House costs
One person not hoping for a speedy end to the recession is Stephen Rapoport, founder of crashpadder.com. His site – designed to bring together travellers wanting inexpensive accommodation and people who have a spare room to rent out – was launched in October 2008 and now has 7,000 members in 57 countries, a rapid growth rate he attributes to our straitened times.
The crashpadder principle is similar to B&B but less formal: if all you have is a sofa-bed and a shared bathroom that’s fine if you charge accordingly; prices on the site range from £15 to £70 per night. Membership is free for hosts and guests who, on joining, provide a profile. Once a booking is made, crashpadder.com charges a £3 booking fee and 10 per cent commission on the rent.
When accommodation is requested, guests enter their credit card details so their identity can be verified. The site holds a written record of who is staying where and when. Beyond that, hosts and guests are responsible for their security. They are encouraged to be as frank as possible in their profiles, to scrutinise each other on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, and always to give feedback once a visit is over.
“The first thing everyone asks me about crashpadder is, ‘Is it safe?’” says Rapoport. “We are conditioned by the media to suspect the worst, but in reality, the vast majority of people are kind, considerate and generous.
A problem is much more likely to be that someone is untidy or arrives late.” Some 25 per cent of accommodation requests are rejected, usually due to dates not being available, but also because hosts don’t feel guests will be compatible. “Use common sense. If you don’t like the sound of them, turn them down,” says Carolyn Rodgers, 62, who charges £28 a night for a “small double” in London. She has had several good guests.
You need not lose your spare room completely. Many hosts advertise rooms during university terms when their children are away, and weekday letting has the same advantage. Various sites now offer this, including fivenights.com, yours2share.com, spareroom.co.uk and simply-let.com/split the week. Caroline Saxon, 53, who lets a room in Birmingham four nights a week, chose mondaytofriday.com. Established in 2004, it has more than 400 home-owners on its books, each of whom is charged £29.95 for a three-month listing which can be updated or changed.
The site does not provide a screening service, but it gives links to lodger-referencing agencies, the Government’s rent-a-room scheme and insurance firms specialising in home-letting. It also provides a set of guidelines for landlords and tenants, and a draft tenancy agreement that can be downloaded.
“I liked the way I could be anonymous on the site until I felt ready to give out my details,” says Saxon. She had four replies to her posting and invited a professional single man in his forties to meet her and see the house. Before he moved in she took up a reference and informed her mortgage and insurance companies. “He is quiet and considerate, the perfect lodger.”
The spirit of bartering is alive and well on sites such as Workaway.info, helpx.net and helpandhost.net, on which householders offer board and lodging in exchange for, on average, five hours’ work a day. Volunteers, who pay to register, range from gappers to professionals taking a sabbatical and they offer varied skills. Some householders specify “mature” helpers.
Many householders on these sites live in remote regions and are seeking help on farms or B&B businesses, but there are also Londoners wanting help with decorating and busy professionals needing help around the house.
Mike Copp, 58, who is wheelchair-bound and needs help at his south coast bungalow, has had helpers from Germany, Spain and the USA since signing up to helpx.net 18 months ago. He got to know them via email before they arrived: “I give them a clear idea of how I expect them to live in my house.”
Again, the sites limit their responsibility to putting host and guest in touch, but they do give guidelines. Some hosts communicate with would-be helpers by phone, some ask for references. Check that guests have the appropriate visas and that they will be covered by household insurance.
“I made it clear that either of us could end the arrangement immediately if we were unhappy,” says Copp. “I’ve felt apprehensive before each of our helpers has arrived, but I’ve never had a bad experience.”
Written by Serena Allott, this article was first published in the September 2010 issue of Saga Magazine. Serena's opinions are her own and for general information only. Always seek independent, professional, financial advice.