Your house can make money for you while you're out

When you're out at work all day, what is your house doing for you? You might not expect much from it - aside from warming up for your return and keeping the burglars out, but there's a growing band of people who expect far more from their property: they want it to make money for them while they are at work.

Daniele Fiandaca, an entrepreneur from Islington, decided he wanted his warehouse apartment to pull its weight, and now he makes up to £450 a day from people renting out his home as a place to work during the day.

How?

Admittedly it lends itself to being used for work: it's a stone's throw from Silicon Roundabout; it's 1,300 square feet; and can comfortably take 25 people - 12 of whom can sit around the table together.

He gets people using it for everything from photo shoots to management awaydays, hackathons and even to hold yoga classes.

It works for the people renting the space, because it's a fraction of the price of renting office space or booking a meeting room in a hotel, and Daniele is making reasonable cash. He says: "I've been doing it for four months now and while I won't be giving up my day job, every little helps, and our family got nice Christmas presents this year."

He cut down the work he has to do by signing up to Vrumi. a company that specialises in renting properties out as workplaces. They took the photos, filmed a 360 degree tour, and they manage the bookings.

He adds: "As we are predominantly dealing with businesses, there is far less risk, and so far everyone has treated the flat with the utmost respect. We have however put locks on the bedroom doors just to shut off our most private space from prying eyes and give us somewhere to lock away valuables."

He charges £250 for Fridays, £300 for most weekdays and £450 for Saturday or Sunday. He says he would recommend it for anyone.
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What can you make?

At the moment this service only operates in London, so if you live elsewhere you'll have to do your own marketing - which makes it much harder work.

Even in London not every place is so large, or in such a great location, so not everyone can charge the same sorts of rates as Daniele. However, the site is currently advertising a room in Sw16 for £40 a day, a large reception room in Hackney from £55 a day, an eco lodge in Elstree Hill from £80 a day, and well-appointed garden shed in NW10 for £85 a day.

The general idea is that if you have a study or a large reception room that's not used in the day, you have the ability to make anything from £40 to £450 a day from it.

Would you do it?

You might not think that anyone would pay to work in your home, but you'd be surprised. There are plenty of self-employed people and small businesses with no permanent home. There are also plenty of people with families that mean they cannot effectively work from home - your small, quiet, study could be just the thing they need.

Of course it doesn't suit everyone. You will need to keep the place clean and tidy, and ready for demanding guests. Nobody wants to pay to work in an over-cluttered study where they have to work around piles of your paperwork or laundry.

You also need to let your insurer know. If you use a site like Vrumi, they will run an ID check on every guest, so you have a reasonable level of security. You can also arrange to meet the person using your property and ask them any questions, but you need to check you're not invalidating your insurance just in case.

But what do you think? Does the idea appeal? Let us know in the comments.