How much rent to charge

[lizzie145]

One of my step daughters split from her boyfriend and has temporarily moved in with me until she finds somewhere suitable

She lived with her ex in a "flat" in his parent's house, it was very small, a double bed, sofa and the kitchen was a cooker, sink and one cupboard!

They paid £35 per week each and this included electric etc. They bought their own food and did their own washing.

She is using the master bedroom which has an ensuite which she said is bigger than her flat was! Goodness knows how she moved in it as the amount of stuff she brought with is amazing.

I have no idea how much she should pay. She is a hairdresser and is self employed but is busy all the time. I want her to be able to save for the deposit and rent in advance as well as pay me something which she is happy to do

She eats a lot of pasta and only eats chicken so fairly cheap to feed.

Any suggestions please

[ClaireNJ]

We kept our boys rent low so they could save to move out

[Smilesonfaces]

Our son pays £40 a week. I think it is important that young adults understand that they have to pay their way. Unknown to him we have saved every penny of his “board” and will give it back to him when he buys a home. We are not well off by any means but it was something his dad and I wanted to do.

[danisleigh]

My son pays £150 per month and gets fed, his laundry done, internet and Netflix etc as well as his own room, own bathroom and own lounge/games room. We also invite him if we go out to eat and include him if we get takeaway and he still comes on some holidays with us too so I think he gets a bargain! If he was saving for a house we would probably let him off all together but he is at the stage of spending all his money on going out at the minute!

[Mr Tom Morrow]

It's a difficult decision to make and there is no right or wrong answer.

If they are on low pay then I would never charge an amount that meant they couldn't afford the things that youngsters 'need' to live such as their phones and going out with friends.

If they are on good money then I would charge a reasonable amount that would cover their food and energy costs but I wouldn't expect to make a profit on them.

Saying that if they were on excellent money and were talking of their own place I would charge them more and would make a 'profit' but that extra money I would unbeknown to them keep and give it back when they started a house purchase or needed a rental deposit.

My Son is back home for 2 maybe 3 Months as their new build is way behind schedule. He is getting all his meals and his Mother makes him food to take to work.

I charge him £120 but I am losing money on that deal as he scoffes a darn sight more than that.

I decided on a token amount whilst being mindful of their future financial outgoings on a much bigger house.

[Mazbar]

Our daughter is on a average wage, she pays no keep or rent. What we do expect of her is to save for a deposit on a house that she might get one day. This is the best we can do as a parent we feel.

[JAF]

When we were in this situation we charged a low rate but they did well out of it with full laundry, food, internet etc plus we let them use one of our cars and only charged them for the petrol (they were using most of the petrol so felt that fair). In both cases they did save enough for deposits for their own properties.

[spenners]

We charged our daughter 20% of her wages when she lived at home before she went to university. We put this into her savings account, she didn't know we were doing this. We felt it was important that she learnt an important life lesson about budgeting. I would take an amount that you are happy with and makes sure you are not out of pocket but you also don't want to prevent her from saving to move out. Have you discussed with her about her future plans etc.?

[petit-pois]

Ds 24 and Ds 25 each pay us £250pm. Neither paid anything for their first 12 months after college/uni to give them a chance to get finances in order. They each have an en-suite bedroom, food (including beer!) and household overheads for this. They do their own washing, cleaning and pay for their own phones and Petrol. They also have household chores/responsibilities on a rota such as cooking, gardening, dog walking and lifts for their teenage sister.

[JessBlu]

Under the circumstances I would not charge anything, I can’t see it being long term.