renting out a house

[Fairie]

Hi

I was wondering if i rent my house out to someone else, what is classed as profit? on the government website, it states: 'You pay tax on any profit as part of your overall income'

Is profit what is left after the mortgage has been paid? for example rent is 500 mortgage is 460 there is 40 profit to pay tax on? or is it the 500 ??

trying to work out if it is worthwhile while the market is so slow for selling at the moment

[Fairie]

does anyone else here rent out a property? how do you find it? i know my tenant so thats not a problem, its just the finance side of it, i just don't want to do it if i will be financially worse off for it.

[Skyline D]

You can't claim mortgage payments as a deduction from profit. You CAN claim mortgage interest for the period.

Profit would be rental income - mortgage interest - any incidental expenses such as repairs, etc.

[Fairie]

mmmm..... what about rent.. I half own the house and half rent it on one of those 50-50 shared ownership scheme's. I have had permission from them to rent it out on short term lease. but would the rent payment i have to make come into consideration as an expense?