Rent-a-Room Calculator
Taking in a lodger? The Rent-a-Room Scheme lets you earn up to £7,500 a year completely tax-free. See your tax-free income, what's taxable above that, and the net income under both relief methods.
Not tax advice. This calculator gives illustrative figures for information only and is NOT tax advice. Your personal tax position (other income, existing use of your Personal Allowance, other property income) affects the real result — verify with gov.uk or a qualified accountant before submitting a tax return.
Enter the monthly rent
Your tax-free amount, taxable income and net income appear here as you type.
How the Rent-a-Room Scheme works
The Rent-a-Room Scheme is an automatic tax exemption for anyone who lets a furnished room in their own main home — up to £7,500 a year (£3,750 if you share the income with a partner or someone else living there) is completely tax-free, and if that's your only rental income you don't even need to mention it on a tax return. Earn more than that and you elect into one of two methods: the simplified Rent-a-Room method taxes only the income above the threshold, while the normal property-income method taxes your income minus actual allowable expenses — whichever gives you the lower tax bill is the one to choose. It's a separate scheme from Universal Credit and other benefits rules, which may treat lodger income differently — check gov.uk if you receive benefits.