Renting a room in my house as an office

olly_g

Hi guys,

Long time lurker here, if I've posted in the wrong place please move.

I have a 3 bedroom house located outside a small town on the m40 about 40 minutes from London. Having a house mate is getting a bit much now so I'm considering of renting the room as office space between the hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday, im aware you wont get as much money but having zero experience in this I could do with your advise.
My office is only down the road where I ship on a daily basis, so as a sweetener for the deal I can offer shipping / postal services.
I might be well off the mark with this idea but I figure someone here has experience.

mrginge

This is a silly idea

Mojisola

You won't be able to make use of the tax-free rent-a-room scheme -
https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/pimmanual/pim4002.htm

cloo

I don't see in this day and age why someone would rent a room in someone else's house when they could just work from their own home, to be honest.

sydenhambased

I'm NOT an expert in this subject, but my understanding is that renting a room as an office would make you a commercial landlord. You'd need to check your buildings insurance, mortgage policy and (if it's leasehold) lease document, and the chances are that at least one of these things would disallow it.

Commercial buildings are also liable for Capital Gains Tax on transfer, which would mean that if you ever faced an HMRC investigation, you could be hit with a nasty tax bill when selling your property.

olly_g

thanks for the input guys, it was actually a newspaper article I read that suggested it, I did think it was a long shot.
I think the Monday - Friday room rental might be a better idea, unless anyone else knows of other ways to utilise a spare room for extra income

BigAunty

Overseas english language students? Have a check of your local language schools to see if they want any host families, the typical duration and frequency of stays and payment rates, if you have to cook for them and so on.

You might find a few temporary shorter term occupants more enjoyable as you can take a break when you wish.

blahblahblah85

What about something like Airbnb?

AnnieO1234

You would also incur non-domestic rates for that portion of the property, and have issues in respect of facilities available such as kitchen and toilet, off road parking etc.

It doesn't sound viable even if you could convince someone to use the space.

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