Households making up to £2,000 a year renting out their driveways and garages
Homeowners see demand for private spaces rise despite lockdowns over the last year
Householders in more than 25 cities around the UK are making more than £1,000 a year renting out their driveways to strangers, with some making double that.
New data shows that in London savvy homeowners are making an average of £2,212 each year letting other motorists use their drive, garage or other private parking area. Those in Brighton and Edinburgh are earning similar amounts, bringing in an average £2,059 and £1,941 per year respectively.
The figures from parking operator Your Parking Space, show that despite long periods of lockdown over the last 12 months, homeowners are making more money than ever, possibly because commuters are trying to avoid public transport.
Householders can list their properties on the firm’s site and set their own costs, with charges ranging from £2 to £25 an hour or more for privately-owned spots in the most desirable city centre locations.
The average income across the 50 most profitable locations is £1,057.88, with particularly high demand in Bristol, Leeds, Oxford, Manchester, Cambridge, Birmingham and Reading, where the average annual income was above £1,300.
In Scotland the second two highest earning cities were Aberdeen and Glasgow, earning residents £1,298 and £1,129 respectively. In Wales the top two were Cardiff and Newport with £1,203 and £681 respectively, while Belfast took top spot in Northern Ireland with households earning a handy £1,109 extra.
Harrison Woods, CEO of Your Parking Space, said: “Despite an unprecedented year, the demand for rented driveway parking remained high.
“This is most likely because many people abandoned public transport and, where allowed, chose to drive and park as close as possible to their place of work, which more often than not was on a pre-bookable empty driveway.”
Some similar schemes such as Just Park and CoCharger are taking the driveway rental concept further and offering electric car owners access to private charging points at members’ homes, while Your Parking Space announced last year it was partnering with Atlas Hotels to offer its members access to the leisure chain’s car parks and chargers.
