Can I secretly rent my house to my son

[Pinkpanther111]

i am wanting to rent a bungalow. Instead of selling my house my son will pay rent to me.
can I do this without telling anyone?

TIA

I think you might have to tell HMRC but you'll have to check that.

If you have a mortgage, you need to tell your lender.

If his rent is paying for your ongoing rent, oh, HMRC would be all over that. Even if he is just paying you any kind of rent, it's taxable income.

of course you can rent a bungalow. You can rent out your house to your son if you want. Naturally you’d need to declare the rent to the tax man. But it’s fine to rent something and rent out your own house. People do it all the time

Who don’t you want to tell?

Who is/are anyone? You will presumably need a tenancy contract with your rental bungalow. Further, it would be prudent to have one with your son; time and time again amicable relationships turn sour and there’s no end of posts on here about the bother it causes, especially when houses or money are involved. Further, you may well have to declare your rental income to HMRC. Also need to do the right thing by council tax. Beyond that, you don’t have to “announce” it, but you will still be listed with the land registry as the owner of your property so if you’re trying to hide from an extreme nosy parker, they could check.

If you have a mortgage you are probably supposed to tell your bank and you would need to do self assessment for the income tax

Secret from who?

Who owns your house? You outright? With a mortgage? Are you renting it?

So your son will live in your house and you will live elsewhere? Yes, you need to tell HMRC about your increased income. Do you own the house or is it mortgaged?

I think you’d need to register as a landlord and do the necessary property checks. Pay tax on the income etc. Obviously need to tell council for council tax. If your son is financially stable maybe consider adding him to the deeds as a joint owner? He can pay you in instalments for his share but it’ll be tax free if it’s been your main residence.

The rental income is taxable so you will need to declare it through an annual self assessment tax return.

Is he planning to claim Housing Benefit?

Ooooh, you can rent to family but if you do it “secretly “ and HMRC find out, you will be in deep dodo.

You will also be expected to charge him a market rent and for sure you must declare that to HMRC because it will be taxable income.

Really OP you will be living with a huge risk hanging over you. Do things above board, by the rules and sleep well at night. Don’t be naive about technically becoming a landlord because there’s a lot of legislation to abide by and fines can be huge.

Finally, theres strong advice in landlord circled to “never rent to family or friends!”
Good luck OP.

You dont have to tell family and friends but you would need to tell hmrc etc

All of plus you'll need to insure it as a rented property.
By secretly do you mean without paying tax?

Nonsense - it isn't tax free, this is incorrect advice. The first £1000 is tax free.

Who do you want not to know

Even though he is your son, I'd still draw up a rental agreement. I've seen families fall out for less. It protects you both too.
You'll need to pay tax over a certain amount. House will have to be insured, your son on the council tax.
If renting it just for a handful of months, I'd not worry with most of this, but long term for sure.

Am not 100% but I presume selling it to her son, partially.

So you want to have your son live in the house and you go and rent a bungalow for yourself?

Does the house have any mortgage on?

Can your son afford a mortgage on a bungalow - if so he could buy a bungalow and you swap which ones you live in.

Do you have a partner or any other kids?

Secret from whom?

Dodging care home fees later op?

Is he on benefits, housing support? If so you would need to declare it and it's unlikely he will get rent paid by the government.

I doubt it.