Hundred SummersRent a room calculator: £7,500 tax-free, and the better method above it
Up to £7,500 a year from a lodger or a room in your own home is tax-free. Above it, compare the tax under the scheme and under the normal expenses method, and see what you keep. Your figures never leave your browser.
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Worked example
Computed when this page was built by the same engine that runs the calculator above, so the figures below and the live tool can never disagree. Change any input above to see your own.
| Inputs | |
|---|---|
| Rent received a year | £9,600 |
| Costs of letting | £1,200 |
| Other taxable income | £40,000 |
| Results | |
|---|---|
| Tax under the Rent a Room Scheme | £420 |
| Tax under the normal method | £1,680 |
| From April 2027 (scheme) | £462 |
| Kept after costs and tax | £7,980 |
The next question
What would letting a whole property make after tax? →Buy-to-let calculator
Or answer it with everything else: the full Hundred Summers plan connects your pay, pensions, savings, property, tax and spending year by year, and stress-tests them across 500 simulated market histories.
Read the guide
- Buy-to-let in 2026: the tax, the surcharge, and the sale →Section 24 explained with real numbers, why a higher-rate landlord can lose money on a property that makes a cash profit, plus the additional-property stamp duty, the April 2027 surcharge, and capital gains tax when you sell.
The scheme
The Rent a Room Scheme makes the first £7,500 a year from letting furnished accommodation in your only or main home tax-free: a lodger, a room let to a student, or short-term guests. The limit is per property, so it halves to £3,750 each if two people receive the rent. Everything you charge counts towards it, including meals, cleaning and laundry. It doesn't cover a self-contained flat let as someone's home, or a room let as an office.
Above the limit
You choose each year. Under the scheme you pay tax on the receipts over £7,500 with no expenses deducted; under the normal method, on the receipts less your actual costs, which suits high costs or a loss. Either way the income is property income, so from April 2027 it carries the 2% property income surcharge outside Scotland. Rent from a whole property is covered by the rental income tax calculator and the buy-to-let calculator.