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Allan and Grace's Story - help with gardening, great company, and freedom to pursue life goals

Globe-trotting, retired engineer, Allan, found an ideal homemate in Grace through Hapipod, to help with his garden, provide good company, and house-sit while he's away. Meantime an affordable room enabled Grace, a landscape gardener, to relocate and take on a new job to advance her career. Both have improved each other's lives.

You can see the story in desktop version here

Gaynor and Christy's Story - banishing the mid-life blues

Fitness trainer and Grandmother Gaynor found Christy through Hapipod, to help her banish her mid-life blues and manage at home following an operation. For Gaynor this meant good company, practical help and a little income, while Christy found a way to live comfortably and had time to find the right job. Everyone benefits.

Jane and Vee's Story - child-sitting, dog-walking, and enjoying a great room

Mature student Vee found a great, affordable room with single mum Jane and her daughter through Hapipod. Offering some of her time in exchange to child-sit, pet-sit and help with light housework, Vee has halved her living costs, while Jane gets practical help plus a passive income. Everyone benefits.

You can also see the story from Vee's perspective as a mobile version here

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What People Say About Hapipod

Quotes taken from a sample of Hapipod Homeshares. You can also read the latest press features on Hapipod in The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times

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Summary of Benefits

See what you can gain from Hapipod and this exciting, contemporary living solution

Hosts

Full Benefits

Homemates

Full Benefits

3 Key Stages to Using Hapipod

1. Register for Free

Register and complete your profile to be available for and view basic profiles of members in your area. You don’t pay a thing unless you want to use smart search, view someone’s full details, or connect with them.

2. ID/Background Check

To view full profiles and use smart search filters you must first pass a robust ID Verification and Background Check for a one-off fee of £20. See safeguarding recommendations for full details.

3. Get Connected

To connect with other users you must be ID verified. You can then purchase one of our different duration connection packages, starting from just £45 for 1 month. See Pricing.

*1 year FREE if you pass ID check NOW*

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Connection Packages

Bronze

1 month £45
£45/month

Silver

3 months £75
£25/month

Gold

1 year £120
£10/month

Packages Include

See Pricing for full details.

Latest UK Government Covid Guidelines

IMPORTANT: Hapipod is a matching site to introduce potential Hosts and Homemates. All members have passed a robust ID verification, money laundering and negative media check. We also give comprehensive guidelines on setting up a homeshare – see Safeguarding. These measures help maximise the likelihood of successful arrangements, but it is up to each member to undertake the further recommended background and personality checks, agree reasonable fees and activities and ultimately get along. Hapipod does not monitor homeshares once organised and cannot be liable for their outcomes.

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Your Questions

You will be offered the chance to check their profile and decide whether to subscribe and reply to them.

No, we would ask that you do not do this using Hapipod and we reserve the right to ban people who attempt to do so. The whole aim of this site is to create affordable accommodation for one group of people whilst allowing another to benefit from both help/company plus a little income. The opportunity to exchange help for lower fees is at the core of this, so diluting that opportunity goes against our whole ethos. You can use regular letting sites if you simply want to maximise your income on a spare room.

Under the Government’s ‘Rent A Room’ scheme you can earn up to £7,500 per year from having a lodger in your spare room before being taxed. With Hapipod Homeshare you can only make a maximum of £4,200 so should not need to declare it.

No. Tenancy deposit schemes are only applied to Assured Shorthold Tenancies. A homeshare like this comes under a lodging agreement. However, Hapipod recommends Hosts give Homemates details of which bank account the deposit has been placed in, which ideally should be the same account the fee is paid to.

Homemates are responsible for buying their own food, and should only expect to share meals if expressly invited to do so by the Host. This may, however, be a pre-agreed activity. We would advise all fine details such as shared meals to be specified in the contract before signing.

No. There is no obligation to stay in during the evenings unless you have pre-agreed in your contract to cook or share a meal or attend an event on a specific or regular basis.

Only if it is pre-agreed with your Host on any given occasion. If they are happy about it then it’s not a problem, if not, you would be in breach of your contract.

Hapipod recommends contracts are no less than 6 months from a convenience perspective, and no longer than 1 year from a safeguarding perspective, but it is up to the parties to agree the details.

Payment must be transferred directly between Hosts and Homemates. This includes the deposit and upfront payments. This is the responsibility of the individual parties. Hapipod has no management involvement in this beyond the introduction of Hosts and Homemates to each other. Failure to pay is breach of contract and can result in termination of the agreement and the Homemate being asked to leave.

Hapipod does not charge you to register, upload your profile (which is a free advertisement of your homeshare opportunity), and see basic profiles of homesharers in your area. We charge a one-off £20 fee to pass the ID and background check which allows full access to the smart searches and profile descriptions. Once verified you can buy one of a number of timed packages to allow you to connect with others. These start at £45 for 1 month see ‘Connection Packages’ above or the Pricing page for full details. The subscriptions are not rolling so you needn’t worry about terminating them. We are a low-fee site, and do not charge high registration, commission or retainer fees, unlike most agencies.

A homemate can be any nationality, but since 2016 the law has required homeowners to check that any lodgers are legally allowed to live and work in the UK. See the Government's Guidelines for more details.

If you have more than one lodger or Homemate in your home you may have to apply for a licence to run an HMO – House in Multiple Occupation license - see the Government’s HMO Page. See section 10 of the Safeguarding page for full details.

If either a Host or a Homemate wants to end a homeshare early they must give reasonable notice to terminate. The suggested notice in Hapipod’s template Homeshare contract is one week which is the minimum period that can be given. Hapipod recommends notice is always given in writing, and it is often helpful to get someone help you to prepare and give the notice.

If you’re a tenant or your home is mortgaged you should tell your landlord or lender, respectively, if you wish to take in a lodger and get their consent. If you have a spare room in a property you own or rent and are receiving state benefits, you should check if being a Host will affect the amount of your benefits payments.