Going for Olympic gold - residents look to cash in by renting homes (From Southend Standard)

Going for Olympic gold - residents look to cash in by renting homes

10:00am Tuesday 26th June 2012 in News By Melissa Hills

RESIDENTS living near the Hadleigh mountain biking course are in line for a cash windfall.

Many are hoping to rent their homes out for as much as £3,000 a week to spectators at the mountain biking event.

One four-bedroom, semi-detached house in Queensmere, Thundersley, which is just one- and-a-half miles from Hadleigh Castle, where the event is taking place, has been rented out for two weeks for £2,000 a week to a group of mountain biking enthusiasts.

People living in Basildon are also cashing in, with rooms being offered for £800 a week while the Games are on.

Some families are moving out of their homes altogether and are hoping to be able to fund dream holidays with the money they make.

Others, especially those living near railway stations, have regularly been approached by salesmen knocking on their doors asking if they would be willing to rent out their homes.

One three-bedroom house in Leigh is being advertised for £2,250 a week, while a two-bedroom flat near Prittlewell railway station has been advertised for £850 per week.

Dean Michael, manager of Robert Michael estate agents, in Hart Road, Thundersley, said many of the rentals are being agreed on the internet.

He said he hadn’t seen a massive surge in demand for properties and had only rented out one successfully.

He said: “Plenty of people in the area have signed their homes up to websites, which are advertising homes all over the capital and that seems to be leading the way at the moment.

“We haven’t had many people want to rent their homes out through an estate agent, but it’s good for local people that they have been able to try and cash in during the Olympics.

“Now we will just have to wait and see if people will pay the prices which are currently being asked.”

Homeowners have been advised by rental websites to take the normal price of renting out their homes and quadruple it for the time the Olympics are taking place.

Denise Turner, 42, of Bay Close, Canvey, who owns a five-bedroom detached house near the beach, is hoping by renting she will be able to fund a family holiday to California with the money she could earn.

She is hoping to get £3,000 a week for her home, while the average rental price for a home like this is between £1,300 and £1,500 a month.

Debbie Boultbee, 56, lives in Langdon Hills, and she and her husband are hoping to rent out two bedrooms for £800 a week in her four-bedroom home.

The average price for a room in Basildon per week is between £80 and £100 a week, dependent on the area.

Schools are also hoping to cash in on the Olympics.

Kingston Primary School, in Thundersley, is renting out its car park for the Olympics and it could bring in an extra £10,000 of income.

The school is 2.7miles from the Hadleigh Farm and it will take spectators 45 minutes to walk there.