‘I Earnt Enough From Subletting My Rented Room To Jack In My £20K A Year Job’

Even used condoms under the bed and period blood on the mattress hasn't persuaded Professional Dropout Emma to give up illegally renting out her room

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by Sophie Cullinane |
Published on

Every time Emma hears her neighbour's alarm - exactly the same ring tone as hers - go off at 6.30am she feels that instant feeling of doom. Work. But then a second later she remembers: she doesn't need to get up. In fact she hasn't set foot in an office for three months. She's a Professional Dropout who jacked in her £20k/a year job working a in a nine-to-five job selling advertising space in a trade magazine when she realised secretley subletting her room to tourists could earn her just as much.

‘When I hear my neighbour leave to go to work, I know that she’ll be spending the day sat at her desk, staring at the computer screen, and taking orders from someone else, whereas my plans are never more extensive than packing a bag and dropping off a key,’ she tells The Debrief of her new-found financial plans. Emma makes anything up to £1500 a month, which is enough to cover the rent the £400 rent on her flat in East London, plus enough spending money to go out twice a week, buy food and pay for her bills. She’s almost as well off now as she was when she has a job; only now she doesn’t actually have to work.

Thanks to a sudden surge in private rental websites, Emma's not the only one supplementing her income with a touch of casual (and yes illegal) subletting. Last week The Sunday Times reported that fraud officers are currently investigating a growing number of claims that tenants in council and social housing are breaking the law by subletting their properties out on Airbnb. But it's happening amongst young renters, too - motivated by yes the easy-cash but also the fact that the average wage for women aged between 22-29 is only £20,265 before tax and the average cost of renting a home is £819 a month – or about £10k a year. And that’s outside of London.

For Emma, it's the solution not only to her cash-flow issues but also got her out of a job she hated. ‘I got the idea from a friend of mine who’s been renting out her flat on Airbnb for a couple of years,’ she explains. ‘She’d made an absolute fortune doing it – probably more than £10K over the summer – and I was absolutely hating my job and really looking for a way out. I looked at what she was doing and to be honest my entry-level job where everyone treated me like shit seemed like it wasn't going to take me anywhere. We’re all getting ripped off by our landlords anyway, we might as well try and make a bit of cash out of our shitty situation.’ Her landlords have no idea that she’s listed her flat on multiple apartment-renting websites, but whenever someone expresses interest in it, all she does is meet them outside her flat, give them one of the spare keys she’s had cut, and go to one of her mates's houses to sleep on their sofa and pay them back in food/fun times with the cash she's just made.

We’re all getting ripped off by our landlords anyway, we might as well try and make a bit of cash out of our shitty situation.

But Emma’s friend actually owns her flat so she was within her rights to rent it out – Emma was renting; making what she's doing illegal. According to Shelter, subletting a property is only allowed with express permission from your landlord. Sublet without their permission, and you risk the landlord terminating your tenancy without warning. Make a profit from subletting, and your landlord could take you to court to claim damages.

Isn't she afraid of getting caught out? ‘Well, given most of the websites run on user reviews there's no official inspection of your flat before listing it. So there’s no way of telling if the room your renting is privately owned or rented. My landlords are a relatively elderly couple – that’s why my rent is so low, they haven’t changed it in years – so I was pretty sure that they weren’t going to stumble across it online. But it’s worth the risk as far as I’m concerned, what are my landlords going to do? If they ever see people staying in my room, I’ll just say that they’re my mates. And the demand for a property to rent in London is insane. I’ve got four friends who do this in London, Manchester, Brighton and Bristol – all without getting caught.'

I just stay in one of my friend’s beds or sofas. No one cares – we all end up staying at each other’s houses at the end of a boozy night out anyway – and it’s never for more than a week

But if the threat of being taken to court by their landlord isn’t a deterrent, surely the practicalities of clearing out your flat to let a constant stream of strangers into your personal space would be enough to put you off the idea? Isn’t the whole thing a bit of a faff? ‘Well, I store away my clothes, photographs, laptop and iPad away in a locked cupboard before the guests arrive, which is a bit of a pain in the arse,’ explains Emma, ‘And I had to bulk buy a load of sheets in Ikea because the place has to look kind of hotel-y if you want people to write good reviews – and without good reviews, you can’t charge good enough rates.’

As well as doing a lot more cleaning and primping than a normal tenant living on their own would ever have to do, Emma also has vacate her flat every time someone wants to stay, which is about 50 per cent of the time. Sounds pretty annoying. ‘It’s not that bad,’ she insists. ‘I just stay in one of my friend’s beds or sofas. No one cares – we all end up staying at each other’s houses at the end of a boozy night out anyway – and it’s never for more than a week. I just buy them all food and cook them dinner to say thanks for having me.’

I once found a used condom under my bed which wasn’t that much fun

Even so, Emma admits that it’s not all afternoons at the pub and long strolls along the canal – there’s a fair amount of work involved. ‘Some of the people leave my flat in a pretty gross state,’ she concedes. ‘I’ve come back to dozens of beer cans and alcohol stains all over me living room. There’s also been period blood on my mattress, which I had to get specially cleaned, and I once found a used condom under my bed which wasn’t that much fun.’ Still, Emma believes that knowing strangers have had sex in your bed is a small price to pay. ‘I try not to think about it, but either way I’d rather go to bed in someone else’s sex mattress than I would go back to the office I hated so much. Anyway, it’s not for ever. I’m only going to do it until I figure out what I actually want to do with my life. Just for one more summer, tops.’

Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane

Photograph: Ada Hamza

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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