I’ve made £69,000 from common feature at home – it’s easy money and here’s how you can too
A SAVVY homeowner has managed to make a whopping £69,000 from a common feature in people's homes.
Emma Townsend has been renting out her parking spaces since 2016 and says it's "really easy money".
The 46-year-old utilises her prime location by Bristol Airport to bring in hundreds of customers a year.
She first started listing her spaces on the YourParkingSpace app to earn some extra cash alongside her full time job working in a hot tub show room.
When the pandemic hit and she had to stop working she was keen to keep up her side hustle and has since turned it into her full-time job.
Emma told The Sun: "It suddenly got really busy when everything opened back up again and I realised I could earn a pretty decent wage.
READ MORE IN MONEY
"Now, all of my spaces are full almost every weekend and even during the week in holiday periods.";
The mum-of-three revealed how a handy paddock round the back of her house allows her to rent out even more spaces than if it was just her driveway.
Drivers can come and drop off their vehicle in the spot in front of her home and pop the keys through her letter box.
From there Emma will move the car round to the fenced-in space, which can fit around 50 cars in it at once.
Most read in Money
She reckons she makes around £5,000 a month, including money made through rival app JustPark.
Using both of the platforms Emma splits the number of spaces and charges £6.50 a day - a mere 10% of the £65 charged by the airport.
She said: "We get a lot of commuters who come and park up before flying out for work in Glasgow for example during the week, then coming home on weekends.
"Because my prices are so much lower than the airport, I get a lot of regulars too if they travel a lot for work."
Among the rest of her clients are of course holidaymakers looking to leave their cars for weeks at a time but for a much lower cost.
Emma's house is approximately 0.6miles from the terminal at the airport, making her one of the prime spots for cheap parking.
It means that drivers don't have to travel far with their luggage on the way there or on the way home after a long flight.
The only slight drawback of her parking enterprise for Emma is that it can mean she has to stay up or wake up early.
She said: "It’s really easy money and work but it’s a bit tiring because of flight times.
"I can't leave the cars in the drop-off spot for too long because of how busy it is so it means people might come and drop their vehicle off as early as 4am.
"And then others might need to come pick up the car as late as 2am, plus if flights are delayed it's even later."
For late night or early morning drop-offs though she has set up key safes by her front door to enable a secure system.
How to rent out your parking space
You can lease any type of parking space you own or are authorised to lease including driveways, garages, off-street parking spaces, residential parking or commercial parking.
Emma says one of the big things that helps get in more booking is having really good reviews.
She said: "Being nice and friendly is important because you want them to leave you good feedback on your page so others know you're reliable.
"There's a lot of competition in the area, one of my neighbours on my road also rents out their spaces, but five-star reviews really help."
If you provide a good service then drivers are more likely to choose you next time too, Emma said she often recognises drivers or cars who may have dropped off their car the summer before too.
Whether you want to lease your space 24/7 or set specific availability, the site's calendar allows you to adjust your availability to suit you.
Earnings over £10 are paid out automatically at the start of each month into your bank account or PayPal account.
When listing your space, YourParkingSpace provides a suggestion for your hourly, daily and monthly rates.
This recommendation is based on the average market value of booked parking on the platform within a 0.5-mile radius of your location.
YourParkingSpace in particular doesn't charge any listing fees or ongoing maintenance fees on your listing.
Instead, it adds a 20% uplift onto your set price and advertises the parking space at that price.
The total price is paid by the driver, but users get 100% of the rate they set.
Emma also uses JustPark which is free as well, but to cover the cost of processing your payment, it does charge owners a 3% fee for each booking they receive.
For example, if you set your price at £10, there would be a 30p fee and you would receive £9.70.
For longer-term or rolling monthly bookings (over two months) it deducts 20% from your first month's payment - but after that the fee reverts back to the regular 3%.
Of course you'll make more or less money depending on where you live and how popular the area is.
If, like Emma, you live in an in-demand location and have more than just one space free you could bring in thousands.
Research by YourParkingSpace recently found homeowners who live near airports across the country earned almost £500,000 combined last year by renting out their driveways to holidaymakers.
Rented-out spaces close to airports in Greater London collectively brought in over £293,000, followed by £79,288 in the East of England and nearly £32,000 in Manchester.
But, Emma said: "Yes being close to the airport is helpful but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone near a city anyway.
"It's so easy and if you do get really busy it might be easier if you have someone else in the house to help you, I do it on my own which is why it's a bit tiring sometimes."
For example, we previously spoke to a business owner who has made £600 from renting out a single spare space in front of her house using YourParkingSpace.
She doesn't live near an airport but instead, just outside Cambridge, providing bargain parking for tourists.
Tax rules around earning extra income
It's worth remembering that anything you earn with an extra income like this can be taxed.
You can earn up to £1,000 without paying tax thanks to the trading allowance.
The odd jobs you can claim tax-free include money made at car boot sales, online selling or auction, according to HMRC.
It could also include money made from food delivery or by charging other people for using your equipment or tools.
Once you earn more than £1,000 a year, you need to complete a self-assessment tax return and start paying tax on your extra earnings.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
How much that is will depend on how much you already earn.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
You can also join our new Sun Money to share stories and tips and engage with the consumer team and other group members.