Great Ideas to earn money using your home

Our home is the largest asset that the majority of us own, but most of us don't give a seconds thought as to how we could use it to make some extra money. Apart from using it as security on a loan to start a business, how can you generate cash by using your home?

Rent a Room

If you've got the space, you could look at letting a room on either a permanent or short to medium term basis. Taking in a lodger or paying guest has long been a way of raising extra money and the UK government has recognised this with the rent a room scheme which allows receipts of up to £4,250 a year tax-free. You can let space in your house in a variety of ways and you need to find out the way that suits you the best.

If you like privacy and have the room, you could look at partitioning your house into self -contained flats or bedsits and althought this does involve initial expense, you can usually charge a higher rent. On a simpler level you could just advertise a bedroom and share the rest of the living accommodation. In any event, you need to ensure that you have an agreement on such things as utility bills, council tax etc.

If taking in a lodger on a long-term basis lacks appeal, you could look at renting a room to students during the term or alternatively to summer exchange students from abroad.

Running a Bed and Breakfast

If you live a touristy area and don't mind letting strangers into your home, running a bed-and-breakfast can be a good way making extra cash. It can be expensive to get started as you'll need to ensure that your house meets the required standards of fire regulations, food hygiene and general health and safety.

You might find you need to upgrade your kitchen, install fire doors or an alarm and buy new furniture. You'll also need to talk to your local authority about planning permission and licensing and you'll also need insurance.

Once all that is out of the way and you're ready to open, you'll need to advertise your new business. The web makes it easy and you can either have your own site, advertise on sites like tripadvisor and laterooms.com or do both.

If you're looking after your own website, it's important that it looks professionally designed and also that it's kept updated. If you're running on anything other than a very modest level, you should consider investing in reservation software. As well as managing your bookings and keeping customer details, it can be interfaced to your web site allowing customers to check 'live' on room availability and pricing.

Running a Bed and Breakfast is not for everyone, but if you like meeting new people and can turn out a great 'Full English Breakfast' it can be an interesting and rewarding way of making extra money.

Rent out your garage or driveway

If you don't like the idea of allowing someone else to live in your space, try renting out your garage or driveway.

If you live near a city centre, airport, sports or concert venue you could earn several hundreds of pounds in a year. The amount you can charge for a space depends on your location and such factors as availability of parking in the area, closeness to the destination and the quality of the space - extras such as CCTV, lockable gates and undercover or secure storage can all command a premium from the user. There are several web sites which get land owners and drivers in touch for a commission on the parking charge and with most, you don't need to pay up front. Park at my house has more information and a useful FAQ section.

Issues that you should address before allowing anyone to park on your land include insurance and whether there are any restrictions in your lease, mortgage or deeds.

You don't have to stop at renting out a garage for parking - small firms and hobbyists rent all kinds of premises including garages, workshops, greenhouses and stables and some keen gardeners have rented their neighbours gardens in lieu of allotments to grow vegetables!

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