Is it illegal to rent out you driveway?

antrobus

jjaco wrote: »

....I read from forum, and news papers that one can rent out a spare room or driveway and if the annual income generated is more than £4250 we need to pay tax. ...

Just to be absolutely clear. The £4,250 exemption limit specified by the Rent-a-room scheme applies to "income from providing furnished residential accommodation in the taxpayer’s only or main home". A driveway does not meet that definition.

jjaco wrote: »

...Am I breaching the law? ...

If you've failed to declare the income from parkatmyhouse.com to HMRC then the answer would be 'yes'.

angrypirate wrote: »

Why dont you do short term rent a room (could be your understairs cupboard) with your driveway included in the contract? Gets round the issue.

An 'understairs cupboard' wouldn't qualify as "furnished residential accommodation". Unless you were a cat. And cats on the whole make bad tenants. I've yet to find one that has ever paid a penny in rent.

Never mind. If HMRC find out that you have simply not declared a source of taxable income the likely result would be a demand for back taxes and fines. However if HMRC were to discover that you had actively taken steps to fradulently misrepresent your income as being something that it wasn't, they are far more likely to prosecute.
A criminal conviction can have certain consequences.

jjaco wrote: »

...Do I need planning permission for allowing someone to park on my drive?....

Your local council says you do.

Strapped

Brock_and_Roll wrote: »

jjaco - strictly speaking you do need planning consent to rent out your driveway; one of your neighbours probably grassed you up to the council. Either that or one of the big Gatwick parking companies provides a "list" to the planning officers and leans on them to take action.

If it were me, I would carry on doing it until they actually get round to enforcement action.

I can confirm that Gatwick itself actively encourages planning to take enforcement action against "off-airport" operators without the proper planning. Unfortunately the little man renting out his driveway gets caught up with the guys using a field (and they just pay the fine and continue to pop up every summer so the whole thing is ridiculous).

HazyJo - free parking anywhere in Crawley. One of the favourites is to drop family/luggage at the hotel just off Jn10A of M23, then park on the Maidenbower estate and hop in a taxi to Gatwick.

G_M

The solution seems to be:

* offer your spare room to a lodger
* charge said lodger the same amount as you have been charging for the driveway
* lodger moves in (and parks on your drive)
* lodger takes a holiday
* Lodger returns from holiday and gives immediate notice toendlodger agreement.
* lodger moves out

.......... :T

Herbalus

G_M wrote: »

The solution seems to be:

* offer your spare room to a lodger
* charge said lodger the same amount as you have been charging for the driveway
* lodger moves in (and parks on your drive)
* lodger takes a holiday
* Lodger returns from holiday and gives immediate notice toendlodger agreement.
* lodger moves out

.......... :T

You would, however, be sorely peeved if your lodger did not understand this agreement and intended to stay with you for the price of a space on your drive.

Especially if you advertised it as a spare room including parking space. You may just get someone who actually wants to lodge.

cgk1

Right - what happens when your lodger turns out to be a bit dodgy and you think they are off to the airport and then they ask for a key?

Yorkie1

OP, are you actually renting out the driveway places to people who are using the airport - either away on holiday, or workers there?

Or are your 'parkers' absolutely nothing to do with the airport?

G_M

cgk1 wrote: »

Right - what happens when your lodger turns out to be a bit dodgy and you think they are off to the airport and then they ask for a key?

You give them 3 hours notice, and return any advance rent paid.

Lodgers have no security. They are not tenants.

jjaco

Yorkie1 wrote: »

OP, are you actually renting out the driveway places to people who are using the airport - either away on holiday, or workers there?

Or are your 'parkers' absolutely nothing to do with the airport?

I am renting out to anyone who needs it, maybe flying from airport, or taking a train to go to work in London, we may not know what category.

jjaco

antrobus wrote: »

Just to be absolutely clear. The £4,250 exemption limit specified by the Rent-a-room scheme applies to "income from providing furnished residential accommodation in the taxpayer’s only or main home". A driveway does not meet that definition.



If you've failed to declare the income from parkatmyhouse.com to HMRC then the answer would be 'yes'.



An 'understairs cupboard' wouldn't qualify as "furnished residential accommodation". Unless you were a cat. And cats on the whole make bad tenants. I've yet to find one that has ever paid a penny in rent.

Never mind. If HMRC find out that you have simply not declared a source of taxable income the likely result would be a demand for back taxes and fines. However if HMRC were to discover that you had actively taken steps to fradulently misrepresent your income as being something that it wasn't, they are far more likely to prosecute.
A criminal conviction can have certain consequences.



Your local council says you do.

Another question popped up with regards to tax. I am prepared to declare and pay tax. I used to rent out for families and friends free of charge. Now that we found this is a source of income, I started taking some money. My question is, can I show this income in my wife's name who is unemployed? In fact its she who is running this show. Can I then pay less tax?

PasturesNew

Sell carrots and give away free parking with every carrot bought.