Rent a room relief for Air BnB in an annexe

Is rent a room relief available for air Bnb in a self contained unit in the garden of a main residen

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Client rents out a self contained unit in their garden via Air BnB. About 20 lets a year totalling 80 nights a year.

On the one hand I have read that self contained units do not qualify for rent a room but I can't see that in HMRCs guidance.

HMRC 223 (2019) says you can use rent a room if letting activity amounts to a trade like a guest house or a BnB. I can't see why this Air BnB should not qualify as a trade.

The only thing though is that further down in HMRC 223 it says you cannot claim rent a room if it is not part of your main home. However is some-one's garden not part of their home? When I sell my home the garden will be included.

Is "part of your home" defined more precisely anywhere or should the client claim the rent a room  on the basis that it is a trade conducted from their home which to me includes their garden

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By CJaneH
15th Dec 2019 16:11

Rent a room relief was created originally with the idea that it would create extra places for people to live. The idea being that you let a spare bedroom. If this 'self contained unit' in the garden has a bathroom and kitchen it would appear to be property letting, probably under furnished holiday lets

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By JamesESmith
16th Dec 2019 09:04

Think of it from a PPR relief point of view. Clearly if you have a two homes on one title, only one of them can have PPR relief available - the one the client lives in.

it sounds like your client has two dwellings, not one, on the site. Check the guidance on dwellings to see if its a temporary division or not. your wording suggest its "in the garden" so completely separate.

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By SXGuy
16th Dec 2019 09:16

Its not "Part of your home" if its separated by a garden, that garden is Land, not a building.

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