Do you have power tools, a guitar, or a pile of dresses you rarely use in your home? Have you considered if these could make you extra income? You may be surprised by what you can rent out these days to boost your income during these difficult times.
There’s a growing number of websites and apps that enable you to rent out almost anything you own, from tech equipment to buggies, and you may find items that you can make money from languishing in your loft, in the garage or under the stairs.
Here, we look at some of the things you might be able to rent out to boost your income, but make sure you read the terms and conditions of any services you plan to use to do this to ensure your items are covered against any damage.
1. Rent out your storage space
If you have a garage, loft room, bedroom or even a large cupboard in your home that you’re not using, then consider renting it to someone who needs somewhere to store their things. People might need space to store anything from furniture, to boxes and bikes. You can advertise your space on websites such as Storemates and Stashbee by including your location, size and the monthly cost.
Anyone searching for a space in your area is able to message you and you choose who you want to rent it to. You could earn as much as around £1,000 a year from renting out an unused garage, according to Stashbee. You can find out about more ways you could make money from your property in our article Five ways your home could make you money.
2. Rent out your home office space
More of us than ever are working from home, but plenty of people don’t have a spare room they can use as a home office. If you have an office space you’re no longer using because you’re going into the office, for example, you could rent this out to someone in need of this for between £50 and £250 a day. Of course, you’d need to be comfortable having a stranger working in your home, but you could offer a room on an occasional basis.
For example, OfficeRiders offers rooms to rent to workers and businesses in people’s homes, or for events and meetings. You simply describe your space, including photos and the price for a day’s hire and advertise it on the site. For example, if you’ve a lovely airy room that might appeal to photographers as a studio set up, this could be lucrative. Alternatively, small startups and larger companies may seek space to hold their meetings.
3. Rent out your parking space
You can rent out your driveway, off-street parking space or garage by the hour, week, or month on several websites. These connect you with drivers who need to find a parking space in a particular location. Websites such as YourParkingSpace, Just Park and Park On My Drive enable you to advertise your parking space. If you’ve a space you’re willing to rent longer-term, try ParkLet.
Depending on the site you choose, you may pay a listing fee of between 5% and 20% on bookings. If you live close to an airport, you may be able to charge a premium, as airport parking can be very expensive. Similarly, think about whether you live near a football ground, or concert venue, as again they may offer an opportunity to charge a premium on certain days.
4. Rent out your garden
Paying for an allotment in a city can cost hundreds of pounds a year, and they often come with long waiting lists. If you’ve got a spare section of your garden, you could rent this out as allotment space for any green-fingered neighbours who might want to grow vegetables, for example. Go to Spareground to advertise your garden space. At the time of writing, people were advertising their gardens as potential allotments, host garden parties, and even to keep chickens in.
5. Rent out your car
If you wouldn’t mind someone else driving your car when you don’t need it, you could list it on a website that enables you to rent your car. Go to HiyaCar, which allows you to rent out your car by the day or hour. The service offers secure virtual keys in its app to unlock cars through a box under the dash, so you don’t need to hand over physical keys to whoever rents your car. These virtual keys are stored in the app and deleted after each hire.
Safety features include GPS tracking of your car while it’s being hired, and facial recognition of the driver. As the car owner, you can block any dates when you need the car, and choose whether to accept a booking. You can also see user’s star scoring and read reviews to ensure they’re trustworthy renters. While your car is being rented, your car will be covered by comprehensive insurance provided by HiyaCar.
6. Rent out your electric car charger
If you’ve joined the electric car revolution, you can rent out your home electric car charger on CoCharger to drivers who are unable to install chargers at home. Download the free app and create a Host account. You put your basic information in and your location, the type of charger you have, and set the pricing by using the Host Rate Calculator. Your neighbours can then find you through the app, send messages and ask to book a charging session. You are able to approve or decline requests and you don’t have to be in when someone uses your charger.
7. Rent out your wardrobe
If you have some lovely dresses, suits or accessories that you rarely wear, you could think about renting them out to other people using a range of apps. If your item is damaged, the terms and conditions state that the renter is responsible for paying for its replacement. You can offer a designer dress from By Rotation, for example, for around £15. Similar sites include HirestreetUK and MyWardrobeHQ. Whoever rents your wardrobe will pay postal costs.
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8. Rent out your hobby equipment
What do you like to do in your spare time? If you’ve a hobby that requires equipment that other people may want to use, you could make extra cash. For example, you can rent out almost anything from your camera equipment, drones and virtual reality headsets through the Fat Llama marketplace. Items listed for rent aren’t limited to up-to-date technology. You can rent out anything that people might want to use, such as a projector, or guitar, for example.
9. Rent out your power tools
If you’ve got some power tools that you rarely use, you could make some extra cash by renting them out to people in your local area who need them. Websites and apps like the aforementioned Fat llama and MyShed allow people with tools or kit to hire it out. Fat Llama offers insurance cover on items up to £25,000, so you should be covered if you rent it out and something goes wrong, but of course, you’ll still need to feel comfortable handing these items over to a stranger.
10. Rent out your spare room
One of the biggest financial boosts can come from renting out your spare room. You can earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free by renting out your spare room to a lodger through the government’s rent a room scheme.You can ask your friends, family and neighbours if they know of anyone who needs a spare room, or advertise on websites such as SpareRoom, but make sure to tell your home insurance provider that you have a lodger. If you earn more than the allowance from renting out a room or rooms in your home, you will need to complete a tax return to pay any tax owed on the extra income above this amount. Find out more in our guide Renting out a room – What you need to know.
You can find more suggestions on how you might be able to make some extra money in our article 24 ways to earn extra money and boost your income.
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