Anthony Paine, CEO of Stashbee – Britain’s leading peer-to-peer space marketplace, discusses the dormant spaces that can fuel the UK’s passive incomes
Research from RAC Home Insurance has shown that 5.7 million garages out of the estimated 11 million in the UK are no longer used for their intended purposes of storing cars.
With consumer price inflation rising 5.4%, resulting in the cost of living increasing at the fastest rate seen in 30 years, finding innovative ways to source extra income from unused space could not be more timely. The UK’s leading peer-to-peer storage space marketplace, Stashbee, has compiled their three-point plan for renting out garage space, helping Brits to develop a consistent source of passive income.1) Make cash from families renovating or moving house
When a family downsizes or renovates their home, having access to enough storage space can be a problem. Many parents find themselves scrambling to store items like toys, books or clothes. In the hustle and bustle of modern life, these families need a secure and affordable option, often at the very last minute.
Here’s where you (and your garage) come in. These rentals are perfect, because they involve a set period of time. That means you know exactly how long you can bank on the extra income before moving to a new tenant.
2) Offer storage space for small businesses
Another option is to offer up your garage space to a small business looking for a safe place to store their merchandise or office furniture. With so many companies moving towards remote working during the pandemic, it might be an easier sell than you think.
Start-ups often rely on co-working spaces to avoid paying expensive rent (which means they don’t have storage space of their own). That’s where you and your garage can swoop in to say the day.
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When your garage becomes a ‘pseudo-warehouse’ of sorts, you’ll be filling the gap for a CEO who could end up thanking you in their autobiography one day. With a record low of only 18.1 million sq ft of available industrial space in the UK, could your garage space become a new home for the 2.2 million SMEs in the retail and wholesale sectors that already use Stashbee for space?
3) Become eligible for potential tax breaks
Free money! Okay, not quite. But as it turns out, renting out your garage can actually result in a significant tax break and savings.
Thanks to new laws from 2017, the first £1,000 in yearly earnings from property income is tax-free. This means that the first thousand pounds you earn from renting out your garage as storage space won’t be taxed, as long as it is the only income you receive from the property.
You could reinvest the extra money as savings, and you’ll be sitting with a healthy balance in a couple of years.
Anthony Paine, co-founder and CEO of Stashbee comments on the relationship Brits have with space. “Physical space is a fundamentally scarce resource – there’s a limited amount on planet earth. Urbanisation, globalisation, population growth, increasing cost of living and property price inflation are just some of the factors making it harder for people to find spare space at an accessible price, where they need it, and with the access and security features they require.“Stashbee solves this problem by providing a simple, smart and sustainable way for people to store their things locally, whilst also empowering people with space to become micro-entrepreneurs.”
