Looking for some ideas for saving on rent money.

One way is to rent a three bedroom house myself, subrent the other two
rooms, and make enough from the rent on those two rooms to cover the
rent for the whole house. Another would be to rent a loft somewhere.
Minimal personal belongings involved.

If you can come up with at least 5 ideas, that would be great.

Here are FIVE GREAT ideas that will appeal to you:

1: Rent a four bedroom house yourself and subrent the other three rooms;

2: Rent a five bedroom house yourself and subrent the other four rooms;

3: Rent a six bedroom house yourself and subrent the other five rooms;

4: Rent a seven bedroom house yourself and subrent the other six rooms;

5: Rent an eight bedroom house yourself and subrent the other seven rooms.

With regard to your suggestion of renting a house and letting out
other rooms, you need to bear in mind (a) that the rental agreement
may bar you from sub-letting; (b) that (quite apart from the written
agreement) if the landlord finds out what you intend, he/she may not
let the property to you (after all, you'll be making money he could
make for him/herself); and (c) depending on the tax laws of where you
live, you may be liable for tax on your rental income, but unable to
claim an off-set of the excess rent you pay, which would mean you
would have to charge a very high rent to cover your outgoings.

Hi Ham,

Offer your services to an owner of a block of units/flats/whatever.
Property management alone can attract up to 10% of rental, plus
letting fees. So one in ten properties pays the management fee. Move
into one of the units as payment in kind in lieu of dollars. Add to
this your services of property maintenance to the common areas and you
may even make a profit. You're living there anyway, so it could be an
easy part time job. Be prepared to move yourself from one vacancy to
another. That way, with one vacancy, a choice of two are always on
offer to a prospective renter. This displays your willingness to the
landlord/landlady that you mean business. As you move from one vacancy
to the next, you can then sell your add-on services such as painting
inside the individual units.

Property Maintenance means litter and light globes, maybe weeds and
lawns. Property Management means collecting rent, organising
sub-contractors and finding tenants. Once you are established with a
system in place it will be of little effort. Then you might
McDonaldise it, franchise your idea. Or employ staff in a similar
situation to yours into other complexes.

Or, take a head lease on an entire block of units. Offer 80% of the
market rental guaranteed. That means no vacancy factor for the
landlord/landlady. You then rent out all but one unit, but this time
the income is yours. Your 20% below market value is your insurance
against your own vacancies, but you also become the one to set the
price of the rents.

As for renting out 2 rooms in a 3 bedroom house, you may not have the
right to sub-let. Also, you must place a value on your own space and
lifestyle for your own sanity. And, if 2 people can rent 2 rooms to
cover the cost of a 3 bedroom house, they will do just that .. without
you as the third party. How many bathrooms in your house?

Just thoughts, Phil

With respect to Geof,

I started typing, and was then interrupted with an hour long phone
call. I finished my typing, then hit "post comment". I did not see
Geof's posting. My purpose is to reiterate Geof's point (a) that you
most likely will not have the right to sub-let. A landlord/landlady
has no need to agree to sub-letting, because they have already found
their tenant .. you. With a general high demand for rentals, someone
else will have joined the queue. Geof's other point on taxation is
spot on. If you attempt to risk a double-dip and ask for cash, you can
expect to lose out on both the tax angle and the contravention of your
lease. They WILL know that other people are residing with you.

Sub-letting comes about when you own your own home. Don't expect to
ride on the back of the landlord/landlady. They will easily find
another tenant.

Rather than subletting, find a roommate or two.  All of you sign the
lease, and you divide the rent amongst yourselves.  Your landlord is
much more likely to approve of that than of subletting.  (Also, if one
of the roommates skips town and doesn't pay, he/she has broken a
contract with the landlord rather than with you--so the burden of
collecting rent from the person probably won't fall completely on
you.)

You can also save by subletting from someone who is desperate for a
subletter to help them with rent.