Rise in renting out spare room

THERE has been a 27 per cent jump in the number of people looking to let a spare room since the beginning of the year.

Two-thirds of people looking for a lodger cited overstretched finances and the cost of Christmas as forcing them to take action.

The number of adverts posted since the beginning of January with Spareroom.co.uk is already higher than during the whole of January last year.

The website's director, Matt Hutchinson, said: "It seems Christmas has acted as a tipping point for many homeowners whose finances have been stretched to the limit by the recession."