Rent a room relief & rental income for same property

I have a query regarding a situation where an individual received rental property income for their home while they were working abroad. Then, when they returned to the UK in September 2023, they rented out a room to a lodger while it was their main residence. My questions are: - Does the second period where rent was received from a lodger qualify for rent a room relief? - Would the first period be treated as a separate income source, or because it is rent received from the same property, would all of the income including that from the lodger be treated as normal rental income, and rent a room relief is not available for any of it? The individual at no point has been treated as non-UK resident because they were only abroad for 10 months. Thank you.

The fact that the rent is from the same property is irrelevant. Each period is independent. First period is a standard normal rental income. It was not your main residence, since you rented the whole property out. Second period is rent from lodger on a main residence hence the full 7500 per year rent a room relief applies to that amount received. By the way, if during the first period you haven't rented the whole property out, and instead kept a room for yourself and rented other rooms to lodgers, then that first period would also be classified as renting to a lodger. Because it would still be your main residence even if you were abroad for 10 months. But if you rented out the whole property then it was not your main residence, and it was a standard rental arrangement.

Hi Emily Watts,
You can see guidance here: 
Rent a room in your home 
Thank you.