Man makes £20k a month from side hustle that 11m Brits could also do – it's effortless and can be done all year round

The Sun

2 days ago

A MAN has revealed he makes a whopping £20,000 a month from a little known side hustle, that requires hardly any effort.
Barrie Taube, owns 150 garages and 300 car parking spaces across the country, and rents them out to people in need of storage space.
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Renting Out Garages
The property investor and surveyor charges between £50 to £150 a month for garages, and between £30 and £60 for car parking spaces.
'We rent to people who live in blocks of flats; we will approach them and see if they want to rent them out", Barrie, who owns that garages through his business Southern Land Securities, told The i Paper.
"For the car parking spaces, they might have an extra car or just want an extra space."
Barrie revealed that he also rents out his parking spaces to people who need them for a short period of time, such as if they are attending a football match or a concert.
In the UK, an estimated 11 million people own a garage, with half of these not used to store cars.
That means that millions of Brits could also be cashing in on this side hustle.
Hardly Any Maintenance
The investor also owns many properties which he rents out to tenants, but revealed that renting out garages comes with many advantages, such as the lack of upkeep.
'There's not much to maintain, just the roof, walls and the garage door", he said.
'If the roof is leaking, you make the decision whether to mend it but, in general, when someone signs the lease, they agree to maintain it and to give it back in the condition they rented it in.'
He added that it also costs a lot less to purchase garages, which cost around £10,000 to £30,000 in most locations.
I earn cash by selling 'actual rubbish' on eBay - I flogged a freebie I found on the floor by a bin for £10, it's crazy
In Mayfair, garages can sell for up to £300,000, however, Barrie explained that people in these areas are happy to pay much more to keep their posh cars safe.
'If you had a garage in Mayfair, you could get £500 a month or more in rent", he said.
"If someone has a car worth a few hundred thousand pounds, they will pay this to know it's safe.'
How to make cash from renting out your garage
If you have spare garage space, you can make cash by renting it out for storage, using websites such as Stashbee and Storemates.
You can also advertise your garage on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree.
When listing your garage, make sure to include key details, such as photographs, the size of the space, notable features, and whether the area has its own independent access.
It is also a good idea to arrange viewings, to make sure the space is right for potential renters.
Make sure to take any costs into account, as Stashbee charges a 5% fee on bookings, while Storemates deducts 16.5% plus 20p from each payment.
Gumtree generally offers free advertisements, but specific surcharges apply for garage storage or car parking listings (£8.79) and for linking to an external website (£6.59).
According to Stuart Collar-Brown, from online auctioneer Bidx1 UK garages are much more profitable than buy-to-let properties, pulling in yields averaging 10 percent, compared with a 4.75 percent average for rental properties.
Landlords Ditching Properties To Rent Out Garages
'Garages offer a great alternative to storage costs for tradesmen, so they'll perform well in densely populated residential areas, especially where houses are rows of Victorian houses [and] where parking on the street is tricky due to a lack of driveways, so demand will outstrip supply.'
He added that, in light of the Renters Reform Bill, which is set to come in over the coming months, many landlords are switching their business to garages.
'We're definitely seeing a shift of residential landlords into non-residential assets, so this would include commercial, industrial, garages and other similar asset classes,' he said.
'The sheer amount of red tape that landlords have to wade through now is becoming too much hassle, so they are looking for an easier way to earn yields on their investment."
Arguably, the council are no longer building garages either, so the fact that they are not building more suggests, long term, there will be some capital appreciation too.'
However, Barrie revealed that since many people have now cottoned on to the fact that garages are good investments, they are reluctant to sell.
He added that it can be harder to get loans on garages than properties as banks often ask for larger deposits.