How much to charge 18 year old for board & lodge

angelkez

wow i think i was taken for a ride by my mum i worked sesonally so during the summer she would take my entire pay packet and give me £20 a week back for myself i still had to do household chores and all that jazz but tbh i think it helped her out and i'm glad of that although it didn't help me with spending as i tend to go a bit mad now :S

happenstance

I dont think children should be charged to live at their parents house. I never had to although I did move out when I was 18 and had never had a full time job. I like to think of my parents as a safety net so if things ever did go horribly wrong I could move back in without having to worry about 'rent', not that I would ever want to move back home - 200 miles away is about right.

Actually maybe it is a good idea your children are just going to !!!!!! their money up against the wall, still at 18+ time they moved out anyway.

shariatlanta

I have 3 children still at home, the eldest gives me £170.per month and has done for the past 3 years, he has 2 rooms for himself as we have a large house, however this will go down shortly as he's becoming the 3rd person on our mortgage so will be contributing to this, my other son is unemployed and my daughter is at college, both get roughly £40.00 per week so they don't give me anything as yet, my daughter is very good and buys most of her own clothes but my son, well thats another story.

amyparr

I'm 21 and in my final year at Uni, I get a student loan (which barely covers my rent), and pay £52pw rent at Uni, not including food and utilities. My Mum doesnt charge me any rent which I think is fair, but as soon as I finish Uni and get a job, I will pay her "rent" - if you're earning enough money, why shouldnt you pay rent to your parents? If I wasnt living at home, I would be paying a hell of a lot more than they would charge.

I think your parents saving the money for you at a later date is very kind of them, and if they can afford to do so then it's up to them. But if they don't, I think it's fair enough too! I'm sure they've spent enough on their kids as it is, let alone supporting them when they are 20 odd.

I have two cousins, 1 of whom has a job and earns good money and lives at home, and whinges that he has to pay £20pw keep to his parents, and the other pays about the same and is on an apprenticeship. I personally think that if the child can afford to pay it, they should. They don't know how lucky they are getting everything done for them for £20pw! I definitely think it teaches you the value of money. My boyfriend's parents give him a generous allowance every month while at Uni which more than covers his rent, utilities etc, and unbelievably he's still in his overdraft - no doubt because he doesnt have to consider where the money to pay all these bills come from, he just assumes it will get done somehow. It's not his fault though, I think parents should aim to prepare their children for "real-life", but at the same time make an allowance for the fact that they are family.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I pay my Dad £210.00 a month for rent. I think this is pretty reasonable. I briefly moved out when I was 19 and the rent was nearly £400.00 a month, needless to say I ended up not being able to pay this amount and moved back home.

grex9101

Talking about "kidults", i fully intended on staying with my folks until i was 30.....but then, things don't pan out how you intend them to

I dunno, i was expected to pay £100 a month from wages of £500-£600, which i felt a touch aggrieved at.
I guess I always felt my mother owed me something for putting me through such a sh*tty childhood, and for the years i spent looking after her (she's not disabled) when I should have doing the things "normal" kids do.
She rarely got her £100, partially because I did far more work at home than at work, and partially because she didn't know half the time if I had given it to her or not....

Anyways, 10-20% is reasonable, as long as you emphasise that they save for their own place or whatever, maybe take 25% and keep 5% for them as a secret bonus for when they need that extra bit for their mortgage deposit.

lara1983

I think it's important to keep in mind a few points when charging rent. First, most young adults don't want to live at home, so there's no point pretending that it's an analogous situation to you being a landlord, because by charging them anywhere near 'real' rent, they'll be getting all the disadvantages of living in rented accomodation, with none of the advantages of moving out (i.e. freedom, real privacy, the possibility of doing your washing up when you feel like it rather than when your mum says so). Also, remember that you CHOSE to have children, and you're never going to make a profit on them!!lol. It seems like some people's experiences on this board are truly horrific in this regard.
I don't think it's a valid argument to say that on the one hand it will give them a sense of the real world by making them manage money, but in the same breath to say that you'll be doing all their cooking, cleaning etc - this is more like living in a hotel. If you really want them to feel independent and empowered, why not make them do these jobs rather than making them spend their usually insignificant wage on board.
Plus, be truthful about costs - imo they shouldn't have to contribute to mortgage as they're not going to get a house at the end of it (ok you don't when you pay rent either but the landlord's trying to make a profit - it's like a loan), they shouldn't have to pay for part of electric/heating bills if you still have other children, as realistically if they moved out it would make hardly any difference to bills. Fine if you need some of their money as a practicality, or if you plan to unexpectedly give it back to them as a house deposit etc, but imo it won't teach them anything about the importance of saving or about the expense of living. Only moving out will do this, so why not give them a chance to move out sooner?
It's weird how most people seem to be talking as if they don't want their children at home. My mum and dad love me to be at home, we go out together for drinks as a family etc and I do my share of chores so that I'm an asset to the hosue rather than a burden. But I've been brought up to think that it's healthy to move out as soon as you can afford a house. Until then, they'll continue to support me. This is what their parents did, and I'll do the same for mine! I'd feel like I was stealing money off my children if I charged them £50 a week if they were on a low wage - you can get rooms in student houses for this price so why live with your parents?!

grex9101

lara, i agree with you 100%

juno

Me and my fiance are expected to pay 2/3rds of our wages, which is a lot more than we would pay if we were in rented accomodation, but because we're paying so much we can't save up for a deposit.

missk_ensington

Apprentices don't earn much though do they? Its less than minimum wage I thought?!?! Also doesn't it depend on where you live? Where I live you can get a little flat for £350 a month and share it with a friend. I think £20-30 is reasonable depending on what she's earning, and her lifestyle, if I could see my child was saving up for a house or something useful I'd take less than if I saw my child going clubbing several nights a week!