The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘I turned my home into a Netflix star’
Owners of unique homes are cashing in by renting them out as locations for films, television, photo shoots and adverts, writes Jessica Beard
When Cathy Chivers received a handwritten note asking to use her house to film a TV show, she did not expect much of it. “We thought it was going to be a very low-budget UK production,” she said. “Then news came through that big names were going to be in it.”
Fast forward a few months, and Gillian Anderson was in her house, in character as Jean Milburn, on the set of Netflix’s blockbuster series Sex Education. “It was surreal,” said Ms Chivers. “I remember taking a mental picture on a scorching hot day when I stood on my steps and Gillian Anderson was on the porch, opening my front door.” The house, a Norwegian-style chalet nestled in a forest in Symonds Yat, Herefordshire, has become synonymous with the series.
The Netflix deal has since proved lucrative for her and her husband, Stuart Morgan. “I’ve signed an agreement with Netflix and can’t say how much we received. But we were charging rent to tenants and got a fee from the production company at the same time during the first series,” Ms Chivers said. The tenants also received a payment for any inconvenience caused.
They have since turned it into a holiday rental, and the house has grown in popularity, propelling bookings. “We still get incredibly excited about seeing our home in the show. We do watch it again and again,” she said.
Ms Chivers is part of a growing wave of homeowners who are squeezing money out of their homes by renting them out for film and photography shoots. Website Scouty reported a 433pc jump in the number of people signing up to list their homes for film shoots since April this year, while a similar group, Peerspace, recorded a 173pc increase in jobs being booked between Dec 2021 to May 2022.
Nicky Shah, 38, from Acton in west London, has hosted 30 film and photo shoots at her home since September. “I have a standard, everyday home and realised that a lot of people want that type of property in their films,” she said. Film crews can rent her home for a minimum of three hours for £44 an hour. “You have to keep your home really tidy but it does pay the bills. I have made £1,000 a month before so it is a big help. It has taken me by surprise that I can make money in this way,” she said.
Ms Shah, who rents it out through Peerspace, is planning to sell up and buy a new home at the end of the year, but will be specifically looking for homes that are well-suited to filming, she said.
Nico Deoser, from Scouty, said the shoots booked on the platform tended to last one to three days. “You make your own rules. Some people decide to only rent out some parts of their homes, while others say they won’t have shoots past 5pm because they have kids,” he said.
The average host on Scouty makes between £500 and £2,500 per month with just one to three bookings, he said. However, properties vary in price, with some charging £1,000 per hour, and can make up to £15,000 a month, Mr Deoser said.
Others have made money out of their quirky and historic homes. Phill Haiselden, 60, who lives in Angel House, a Grade I listed Regency property overlooking Brighton’s beach, said he has been shocked by the scale of some productions.
Of the shoots, the largest was when Mr Haiselden said he hosted a photo shoot with musician Paul Weller. “It was gobsmacking. There were 40 people on set, including the lighting crew who had been brought over from Canada. They really spared no expense,” he said. The Brighton home, which is now on sale for £3.75m with Savills, has also been used for scenes in Poirot and other photo shoots. Mr Haiselden charges £ 1,000 per day plus 20pc commission fee for the agency, but adds a premium for celebritiest.
But there is a limit as some productions can be too disruptive. “We were approached for an Amazon series, which I believe had Harry Styles in it, and they wanted to redecorate but we decided not to. The person who took it on would have been paid up to £30,000,” he said.