7 guides
Know what you’re signing
The tax, the licensing and the rights that decide whether letting or renting a room goes well. Written plainly, with the primary sources linked so you can check us.
Universal Bedford: the timeline, and what it does to rooms
When Universal's Bedford resort is being built, how many workers it needs, and what a five-year construction programme means for anyone renting or letting a room in Bedfordshire.
- The Special Development Order permitting the resort came into force on 2026-01-12, and construction began at Kempston Hardwick the same month.
- The resort is scheduled to open in 2031, giving a construction programme of roughly five years.
The Marston Vale line: there is already a train to the site
Kempston Hardwick station sits on the Bedford to Bletchley railway. Which villages have a direct train to the Universal site, and why those places are the value option for renters.
- Kempston Hardwick — the Universal site — has its own railway station on the Bedford to Bletchley line, known as the Marston Vale line.
- That means Stewartby, Millbrook, Lidlington, Ridgmont, Aspley Guise, Woburn Sands, Bletchley and Bedford St Johns all have a direct train to the site.
The Rent a Room Scheme: £7,500 a year, tax free
How the government's Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to £7,500 a year tax free from a lodger in your own home — who qualifies, how it works, and what to watch for.
- The Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to £7,500 per year completely tax free by letting a furnished room in your only or main home.
- If you share the income with someone else — a partner or joint owner — the allowance halves to £3,750 each.
HMO licensing in Bedford: when you need one
When letting rooms in Bedford Borough tips you into needing a House in Multiple Occupation licence, what mandatory licensing covers, and how to check for additional local schemes.
- Mandatory HMO licensing in England applies where a property is occupied by five or more people forming two or more separate households, and they share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.
- Below that, you may still need a licence if the council has an additional or selective licensing scheme covering your area — this varies by council and by ward.
Right to Rent checks: what landlords must do
Right to Rent checks are a legal requirement in England before letting a room or property. What to check, when, how to do it, and why it applies to lodgers too.
- In England, you must check that every adult who will occupy a property as their main home has the right to rent, before the tenancy or lodger agreement starts.
- It applies to lodgers in your own home just as it applies to a full tenancy.
Lodger or tenant? The difference decides your rights
Whether you are a lodger or a tenant changes your deposit protection, your notice period and how easily you can be asked to leave. Here is how to tell which you are.
- If your landlord lives in the same property and you share living space such as a kitchen or bathroom with them, you are almost certainly a lodger, not a tenant.
- Lodgers have much weaker security: your landlord usually needs only to give reasonable notice, and does not need a court order to ask you to leave.
Deposits: what you should hand over, and what you get back
What a landlord can legally ask for up front when you rent a room, when a deposit must be protected in a government scheme, and how to get it back at the end.
- If you are an assured shorthold tenant, your deposit must be protected in one of the government-approved schemes and you must be given prescribed information about it.
- If you are a lodger with a resident landlord, deposit protection does not normally apply — which makes a clear written agreement more important, not less.