Rent a Room Scheme - Do relatives qualify?

[anjo56]

Our son lives with us currently and is paying rent. Is it possible to claim tax exemption upto £7.5k (it will be considerably less) under the Rent a Room scheme for a family member or does it have to be an external person? I haven't been able to find anything on HMRC website to clarify the position.
Many thanks.

[AGoodman]

It's Part 7 of Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/5/contents

There's nothing that would prevent you using the relief just because the lodger is a family member.

[taxaminute]

as mentioned above, no mention of family member affecting the allowance.

note if you do charge above the allowance you'll be able to claim the £7.5k allowance as deductible expense and then the difference will be taxbale eg £8.5k rent received then £1k will be taxable.

You can also change to claim ACTUAL expenses eg mortgage repairs etc but its unlikely to be anywhere near £7.5k for most people