Renting rooms within a house or renting the whole house itself?

It's all about the numbers, how much would you get as a single unit v's how much as 4 rooms (using a reception room as a bedroom). You have to bear in mind that as a room share you may have to pay all the bills and make rents inclusive. Also what are the licencing rules in the area's you are looking some are stricter than others.
Room shares are more profitable but with also a lot more work, 1 tenant v's 4 tenants.
I'd suggest writing down the numbers for both, working out your profit, than decide if it's worth the extra hassle.
This post may seem negative towards room share, but as the owner of 3 (managed by ourselves) I know how hard they can be sometimes. Not for the faint hearted but well worth the rewards !!!

Reply to the comment left by "Sally T" at "09/10/2014 - 22:58":

Yes, great words. I have loads of Housing Benefit tenants, & to other people they are hassle.
And amongst them, accidentally take some sharers along the way, more income, but far too much hassle for me people moving in & out.

And a lot of Landlords say they wouldn't take my hassle of HB tenants, but it's what u r used to. So if I don't like sharers, it must be more work.

But then there are other landlords on here like @Rob Mellors if he's about, he knows how to do the sharers market & he gets on with it.

More income more hassle. Less income less hassle.

You might want to talk to Susannah Cole in Bristol, who appears to have a great system for letting by the room for her sourcing clients. She doesn't appear to be on here, which is odd but a Google search will find her on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Looks like you need to get selling the site to her, Mark, as we know you do so well 🙂

we rent to sharers -- all professionals, and find them on spareroom It's quite different from housing benefit tenants, and you can only do it if the location and the property are right, but it is lots less hassle.
you can also check for demand by looking at other spareroom ads in the area.

We're in a less affluent area and rent to people on minimum wage. We've had some tenants for over 5 years, some only stay a couple of months. We do consider Housing Benefit but only if people are between jobs (a lot of seasonal work), we don't accept people who have been on benefits long term with no intent of getting a job.
We worry more about if someone fits with the people living in the building already than the money aspect, no point renting one room if 4 other tenants move out.

I rent rooms to professionals and thus far have had no real issues. Getting the right match of tenants is important to ensure they get on. I also put some effort in providing some basics like nice good quality communal areas, lounge & kitchen with sky. There is more interaction between them and myself than you would expect with a house/family rental so you also need to fit in as a landlord. Down side is more admin (AST's, utility bills, upkeep of communal areas etc).

Definition of a Masochist.... "A landlord who derives gratification from renting rooms".

PS - I used to be indecisive, but I'm not so sure now.....