rent a room or whole house?

cmgames

I am in two minds whether to rent a room or rent my whole house. If i rent a room I would be looking to pay all the bills.

What would be an acceptable standard for the amount of hours I should have for the winter and summer months. Also, I am currently on BT unlimited weekends only. Should I go on a different talk plan i.e. talk all day so that tennants can use the phone any time they want to make local calls? Would I have to write these rules in a tenancy agreement?

If i opt to rent the whole house, what is the % I will likely be taxed?

HappyMJ

Don't let tenants use the phone at all unless they use a freephone number with a prepaid calling card. Most people have mobiles these days. Only switch if it saves you money.

It's not a tenancy agreement it's a lodger agreement. It's an informal non legally binding agreement basically it's just house rules. Use the Rent-a-Room scheme and you'll be taxed nothing up to a certain limit. Rent the house out and you'll be taxed at your marginal rate on your profit.

BitterAndTwisted

Taking in a lodger is a much less complex issue because lodgers have fewer rights. This is absolutely not the case once you let the house and live elsewhere and I really wouldn't recommend it unless you do a LOT of research.

There's an upper limit to the amount of rent you can charge a lodger per annum before it attracts income tax. I can't remember how much it is but believe it's around the £4k mark. Look at the HMRC site under the "Rent-A-Room" scheme.

For a decent Lodger's Agreement I suggest you check out the LandlordZone site.

Brushwood

I agree to cmgames that it is quite difficult to opt between rent a room or a whole house.There are many merits and demerits of each.So, in my views one should consult a real estate agent in his area.

olly300

As the others have said the two are not the same.

Renting out a house requires a entire new level of responsibility there as loads of people take in lodgers under the rent a room scheme.

In the case of the rent a room scheme you need to have clear rules i.e. cleaning up after yourself immediately after you cook in the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom. If you insist or have to have a landline phone you need to block the phone so no-one can dial out unless they have the PIN. This prevents someone dialling Australia and leaving you to foot the bill.

cmgames

I think I would be more comfortable to just rent one room. Do I stipulate things like cleaning the house after they cook, clean etc in writing or do I do it by wom? Also, with regards to heating, is there a minimum amount of heating and the temperate i should allow for winter/summer? Or is it purely up to me and if so do I again put it in writing? I don't want to be a scrooge and have them complain about the house being cold, but at the same time I want to be running up huge gas bills either.