Renting out a room

[LozengeShaped]

Does anyone rent out a room in their house? If so, do you get an annual gas safety certificate, and an electrical safety report?

Obviously, I don't want to fork out for these if it's not necessary. Our house was all redone, including rewired, less than ten years ago.

https://www.lodgerguide.co.uk/landlord-lodger-legal-obligations/

Thank you. Yes, I suppose I was wondering whether people really did this.

I was chatting to a student, who was looking for a cheap room, and I felt sorry for him. I was thinking he could have our large spare room for perhaps £60 a week. Room are a ridiculous £700+ a month here. We already have wired smoke alarms, a serviced boiler etc. But then I saw I'd need gas and electric safety certificates, and have now had second thoughts! He'd only need it until Easter, I think, so it's a lot of hassle and money. But I wouldn't want to do something illegal.

I doubt anyone will enforce it. Do yourself a favour and get a little cheap portable co2 alarm and put it near the boiler. That way, if there's a problem, there will be a heckin' loud noise.

Yes, I was posting because I'm a slavish rule follower, and wondered whether I was being overcautious. I'm still not sure what to do! The room's much nicer than the ones my student DC are renting😀

Thank you for your suggestion.

If you are just having a son of a friend come to stay for less than a year for a nominal fee, I'd not worry too much abou the lodger regulations. I'm sure plenty of MNers take board off their children and don't do the lodger regulations. Or those whose nieces or nephews come and stay etc.

But if you then want to do it properly after that and advertise via the usual sites it's.worth doing it properly.

I was a lodger for three years. My LL never once mentioned gas safety, and I never saw a co2 alarm. If you have smoke alarms in your home and a co2 alarm near your boiler, you're doing better than him.

I also never saw any mention of these on any sort of SpareRoom ad.

Yes, I am a ridiculous rule follower and overthinker! I'm hardly Rackman 😀and will get the CO alarm anyway.

I do rent out a room and claim back the tax under an HMRC scheme for this purpose (you'll need to declare it). Please do make it above board with the gas check and charge a little more to cover it to ensure a safe place for this person.

There, now I'm wondering again. I've spent so long Googling this now.

There's no doubt it's a safe place to live - it was rewired less than ten years ago, has wired smoke alarms, etc. To make it legal, I'd need
a) a gas safety certificate (the boiler's in a room off the garage, regularly serviced, and not really likely to poison us, but I'm getting a CO monitor anyway for the family, which is a good idea) and
b) an electricity safety certificate. It's a 4-bed house in the south east, so this is expensive. ginswinger what did you do about this requirement? Was it expensive?

I've just Googled. It looks like this might all cost £400++ for the lad to use for a few weeks this academic year. And he might move in, then decide at Christmas he wants to move in with his girlfriend and save even more money! I was wanting to do a nice thing, because I felt I'd be helping a lad like my own children, who are paying rent elsewhere. I don't want to start a business 😂

I just get mine done when I get my boiler serviced. Costs about and extra £40. Co2 monitor about £14.

Don’t underestimate simple gentle direction like: we don’t eat hot food in the bedrooms. Show them how to recycle and empty the bins/ stack and unpack the dishwasher. It’s a great thing to do, but they are someone else’s child And charge a fair amount or they might never leave!

An extra £40 wouldn't be too bad. When I Googled it said £80. Will ask when I book our service shortly.

We always had lodgers pre children, and when they were little, but that was 20 years ago!

I've got a lodger; my understanding is that you need a gas safety certificate (I paid £70) but not an EICR (that's just for live out landlords).

Having a gas safety certificate done periodically is a good thing anyway; they might find something that saves your own family.

You can download a template lodger agreement from www.spareroom.co.uk for £7.50

The money is tax free under the Rent a Room scheme so long as you charge under £7500 per tax year. No need to fill out a tax return unless you go over that.

Are you living alone and claiming the single person discount? If so you'll lose that; factor that into your pricing along with the cost of increased energy usage etc. He'll need a kitchen cupboard and a shelf in the fridge.

My parents did it for years when my older siblings moved out used to rent to the new apprentices where my dad worked. It was a huge organisation so they didn’t work with my dad. It paid their mortgage off early & they got nice holidays out of it. The apprentices in their early 20s got a safe space and cheaper place to live near London.
We made really good friends with the family of one of the lodgers as they lived overseas and had shared visits in their country. I suspect my folks got lucky but it was a really good win-win for all. Hope you can help the lad out.

Out of interest, anyone got a link which details the expenses of renting out a room in your own house which you can claim against tax if you go down the line of submitting a tax return on the income/ie not using the "rent a room" scheme.

I was just about to suggest you look at the spareroom website. It gives you info specifically about lodgers but someone up thread has already suggested it. The Info & Advice section tells you everything you need to know.
Just to reiterate, you don't need an EICR.
They can be expensive. Sometimes the work is necessary but unscrupulous traders are taking advantage of the safety laws governing landlords and doing unnecessary work to increase their profits. But I am just having a moan now!

You should tell your mortgage provider too but if it's just for a few months, I'm not sure I'd worry too much.

Meant to say, you can get a gas safety certificate from OpenRent for £45.

It's not something you'd do unless the expenses you were looking to claim were higher than £7500, but there's some more details here
m.spareroom.co.uk/content/info-landlords/rent-a-room-scheme/

thanks, but I meant outside the rent a room scheme, ie choosing to be taxed on the income, minus whatever expenses you MAY be able to claim. I know some folks renting out a room in their own house go down this route. So was interested in the expenses allowable against tax when calculating the profit for the rental.

Did you read the link I posted?

Re electrical safety, the main reason I made my original post was because I read that
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations require landlords to have the electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a person who is qualified and competent, at an interval of at least every 5 years on the government's own site

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letting-rooms-in-your-home-a-guide-for-resident-landlords/letting-rooms-in-your-home-a-guide-for-resident-landlords

However, posters seem to think this doesn't apply. Can anyone comment on this??? Thank you 🙂

(PS I've also checked my insurance re lodgers, and as long as I tell them, all seems to be fine. It's coming up for renewal before Sep anyway.)

Errrrr yikes it appears I may well have to take back my own words on the EICR 😱

Yes, it was seeing that that sparked the thread. I've found a quote now for an EICR certificate plus gas safety certificate for £200 on the web, so that's not as much as I feared when I started the thread. (Obviously, that's just to get a ball park figure, I've not asked my own gas service engineer.)

But I'm thinking now that no-one realises that an electrical certificate is required 😂

Me too. Sorry!

OP, I think you should get one anyway as it will set your mind at rest but for anyone else..

1. Which rented properties do the Electrical Safety Regulations apply to?

The Regulations apply in all cases where a private tenant has a right to occupy a property as their only or main residence and pays rent. This includes assured shorthold tenancies and licences to occupy. See guidance on tenancy types. Exceptions are set out in Schedule 1 of the Regulations and include social housing, lodgers, those on a long lease of 7 years or more, student halls of residence, hostels and refuges, care homes, hospitals and hospices, and other accommodation relating to healthcare provisions. Guide for landlords: electrical safety standards in the private rented sector - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The link below was updated in 2021 and the one the OP posted was 2009 so I guess it has changed. This is for England btw.

redboxer321 Thank you, that's great. Yes, that looks like it's been updated more recently. 😊It looks like you can report a problem with the 2009 page, so I'll let them know it needs updating. I definitely won't be getting the electrical certificate if it's not needed!