Fancy bolstering your income this summer? If you have an extra room and additional dining space, taking in a visiting language student could provide a financial uplift for your household.
Dublin homeowners may earn in excess of €400 weekly by accommodating two adolescents. Whether you’re saving for a family vacation, home refurbishments or simply boosting your nest egg, it can prove to be quite beneficial.
On an annual basis, more than 120,000 students venture to Ireland for English language learning. This industry contributes a substantial €130 million annually to our economy, according to the Department of Higher Education. The high demand for lodging is evident in the abundance of social media petitions from city dwellers imploring homeowners to welcome these students. If your home happens to be situated near any of Ireland’s 200 English language schools, chances are, you will be pinpointed by algorithms.
Opening up your home also furnishes an opportunity for your family to explore various cultures, build lasting international friendships, and form an integral piece of someone’s Irish experience, as per the promotional materials. However, the primary appeal for numerous Irish households remains the monetary incentive.
Behaving as a host can convert a vacant room into instant extra revenue. The sum you may earn hinges on the number of students you welcome, the length of their stay and your proficiency in budgeting.
Our typical hosts span young families to retirees, says Host Family Dublin Ireland director, Marica Killi. This agency liaises between language schools, families and foreign students.
“I began hosting during my maternity leave—it’s an effective method to augment your income,” shares Killi.
A group of students actively seeking accommodation whom the Irish people may readily recognise are the tweens and teenagers seen in groups around Grafton Street and the Dart every summer, primarily from Spain, Italy and France.
“They enrol in a three week cultural summer programme, commencing their mornings with language learning and spending their afternoons on excursions,” explains Killi.
“These students appreciate welcoming hosts and a neatly maintained home. In exchange, they receive budget-friendly lodging. Their goal is to savour a genuine ‘homestay’ experience,” she concludes.
During the summer months, homeowners who welcome a teenage student into a single room of their house could make €238 per week, according to Killi, a representative of her company. Over a period of three weeks, that amounts to €714 and homeowners have the freedom to host additional students for the entire summer.
The hosting requirements include providing a breakfast with items like cereal and toast, a packed lunch resembling that which would be provided to school-aged children and a dinner meal shared with the family, explains Killi.
There is another group of younger students, under 18 years of age, who typically visit as part of school trips that last a week, often with teachers and school friends. Homeowners usually host between two to four of these students, explains Killi.
The average weekly earning for a homeowner hosting two students in a twin room for five nights is €420, points out Killi. This returns doubles if the homeowner can accommodate four students, with a premium rate especially for hosting teachers.
Several homeowners prefer to have continuous bookings. The process describes receiving the guests, preparing the room after their departure with some days of respite, and then receiving the next lot. This practice is common during the term and throughout the year, reveals Killi.
For families that host four students for a period beyond four weeks, earnings can reach up to €3,360.
There are “Intern bookings” that cater to students between 17 to 19 years of age, who come to Ireland for a three to four-week work experience as part of the Erasmus programme. Hosting two students in a twin room for a month would earn about €1,700, which includes food and accommodation.
This kind of arrangement can be very lucrative for elderly homeowners, says Killi. She points out that many people with four-bedroom homes find they have excess space after their children leave home and this offers great potential for income generation.
While the cost of hosting a student does affect household expenses, a well-planned household budget would know that there is little-to-no significant difference in meal costs when feeding either four or five people.
Lessons from a homeowner in Co Wicklow, who had put her corporate career on hold while she raised her children, suggest planning larger family meals and shopping sensibly. She found hosting language students during the primary school years provided a useful source of income while the family adapted to subsisting on a single income.
The experience of hosting students proved to be a beneficial extra income source while she was unemployed. To her, the students became akin to additional family members. With a family that included five members and a student guest, lengthy electric showers could noticeably push up costs. On occasion, their student guest would bring fresh insights about budgeting.
She recalls that the Spanish students in particular were usually very considerate when it came to water conservation, thus long showers were never a concern with them. Families with younger students would typically involve them in weekend family trips, adding to the considerations of expenditure and transportation.
She emphasized the necessity of appropriate transportation to accommodate everyone when venturing out together. At that time, their family had a people mover which served perfectly for their needs, but she advised it needs to be a consideration.
Furthermore, a key benefit of the income earned through hosting a student is its potential eligibility for tax exemption. Under the rent-a-room scheme, property owners can make an income of €14,000 tax-free annually. Despite the fact that this relief generally does not apply to tenants staying less than 28 days, full and part-time students, including language students and those with disabilities, are exemptions.
To claim the rent-a-room relief, taxpayers, whether PAYE or self-assessed, must declare the income in their income tax return, Revenue stipulates. Bearing in mind, no expenses can be deducted while claiming this relief.
The whole income becomes taxable where earnings from student accommodation exceeds €14,000 within a calendar year, though some expenses can be claimed. Importantly, keep records of your earnings if you are hosting a student and claiming the relief, Revenue advises.
Income considered for the rent-a-room relief is overlooked for income tax purposes and thus will not impact the eligibility for certain benefits such as the home carer’s tax credit.
However, it’s essential to remember that the rent-a-room relief won’t be applicable if your foreign student is a brief guest who books through an online platform like Airbnb. The student must reside in your home in the context of it being their residential accommodation, not a temporary stay or Airbnb let.
We welcome personal finance inquiries to discuss in our communications. Catch up on our latest newsletter on affordable loans for home retrofitting if you missed it.