Combining all these top home monetising tips could net you thousands (Picture: Getty)
By the end of 2026, four million UK homeowners will see their mortgage payments rise by an average £220 per month. And a million families will have to find an extra £500 per month, all due to rising interest rates.
Magicking that kind of cash up out of thin air, particularly in the current cost-of-living crisis, might seem impossible.
But there are ways to utilise your single most valuable asset – your home – to help bridge the gap.
Everybody knows about the Airbnb option, and lodgers are enjoying a comeback, but not everyone has the space or the will to invite strangers into their homes.
Luckily, there are other ways to make money from bricks and mortar, from turning your shed into a storage space to playing host to family pets.
Take in a four-legged lodger
Play host to a different kind of visitor (Picture: Getty)
Over the past four months, Clarissa Catrinoi has found herself playing hostess for week sat a time.
Having a stream of guests to cater for sounds exhausting. But luckily Clarissa’s visitors have been friendly and affectionate, unfussy about food, and generally willing to do what they are told.
And, since signing up as a pet host with rover.com, Clarissa has also earned about £4,000 to supplement her income.
The idea of taking in pets while their owners are away came to Clarissa, 23, who is studying for a masters in clinical neuroscience, and her partner Jungbo Yang, 27, an interior architect, during their regular walks around the park close to their rented flat in Kilburn, London.
‘We saw all these people out with their dogs and it looked fun,’ says Clarissa. ‘We can’t afford to have a dog of our own at the moment, but I looked on Google to see if there were any alternatives. Dog-sitting came up and we decided to give it a try.’
After signing up to the site in March, the couple waited to see if any owners would get in contact – and the response has been strong. They have hosted 20 dogs at the flat, some staying for just one night, others for two weeks. They have also stayed at owners’ houses to pet-sit.
Clarissa and Jungbo say hosting dogs through Rover isn’t hard work at all (Picture: Rover.com)
Clarissa and Jungbo charge £30 per night to host a pet and pay a 15 per cent fee to Rover. Other costs are minimal since owners supply dog food, plus toys, beds, and blankets.
‘It is really not hard work at all and I enjoy it,’ said Clarissa. ‘If you get a small dog it is very easy – they sit on my lap while I work on my dissertation and we go out for short walks every few hours. I like having the company and it is very flexible.’
Dogs make up the bulk of Rover’s business, says Elia Borrini, head of the firm’s international revenue growth, although it also matches up cat owners with people who can come and feed and care for them at home while their owners are away.
The site verifies its prospective hosts’ identities and contact details before allowing them to join up, but beyond that there are few rules.
‘If there is a garden it will most likely be more compelling for an owner,’ says Elia. ‘And we see that our owners prefer to leave their pets with someone who owns or has owned a pet of their own.’
The site also has reviews, so owners can see how hosts have performed in the past. It offers insurance to cover sitters in case something goes wrong and has a 24/7 advice line to help out in an emergency.
Monetise the shed (or the loft)
A good excuse for a clear out (Picture: Getty)
Self-storage has become big business since the pandemic. With rents at a record high, couch surfers are renting space to store their stuff while they stay with friends, and work-from-homers are hiring extra space to store possessions they don’t need on a daily basis to make room for a home office space.
If you have any unused space in your home – a garage, shed, or attic would be ideal – then you can rent it out to those who need somewhere to stow their stuff.
Stashbee matches up spaces with people who need them. Current offers include a 106 sq ft shed in Finchley Central, north London, on offer for £198pcm, or a 169 sq ft loft in Tooting, south London, for £99pcm.
Hosts and tenants agree how the space will be accessed, Stashbee draws up an inventory and holds a deposit in case of any damage.
Rent can be paid automatically into your bank.
Emily Thompson, 44, heard about Stashbee about six years ago. ‘I thought it sounded interesting,’ says Emily, who lives in a two-bedroom terrace in Ealing, west London.
‘My loft was essentially full of my junk, and I thought it was a really good opportunity to have a clear-out and make a bit of money.’
Bookings tend to be long term – people looking for somewhere to store their stuff between house moves, or because they simply don’t have enough storage at home.
‘My current renter is a person who is looking for somewhere to rent and is couch-surfing and house-sitting,’ says Emily, who works in health and science communications.
This is a low-effort way to make some money – when her tenants want to access their possessions they do so through the app, or by phone.
‘They normally give me a week or two’s notice, and everyone I have met has been really lovely and not at all demanding,’ says Emily.
She is currently earning about £65pcm from renting a space in her loft. ‘For me it is like free money and no hassle. For them it is a lot cheaper than renting a storage space from a big company, so they think they are getting a bargain.’
Get into the film business
All sorts of homes work as locations for film shoots (Picture: Getty/iStockphoto)
When Andy and Philip Barker bought their 1930s semi in East Dulwich, south London, 12 years ago they set about decorating it in authentic, cosy chic style, making the most of its period feature.
Andy, 49, is a photographer and spends her life hopping from one location to the next. The idea of seeing if anybody might be interested in using her home as a location was not a massive leap.
Before the pandemic Andy and Philip, 56, the CEO of Spitalfields City Farm, registered their house with location agency Amazing Space.
‘What happens is that companies come and have a recce, to see if it’s what they are looking for,’ says Andy. ‘You can’t take it personally if it doesn’t fit with what they want. But if they do want it they book it and all you have to do is make yourself scarce.’
Although Andy warns that you can’t expect a regular income as a location, over the past few years their house has been booked for three TV commercials and an independent film.
Payments have varied from £500 for a half-day commercial to £3,000 for the film, shot over several days when Andy and Philip were away.
The house isn’t huge – it has three bedrooms – but crews are able to book an adjacent church hall as overspill space if required, and there are no local parking restrictions.
If the house is booked, Andy and Philp – who have daughters aged six and ten, and Norrie, a whippet cross greyhound – spend time with friends to keep out from under the crew’s feet and have never had any problems with damage to the house.
‘The kids cause more chaos than they do,’ says Andy.
Georgia Brown, location manager at Amazing Space, says all sorts of homes work as locations, from suburban semis to warehouse flats to country mansions. Space is important, particularly if you want to hook a lucrative feature film.
‘Shoots always come with crew and talent, with numbers ranging from between ten and 100 people per shoot, along with all their equipment and vehicles,’ she says. ‘It is always a bonus to have a couple of rooms that can be used for them to store equipment, set up hair and make-up tables, or preparing catering.’
Fees vary wildly. Georgia says you can expect from £600-£800 per day for a photo shoot, up to £3,000 per day for a film.
Myles Waud, a partner at Locations London, agrees that homes with space will tend to get the most bookings. ‘They do not have to be really big, but it certainly helps to have open-plan space and ground-floor access for crews to operate easily with their equipment,’ he says.
If a booking is over several days, homeowners might have to move out temporarily.
‘Homeowners can stay in situ during location hires, even if they are over multiple days, but clearly they will not be able to use their property as normal,’ he says.
Rent the drive
If you live in central London, close to a station or near to a major venue then your drive could rake in some serious cash(Picture: Getty)
In London, every single square inch of space has a value.
Car parks are expensive and over the past decade, a number of online platforms have evolved matching drivers who need a regular space to park with homeowners who don’t need their drive.
Earnings will vary depending on where you are located but justpark.com, which has 45,000 private drives and parking spaces listed on its app, says its top earners in London rake in more than £300pcm or £4,000 per year.
If you live in central London, close to a station, or near to a major venue then your driveway could easily earn you some serious money, with only minimal effort.
Ruth Bloomfield Award-winning blogger and podcaster from Be Clever With Your Cash
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Every square inch has value.
