Business idea: Converting garage into living space

[WinkyWinkola]

and I was thinking about using it as a B&B!

Only one room but the guest could drive their car into the garage and then go up built stairs to the room.

A friend of a friend runs a six bed B&B nearby and she's always full.

Is this a crackers idea and how complicated is it?

I don't think it would be complicated from a building POV, but I think you would need to wade through a whole load of bureaucracy and H&S requirements, e.g....

• Apply for a change of use, to turn a resi property into a B&B/business
• Comply with all sorts of H&S requirements that are much stricter for businesses than homes - e.g. fire doors and escapes, extinguishers, alarms, tests/inspections, etc.
• I guess there'd by implications for your kitchen too - H&S and food hygene...?

There's some info here.

Maybe easier just to take in a lodger. Round here lots of people take in lodgers from a local language school and I think you can take something like £4500 tax free a year that way.

Oo I was close...

The Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to a threshold of £4,250 per year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your home.

Interesting

And if you earn over that amount do you just declare it to IR? Or leave the scheme?

I don't know Winky, but imagine you just declare any more than that.

You might also be liable for business rates as well as council tax on the rest of your house.

I used to work in council tax and business rates and there was a woman who converted her garage to use as a therapy/massage centre and her business rates amount was awful and she had to shut her business down.

Plus all the insurance and my mate makes cakes as a sideline but had to rip out her wooden floor of her kitchen as it wasn't considered to be hygienic enough to get her food safety certificate (it was almost brand new wood flooring too)

It may not be financially viable for just one room but you could certainly investigate. Sometimes other B&B owners are happy to share the ups and downs.

Potterer I suspect that's why the rent a room scheme came into being, to get rid of all that red tape and make it easier for someone to make a bit of money out of renting a room.