what they write about us and fortunately its been fairly positive - but will take on the chin constructive negative feedback.

Have always been just a regular forum member. Will check out the rep rules - now you've alerting.

Is it always this hostile here? I thought we were talking about whether 'to trust or not to trust' some ones stuff in your attic.

[bloss0m]

Maybe Shaff you should read the rules on being a company rep

What's a company representative?