Taylor Scott International News
With the Deregulation Bill currently working its way through the UK parliamentary system, a new analysis shows that London homeowners could earn thousands by renting out spare rooms in their homes. The bill, first announced in 2013, would end rental rules imposed in 1973 but now largely viewed as outdated. These currently prevent Londoners from renting out their homes, or rooms within their homes, on a short term of three months to visitors. Unlike other residents across the UK, Londoners require planning permission if they let a room or home on this basis. When it becomes law, probably in a few months’ time, it will allow London home owners to rent out rooms or their entire property, for up to three months of the year. According to central London lettings agency E J Harris, a home owner renting out their two bedroom apartment in prime central London could potentially earn anything from £2,000 per month up to over £5,000 per month, depending on location, netting themselves a potential additional income over three months of anything from £6,000 up to £15,000 or more. At the very top of the luxury housing market in locations such as Knightsbridge or Mayfair an owner of a penthouse could earn themselves £10,000 per week, or up to £120,000 over a three month period. E J Harris adds that if a home owner decided just to rent out a room in their apartment, then at the top end of the market, rental income for an en-suite bedroom in Knightsbridge could earn them up to £6,600 over a three month period. Renting out a room in a two bedroom Mayfair apartment could potentially earn £500 a week or £6,000 for a three month let. In St John’s Wood a room in a two bedroom property could earn £250 a week, or up to £3,000 over three months. However, it is not only home owners in luxury addresses who could benefit significantly. E J Harris, estimate that renting out a room without an en-suite bathroom in a typical apartment in inner London could earn the owner around £100 per week, allowing the owner to bring in an extra £1,200 over three months. Despite the huge sums of money that a wealthy owner in Knightsbridge or Mayfair could earn from a very short term apartment let or room share, Elizabeth Harris, the firm’s managing director, thinks it is unlikely that anyone at this end of the market will choose to enter the short let or room share marketplace. ‘For a super wealthy oil Sheikh or Russian Oligarch an extra £120,000 is pocket change and people who live in addresses such as One Hyde Park or The Knightsbridge really don’t need to room share,’ she said. ‘However, I do forecast that there is a strong potential market from young professionals aged in their late 20s to late 30s who… Taylor Scott International
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