SpareRoom Blog

After sending out thousands of emails at the start of the week to update everyone on the progress of Raise the Roof your responses have been pouring in. Thanks to everyone who took the time to sign the petition, write to their MP or just email us to let us know we had your support.

Amongst the responses we’re getting are several from homeowners worried about interest rates rising in the coming months and years and how this will affect their repayments when they’re already pushed financially. Many are now looking into renting out a room but are put off by the limit on tax free earning. For these people (and there will be thousands out there) the opportunity to charge a fair market rate for their room as an incentive to take in a lodger is paramount. Without a fair incentive we’re shutting off a vital supply of affordable, good quality rented accommodation.

The biggest argument we hear against the raise is that it will encourage homeowners to charge more for their rooms than they should be. This is unlikely for one main reason – if homeowners put prices up then renters will simply opt for cheaper rooms in shared houses instead. We’re not suggesting anyone should charge an unfair amount for their room and the market will prevent that from happening anyway (don’t forget, the market for shared accommodation is a huge one in the UK, it’s not just a few people taking in lodgers!).

Thanks again for all the support we’ve had and to all the people who don’t agree but took the time to tell us why. If we believe that what we’re doing is right we should be prepared to take all views on board.

Cheers

Matt

As Westminster slowed down for Christmas, so too did the Raise the Roof Campaign. I’m happy to announce that we’re picking up speed again and we have a few things to report.

Firstly, we’re still getting letters and emails from MPs in response to the letters we sent in November. Many of these are encouraging whilst a few are more hesitant to support anything that involves increasing a tax threshold in the current economic climate. With responses from all three main political parties, Treasury, HMRC and DCLG we’re confident the message is starting to get heard in the right places.

Following an informative and productive meeting with DCLG we did some polling (at their suggestion) to gauge the likelihood of an increased threshold for the Rent a Room Scheme leading to an increase in the supply of rooms becoming available. We asked:

Would you be more likely to rent out your spare room if filling out a tax return wasn’t an issue?

87% of those who responded said yes with just 13% saying no, a clear indicator that those who see no real evidence that an increased threshold would have the desired effect need to think again.

The next stage for the campaign is to get a supportive MP to table an Early Day Motion (EDM) so we can demonstrate the level of parliamentary support the campaign has. We’re in the process of discussing this now and will hopefully have more news in the next week or two.

That’s it for now. If you haven’t signed the petition yet there’s still time and more letters to MPs will only add to the level of awareness. In an election year any issue MPs see as important to their constituents is seen as worth investigating by them (especially in marginal seats where a few hundred votes could make the difference).

Cheers (and Happy New Year)

Matt