Individuals! Your free room is a source of income through service exchange rental

In addition to the room in a private home, shared housing, and bed and breakfasts, Toitchezmoi.com offers a new form of alternative housing. It is called rental in exchange for services.

Housing in exchange for services

The idea is as follows: rent out part of your living space, not for rent but in exchange for a service or help. This help can be learning such as lessons or daily assistance. This includes grocery shopping, cleaning, childcare, or for a weekend. It could also be taking care of Médor. This formula tends to develop not only in big cities but everywhere. Indeed, this expansion is particularly true where the shortage or high cost of housing is felt.

Who can benefit?

All owners and tenants (with their owner's agreement) can rent a room or part of their house or apartment.
There are many examples. To avoid falling into the stereotype of seniors seeking help, even if they are potentially more numerous, nowadays there are many people likely to offer housing in exchange for services.

Example

Let's take the case of Pauline, 27 years old, a night nurse and single mother of a 2-year-old girl. Pauline juggles with her parents, her neighbor, and her nanny to have her little girl cared for at night. She would be much better off at home without being shuffled from one place to another. Especially since Pauline has an apartment with 2 bedrooms. She would be delighted to host a person for a reduced rent and in exchange for looking after her little girl. This supportive housemate could be young or older with some experience. But above all, she should have the desire to do well and share.

Another example of Host-tenant

Xavier and Myriam, a couple in their fifties, parents of a large family of four children living in Lyon. The eldest daughter has just left home for a year. Like everyone else, they still have loans and incidentally need to pick up their youngest son, aged 9, from school 3 days a week. They want to offer a room at a reduced price. This offer would be in exchange for this service. Thus, they benefit both from additional income and a service rendered.

Useful tips

Know that before hosting someone, you must have a furnished room of more than 9m2 at home. It must therefore offer free access to amenities (bathroom, toilet, kitchen, laundry) and be able to be closed. It is therefore necessary to provide a lock offering the tenant a minimum of privacy. Wi-fi access is also recommended. A set of keys giving access to their new living place is also advised.
Drafting a work contract is strongly recommended to avoid any disputes (hours, holidays, tasks requested ...).

Useful! If the owner rents one or more rooms of their main residence furnished, they may be exempt from tax on the rent received, subject to conditions. This exemption applies when the annual rent per square meter excluding charges does not exceed in 2014: €183 in Ile-de-France and €133 in other regions. This applies provided that the accommodation constitutes the tenant's main residence. This is, for example, the case for students.

Important : The services giving entitlement to the tax advantage are services rendered at home to meet your daily needs.

These include the following activities:

• childcare and/or tutoring
• assistance to elderly or disabled persons
• house maintenance and household chores
• small gardening tasks
• small DIY tasks
• IT and internet assistance services

We alert you to the importance of framing your relationships with a written contract to anticipate possible problems. We also recommend entrusting the drafting of said contract to a legal professional. This allows it to be legally adapted to your needs.

Don't forget!

A contract obliges you, protects you: do not hesitate to consult us to be put in touch with our legal partners.
Come offer your room for rent in exchange for services for a period that suits you. It can be short, medium, or long.
We are waiting for you on toitchezmoi.com. We will guide you. It's easy! Try rental in exchange for services and you'll adopt it!