Have a look at the pdf link Richard posted, I think you can but you still have to go down the route of declaring the income and then submitting pu costs and so on.
If your under £80 a week you just don't have to bother telling anyone about it at all.
Oh, I understood the situation that you declare ALL income, even where it will be allowed free of tax, and note that it is under the RAR scheme, and it is then taken into account but not counted, if that makes sense?
I had not seen the pdf, I will go look.
sg
stumbling goat
|
Forgot to add that the website, lodgerland is worth having a look at for guidance.
sg
|
Pilsbury
|
As I understand it if you don't have to do a tax return you don't have to tell anyone about it.
At least trays what my uncle had said and that's,the reason he is charging less, he has the space but its not worth the hassle of having to do tax returns every year.
Sorry, link was in the other thread
http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.php?t=75727&start=15
|
chez
|
I think, generally speaking, living with an adult is different from student-sharing nightmares you may still be revisiting.
IIRC, we actually had spare space for a second fridge and they used that; it saved a lot of hassle. And I just made sure that I charged enough that I didn't feel put upon deep-cleaning round once a week (not their room) and keeping everything sanitary. I found that making the mental leap from having a weekly cleaning routine directly to the income we got from them made me a lot less cross about cleaning communal areas; although of course they cleaned up after themselves.
I recommend rules about overnight guests; and that can be whatever you are comfortable with. It's your space you are inviting someone else in to, so you set the ground rules.
If you wanted to, I guess you could have a list of housekeeping tasks that one week you did and the next week they did. Or something like that?
Re rent, don't forget that if the did rent a house for £400 a month, they would still have to find full council tax and all the bills on top of that. So paying you a share of the bills would be less for them. I would work out what extra you think they are likely to use and add that on to the rent rather than divide your bills by three.
Also, don't rule out people having some of their rent paid by the local authority. Not everyone on housing benefit is a skank; and it's guaranteed income. Your LHA weekly rate is £59.50 per week, which should give you an idea about what rent to charge. I think a third of prices are supposed to be less that that figure.
|
Katieowl
|
No but if they were getting HB they'd more than likely be in the house all day using leccy... when MJ wasn't there.
They'd also probably need to be working to have some kind of transport, cos' MJ's a hike from the shops!
Kate
|
jamanda
|
Many working people also claim housing benefit.
|
toggle
|
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/majority-of-new-housing-benefit-claimants-in-work/6521183.article?MsgId=50359
that would include 90% of new claims.
pilgrim and i get HB, that i still got some while I was working 70 hour weeks and he was also working says a lot about the level of wages and rent.
|
chez
|
Many working people also claim housing benefit. |
Sorry, wasn't heavy enough on the irony there. We claim it and get the full applicable amount. I'm probably a skank, though, if the Carpet Auditing Police did a check.
Katieowl
|
Chez, I would be the last person to cast any stones about benefit, you know that's not me.
There's not much in the way of work here at all, let alone full time and well paid work, as my kids are all finding to their cost, and my comment was more a reflection of our local economy.
You'd be far more likely to be getting it as a family, or a couple where only one of you was working, or under-employed as they rather euphamistically call it, if you are on your own as far as I can see they'd quite happily let you sleep in a cardboard box.
Kate
|
chez
|
Gosh, no, sorry Katie, I didn't mean that at all. Jamanda's response made me think that I hadn't been clear enough in my own post.
I was talking to some people today who are in the Carmarthen area (not ds-ers, although I hope I managed to convince them to try us out) and we got to chatting about farmers' markets; and how it's not really ideal to be trying to sell stuff from farmers markets to the locals, because people who are local just don't have enough spare cash. I get £1.30 a box minimum for my eggs; I reckon that that would drop to £1 in W Wales, just because of the economy. It's a horrible situation 
|
toggle
|
there's nothing stopping single people claiming housing benefit, that just depends on the sums of what you're earning and what the LHA rate you're entitled to is. which is dependent on where you live and is supposed to be linked to local rents.
the only difference in being single is that you're very unlikely to get social housing.
(and special rules apply if you're considered disabled)
if single working people are unlikely to be able to claim HB, that might say something about the average level of rents in your area.
although there are plans to remove HB for under 25s
|
Katieowl
|
Eggs here are £1.50 a half doz in the market.
We have a bit of an odd local market though. There's a lot of people who've moved to the area, who still have £££ and loads of hippies who want 'real' food, my 'market' with the GF and vegan stuff.
The locals ( ) are as tight as a duck's bottom...and probably don't buy free range. There are a lot of really expensive women's clothes shops too...and I still haven't figured out who shops there 
Kate
|
toggle
|
round here, that's the tourists and millionaire retirees.
|
Katieowl
|
there's nothing stopping single people claiming housing benefit, that just depends on the sums of what you're earning and what the LHA rate you're entitled to is. which is dependent on where you live and is supposed to be linked to local rents.
the only difference in being single is that you're very unlikely to get social housing.
(and special rules apply if you're considered disabled)
if single working people are unlikely to be able to claim HB, that might say something about the average level of rents in your area.
although there are plans to remove HB for under 25s |
I think the biggest problem would be that there wouldn't be anywhere to rent Toggle. A place in town is around £400 a month - private sector. That will be anything from a studio to two bed depending on where abouts and how decent. As both the DD's have found out to their cost some of the housing is not fit for purpose. The HB removal for the under 25's makes me 
as I know a couple of people here who would fall into that category...just grrrr that's all!
Kate
chez
|
(and special rules apply if you're considered disabled) |
That's against the 'applicable amount' though, isn't it? I am ferreting through all the regs at the moment, because although we are 'entitled' to a two bedroom house, because we have two children under ten, there is an argument to be made - and a precedent set by a court case last year - that because the children cannot share a room because of the nature of Nen's disability, we are entitled to a three bedroom place.
The 'applicable amount' is different, as far as I can get my head round it, with various allowances made because we are a couple, we have a severely disabled child, because I get carer's allowance and all that.
Which is thread-creep, really, for poor MJ. 
toggle
|
sorry, but the post i replied to didn't seem to be talking about the availability of places to rent, it read a lot more like a claim that HB wasn't available to single people.
and for young people, they are already looking at a houseshare anyway. Which can work out better. we would get the rent on this place fully covered if we were 2 single people, not a couple. although you can be expected to proove you're not 'living as a couple'
|
stumbling goat
|
I got it wrong.
apologies, CAB site says that if it is not taxable you do not have to declare it at all.
VERY SORRY!!! 
sg
|
thi
|
CAB site says
"It is important to know what income is non-taxable and can be ignored for tax purposes. You only pay tax on your taxable income so you do not want to include any non-taxable income in your calculations. You do not have to tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about income which is non-taxable so you leave it off tax returns and any other forms HMRC sends you asking about your taxable income. When you are working out your taxable income you also need to know about tax allowances and tax reliefs."
Link to the rest -http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/tax_e/tax_what_is_taxable_income_e/taxable_and_non-taxable_income.htm
|
Ty Gwyn
|
The locals () are as tight as a duck's bottom...and probably don't buy free range. There are a lot of really expensive women's clothes shops too...and I still haven't figured out who shops there
Kate |
There is only one expensive ladies shop left in Lampeter since BJ`s closed a few years back,it run by a local farmers sister,
I`d bet its the same case with the Cardigan ladies shops to this one here,the customers look a million dollars,but eat crap.
jamanda
|
Is it worth considering whether you'd feel more comfortable with another woman in the house? Presumably Jack will be away to uni himself this year?
|
Nick
|
Can you choose lodgers by gender? I don't know.
|
jamanda
|
Can you choose lodgers by gender? I don't know. |
I'm not sure if you can advertise that way, but if you have to choose one person to live in your house from a number I think it would be as valid a factor as any others discussed here.
Nick
|
Same as a job interview, you mean?
|
jamanda
|
Same as a job interview, you mean? |
No. It's not the same.
Ty Gwyn
|
2 Women in a house is asking for trouble.
|
toggle
|
Can you choose lodgers by gender? I don't know. |
I'm not sure if you can advertise that way, but if you have to choose one person to live in your house from a number I think it would be as valid a factor as any others discussed here.
you see loads of ads that specify gender
and there's a huge difference between employing someone and letting them live in the same home as you.
onemanband
|
CAB site says
"It is important to know what income is non-taxable and can be ignored for tax purposes. You only pay tax on your taxable income so you do not want to include any non-taxable income in your calculations. You do not have to tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about income which is non-taxable so you leave it off tax returns and any other forms HMRC sends you asking about your taxable income. When you are working out your taxable income you also need to know about tax allowances and tax reliefs."
Link to the rest -http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/tax_e/tax_what_is_taxable_income_e/taxable_and_non-taxable_income.htm |
I had friends as lodgers for 15 years
On self assessment forms I allways used the "income from property" sheet and ticked the first box "I am claiming relief under the rent a room scheme"(or something like that). Tick that and nothing else to do.
Also the allowance is per year, not per week or pro rata. So for this financial year it won't matter what you charge and similarly if you let for only part of next year.
VM
|
I did same as onemanband re: the tax return - I'm sure that's right.
I've always included bills with rent rather than divided them up - apart from phone - much much less hassle.
You don't have to be equal opportunities about this - as said above, it's not the same as employing someone. In Manchester, where I'm not anymore, but where we used to have lodgers, there are always lots of room adverts in local shops - often specify, man, woman, or also often gay or lesbian if the other people in the house are.
I think with things like late night TV/music, it's more important to be clear and suss the person out rather than have rules - i.e. say that you get up early so if they are someone who stays up late then it may not work. Better to be realistic at early stage.
I think it's most usual for people to have their own food and cook it - but we always tried to find people who were happy to chip in and share food because I knew it would drive me mad having someone else trying to use the kitchen when I was cooking, as I cook a lot.
For some reason I've just remembered the lodger we had who said she was vegetarian when she wasn't - something about how I asked the question about food made her think we were veggie (we're not) and so said she was because she wanted the room. So I spent quite a few weeks cooking veggie food for her and then very puzzled when she cooked spag bol for us!
|
Hairyloon
|
I don't think my lodger experiences are relevant. We are rarely in the house at the same time.
But I'd suggest that at the beginning, you schedule a regular meeting to iron out any teething troubles (from either side).
saves you having to say "look we need to talk about...", which I think can often up the ante of a conversation to start with.
|
stumbling goat
|
I don't think my lodger experiences are relevant. We are rarely in the house at the same time.
But I'd suggest that at the beginning, you schedule a regular meeting to iron out any teething troubles (from either side).
saves you having to say "look we need to talk about...", which I think can often up the ante of a conversation to start with. |
As is your want HL do you start the conversation, "Does it really matter that......."
sg
Home Home Home Home Home
