Private Rented Housing

Willie Rennie

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase to £9,000 the income tax threshold for income earned through renting a room in a property. (301452)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what average annual income each homeowner who rented out a spare room or rooms in their property obtained from such rents in the latest 12 month period for which information is available; (301062)

(2) how many homeowners in each region are renting out a room in their property;

(3) what the tax revenue to the Exchequer from homeowners renting out a room in their property was in each of the last five years.

All taxes are kept under review, with any changes announced by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.

Based on the Family Resources Survey, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimate that the average annual income obtained from renting out a room was £3,000 in 2007-08. Estimated numbers of homeowners renting out rooms by region are shown in the following table.

Government office region	Number of homeowners
North East	1,200
North West	5,600
Yorkshire and Humberside	4,500
East Midlands	4,200
West Midlands	6,100
East of England	11,600
London	40,200
South East	25,800
South West	20,300
Wales	3,700
Scotland	5,800
Northern Ireland	1,000
Total	130,000

HMRC’s administrative systems do not hold sufficiently detailed information to estimate the tax revenue attributable to renting out a room. Estimates of the cost of the rent-a-room income tax relief are provided in ‘Tax ready reckoner and tax reliefs’ published alongside the annual pre-Budget report and available on the Treasury’s website.

Volume 501: debated on Thursday 26 November 2009