Income from letting your home for filming or events

A fee for letting a film crew, photographer or event organiser use your home is normally property income, even if it happens only once. The £1,000 property allowance can cover it, but the allowance is measured against all your gross property income and replaces any expense claim. If you also provide substantial services such as catering, part of the income may instead be trading income.

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How are location fees taxed?

HMRC’s Property Income Manual at PIM1051 lists, among the receipts of a property business, income from letting others use your property, giving the example of a film crew paying to film inside a house or on its grounds. The same page explains that receipts of a property business include payments for a licence to occupy or otherwise use property, so it makes no difference that the crew has no tenancy and stays only a few days.

A one off shoot is still caught. PIM1051 says rents or other receipts from a single transaction exploiting rights over UK property are treated as arising in a property business, so the charge extends to casual lettings without the organisation normally associated with a business. If you already let a property, the fee is simply added to that same UK property business. If you do not, the shoot creates one for the year.

Where a payment is not property income, BIM100245 explains that a fee for allowing a property to be used for filming is charged under the miscellaneous income rules instead. The same page notes that money paid to local residents as compensation for disturbance caused by filming is likely to be gratuitous and so not taxable as miscellaneous income. A neighbour who receives a goodwill payment for parking restrictions is in a different position from the owner whose house appears on screen.

Are fees for events and photo shoots treated the same way?

Usually, yes. Hiring out your garden for a wedding, your kitchen for a food photographer or your barn for a party is a licence to use your property, so the fee is property income in the same way as a film location fee.

The answer can change if you provide services as well as space. PIM4300 explains that whether letting with additional services is a trade is a question of fact. Services a landlord normally provides, such as heating, hot water and arranging repairs, do not create a trade. Services that go well beyond that, such as regular provision of meals, can amount to a separate trade, and where one payment covers both, it has to be split on a reasonable basis reflecting the value of each activity. A homeowner who hires out a marquee site and also runs the catering and bar may have property income for the venue and trading income for the rest. Trading income has its own trading allowance, which the legislation at section 783A of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 also extends to miscellaneous income.

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Can I use the £1,000 property allowance?

GOV.UK describes the property allowance as a tax exemption of up to £1,000 a year for individuals with income from property. It works in two ways:

Full relief. If your annual gross property income, from one or more property businesses, is £1,000 or less, you do not have to tell HMRC or declare it.
Partial relief. If gross property income is more than £1,000, you can deduct the £1,000 allowance instead of your actual expenses.

The test is on gross income, before any expenses, and it covers all your property income, not just the filming fee. Joint owners can each use £1,000 against their own share. GOV.UK also lists situations where the allowance cannot be used, including income from a company you or someone connected with you controls, from a partnership in which you or a connected person is a partner, or from your employer or your spouse’s or civil partner’s employer. You cannot use it if you claim the finance cost tax reduction for residential property, and it cannot be used on income that falls under rent a room relief.

What expenses can I claim instead?

If your costs exceed £1,000 you can claim them rather than the allowance, but you cannot do both. GOV.UK requires expenses to be wholly and exclusively for the letting. For a shoot or event that usually means costs that would not have arisen otherwise:

a location agency’s commission;
professional cleaning after the crew leaves;
repairs to damage caused during the shoot;
a separately identifiable share of utility costs, where the extra use can be measured.

Your normal household bills, mortgage payments and the cost of staying in a hotel while the crew is in your home are personal and not deductible. Where a production company pays a separate sum for damage, keep the invoices for the repair work and treat the two consistently; HMRC’s approach to repairs covered by insurance or third party contributions is at PIM2040 and in our guide on allowable expenses for landlords.

Do I need to tell HMRC?

GOV.UK sets out the reporting position for the property allowance:

gross property income of £1,000 or less: no need to tell HMRC, unless you cannot use the allowance;
gross property income over £1,000 and up to £2,500: contact HMRC;
property income over £2,500: register for Self Assessment.

If you already complete a tax return, the fee goes on the UK property pages. You must keep records of the income even when it is covered by the allowance; GOV.UK suggests invoices, emails confirming payment, statements from the payer and bank statements.

Does filming affect private residence relief on my home?

HMRC’s guidance does not deal with filming specifically, but the general rules point the same way. GOV.UK says private residence relief can be reduced if you have used part of your home exclusively for business purposes, and that using a room as a temporary or occasional office does not count as exclusive business use. CG64663 describes the exclusive use test as a stringent one and says HMRC should not usually seek a restriction for a room that has some measure of regular residential use. A house that remains your home, and is used for a few days of filming or a single event, keeps its residential use.

The position is different if you let part of your home to a tenant or turn a room or outbuilding over entirely to a separate business. GOV.UK lists letting out part of the home as one of the situations that can lead to some capital gains tax. Our guide to private residence relief covers those cases.

How does the allowance compare with claiming costs?

Illustration only. Priya has no other property income. A production company pays her £2,400 to film in her house for three days. She spends £300 on cleaning and £150 repairing a scuffed floor.

	Property allowance	Actual expenses
Gross fee	£2,400	£2,400
Deduction	£1,000	£450
Taxable profit	£1,400	£1,950

The allowance gives the lower figure. Now suppose Priya also lets a flat with gross rent of £9,000 and £3,000 of costs. Her gross property income is £11,400, and if she uses the allowance she cannot deduct the flat’s costs as well, so claiming actual expenses across the whole property business is likely to be better.

What mistakes come up most often?

Assuming a one off fee is not taxable because it is not a business. Single transactions are caught.
Applying the £1,000 allowance to the filming fee alone when there is other rental income.
Claiming the allowance and some expenses in the same year.
Deducting household running costs that would have been paid anyway.
Treating catering or event management income as rent when it is really a separate trade.
Not keeping the contract and payment records because the fee seemed too small to report.

If HMRC opens a check into your return, tax investigation insurance pays your accountant’s fees. Solar Protect cover pays up to £100,000 with no excess; it never pays tax, interest or penalties. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

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Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 19 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.