As part of our Housing Election we asked the five main political parties if they supported raising the Rent a Room Scheme tax-free threshold. Four out of the five parties supported the suggestion but the Green Party has been the first to commit to an actual proposal. Today, in their party manifesto, the Green Party announced they would increase the tax-free allowance to £7,250 per year, a significant increase on the current £4,250 but not enough to cover London’s lodger rents, which average at £8,280. That said, the increase goes a long way to incentivise homeowners to rent out their spare rooms and the impact of the increase could be huge. It’ll be interesting to see if any of the other parties follow suit and suggest allowances in line with today’s rents. http://housing-election.spareroom.co.uk/category/videos/politican-interviews https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/manifesto/Green_Party_2015_General_Election_Manifesto.pdf