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Increasing numbers of Londoners are taking in lodgers as a way of earning extra money during the downturn.
The practice inspired sitcoms such as Rising Damp in the Seventies but now a more modern version is taking off — Monday-to-Friday room rental.
The number of people seeking weekday-only digs in the capital has doubled in the past year, according to
MondaytoFriday.com, one of several websites that have sprung up to meet the demand.
The company has 14 per cent more homeowners offering rooms on its website than last spring, with the total figure now nearly 3,000.
Easyroommate.co.uk reported a three-fold increase in the number of landlords registering in the hope of finding a lodger in the final quarter of last year.
The founder and managing director of MondaytoFriday.com, Judy Niner, said: “Part-time lodging gives homeowners an extra £300 to £500 a month, while not intruding on their weekends when they want their privacy and space back.
Lodgers love the fact they can live closer to work and cut down on commuting bills, but pay half the cost of renting a room, flat or hotel room in London.
“Everyone's trying to make a bit of extra money when the economy is so uncertain and this gives people more flexibility if they aren't able or don't want to move house in the current market. If you've got some extra space, you might as well rent it out.
There are plenty of commuters into London who would rather stay in town during the week if they could find somewhere cheap enough.”
Landlords are taking advantage of “rent-a-room” legislation that allows people to make up to £4,250 a year tax-free from letting out a room in their home.
Websites charge them a fixed fee for advertising their property and link them up to potential lodgers.
'IT'S BEEN REALLY EASY AND NOT AT ALL INTRUSIVE'
Victoria Paton-Smith, 34, took on her first Monday-to-Friday lodger at her home in Balham last October and has been encouraging friends and family to do the same.
“It's been fantastic, really easy and not at all intrusive,” she said. “We'd had an au pair before, but then I decided to stop work to look after our three young children, and it seemed silly not to make money from our spare room rather than spending it while using it.”
The family's lodger is a 19-year-old who lives with his mother in east London at weekends, but wanted to be closer to his work in Balham during the week.
“He was fed up with the hour-plus commute and wanted some independence without the cost and hassle of fully moving out of home,” Mrs Paton-Smith said.
“We hardly see him as he works late and often goes out during the week. Then we have the house to ourselves at the weekends. Our cleaner does his room once a week and he gets his linen changed every fortnight, but he does his own cooking and washing.”
This cross between a flat and a hotel arrangement nets the family £300 a month, which they use to spend on their own household extras such as a gardener and baby-sitting bills.
