Rent-a-room-scheme <> Rental Income

Hello there, Does rent from an employer for using part of your home as a weekend or evening office qualify for the Rent-a-Room Scheme? Many thanks.

Hi ,
 

Thank you for your question. Rent-a-room is aimed at individuals who let furnished residential accomodation in their own homes. The scheme does not apply to rooms in private homes which are let as office accomodation, see : PIM4002 - Rent-a-room: letting as office accommodation   .   Thank you .

Thank you for the response. Please note that it's a furnished residential accommodation in my home. In this context, I have a regular work (outside of the house). So, the room is used for an intermittent extra-work at weekends. I found different responses online. Hence, the need to post it here. For instance, on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rent-a-room-for-traders-hs223-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs223-rent-a-room-scheme-2021, it states that "...you can use the scheme if your lodger works in your home in the evening or at weekends." More so, on https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/check-non-paye-income/start/how-did-you-receive-additional-income, I submitted the responses below and it gives an option to use the scheme. Q1: How did you receive your additional income? Answer: Rented out property Q2: Was your rental income less than £1,000? Answer: No Q3: Did you rent property to your employer, or the employer of your spouse or civil partner? Answer: Yes Q4: Have you only rented rooms in your main home? Answer: Yes Q5: Did you share this rental income with anyone else? Answer: No Q6: Was your rental income more than £7,500? Answer: No Q7: Do you want to use the Rent a Room Scheme? Answer: Yes Result: "You do not need to tell HMRC about your rental income" Does that mean the result (above) is misleading or perhaps not accurate?

Could you please clarify the contrary result on the “how-did-you-receive-additional-income” page (as explained in my last comment)? Thank you.

Hi, I am not an Admin but think I may able to help. The difference is where the property is being let as residential accommodation (for someone to live in) versus anything else. If you read Q4 and Q7 (the information under them) they both specify it applies to furnished accommodation. As you are letting furnished office space rather than furnished accommodation, rent a room can't apply. Although Q4 could definitely be clearer and should say this means rather than this includes.

Hi ABY,
The Property Income Manual and HS223 are very specific in that the rent a room scheme cannot apply where the room is let as office accommodation and there are no grey areas in either of those pieces of guidance.
 I have been through the online checker and as you rightly say it does not specifically state that it cannot be claimed for letting out a room as office accommodation.  However at the end of the checker it does provide a link to the rent a room guidance which further links to the HS223 which as I have stated is very specific in that it does not apply to rooms let as office accommodation.
The expectation would be that after you get to the final point in the checker where it says you do not need to tell us we would expect you to go one step further and check the link to the guidance.
If you think the guidance is unclear you could provide feedback on GOV.UK via the (Is this page useful?) link at the bottom of the relevant page.
Thank you.

Hi,
For a more detailed answer to this question, you would need to contact our Self Assessment team below:
Self Assessment: general enquiries  
Thank you