Charging rent for 21 year old

jill.verran

I am amazed at how little young people pay to live at home. My sons paid one third of their net take-home pay, and so did I when Iwas a girl. living at home. It may seem a lot but when you calculate the cost of running a household it seems only fair that you pay a fair whack. It'd cost a lot more to live away from home.

[Deleted User]

My gf is 25 and lives at home paying nothing for food/rent/board. Her mother has told me she wish she'd charged her something as she's hopefully bad at budgetting.

We're just about to buy a house together... i've made a google spreadsheet (spreadsheet.google.com) and shown it her. Oh we're gonna have some fun times ahead

Belles

I used to pay my mum £30 a week, which was what I'd been paying in rent at uni (yes it was awhile ago now). However, that did include food, bills, the laundry service (would have loved to do it myself - I hated having my knickers ironed!!! but my mum has 'issues' about people in her kitchen - another story!)

But even then it was hard to pay her that much, as she would often give me money, or buy things for me, which made me feel really bad,- and spoilt!- cos I was used to doing it myself and having no money!

My mum said that when she was at home they all had to pay half of their wages straight to their dad (there was five of them) but it has made my mum very very good with money!

My brother pays my mum very little in house keeping - one of the pleasures of being the youngest (23 years old!!) but she does make sure that he puts lots of his money into a savings account that only she holds the book to, which means he has to ask her for it if he wants to make a purchase. Although I think he's getting a bit old for living like that!!

cshowell

When I lived at home I had to pay 25% of my take home pay as rent. However, what annoyed me was that when my brothers were in the same situation, they were allowed to live at home rent free (but I'm not bitter!) 25% was fair, but it should have been fair with the others as well!

Katyj_2

3 cheers for all those people who have so rightly said that it does people no favours to live rent free with mum and dad - I 100% agree! The most help parents can give their children is to help them stand on their own 2 feet and this involves paying market rates - after all, should the worst happen they will need to be able to budget and manage their money so as to support themselves. 2 of my sisters live in a house that my parents own which is in Hayes, near Heathrow - the house is affectionately referred to as the 'shoe box' as its small but has everything they need. They both pay in the region of £400 a month and that is for everything (except food). They both complain a bit, especially as one of my sisters goes out with a fella who is in his 30's and lives at home rent free! tut tut!
Its ceretainly a tough call for parents I think as they want to do their best for their chikldren but be reassured that tough love will do them more favours in the long run! Don't let yourself be taken advantage of!
(Lecture over!)

melancholly

i live away from my parents and am completely financially independent - however, i have an older sibling who lives at home rent/bills/food payments free and i find it very frustrating. not only are they taking advantage of my parents hospitality, they are able to save so much more money and buy nice things and go on expensive holidays.

i think once someone has a job, they should pay their way. i had almost 21 years of support from my parents (which is more than a lot of people) which i am so so grateful for, however there reaches a point when i'd like them to save their money and have a nicer retirement. i think my sibling is taking advantage and i now try to avoid conversations about the nice things they have spent their money on.....

teaching people the value of money and how to budget for necessary spending is perhaps one of the most important things a parent can try to do.

cshowell

robnye wrote:

the allowance is only small £25, some goes into a savings account, some pays for half of the cost of her contact lenses, the remainder goes into her bank account.


i was really just trying to gauge at what age people started paying a contribution.

work hours will only be one day at the weekend.

i fully support the charge 1/3..... and if i dont need it, put it into savings for her

I got my first job at the age of 13 (am now 33) and my parents stopped giving me pocket money/allowance at that point. As I was making £6 per week, and my allowance had been £3 per week, I thought I was rich and it seemed entirely fair that I didn't need an allowance as well as the money I was earning. However my parents didn't start charging me rent until I had left university at the age of 21, as they thought that was an appropriate age for me to pay rent. While at university all my earnings went towards paying for food/books etc (as no students grants at that point and parents didn't earn enough to pay for food/books etc). I think that allowances should be stopped as soon as a child gets their first job, and that rent should be paid as soon as they start full time work (whether that be at 16 or 21).

Sunshine_and_Roses

I have just calculated that mortgage, utility bills and internet etc come to £800 per month. I spend approximately £300 - £350 a month on food, cleaning products etc.

I moved in with my partner and his 22 year old son 18 months ago, and I do nearly all of the cooking, most of the housework (apart from his son's ironing). He pays £120 a month keep - he promised to increase this a couple of months ago but I hae just checked our bank account and it is still the same.

Any suggestions on how much would be acceptable for him to pay? He works full time and has done so since he left school at 16.

Thanks

zipman23

I'm 22 and my sister is 23 (I think haha). We both pay £100 per month 'rent' to our mum although i've paid for longer because I got my first full time job when I was 18. She works part time and is separated from our Dad. We both probably earn more than her in our jobs at the minute and the main reason she doesn't work full time is probably because she wouldn't have time to do anything else. She cooks our food, does my washing/ironing but because my sister is a girl and I'm not trusted with an iron or a cup of washing powder/conditioner...I get mine done for nowt (aslong as I put it away on time). She uses my car during the day to get to and from work because I work permanent nightshift. The car is registered in my name, I bought it with my own money and paid for my first years insurance on my own. Car and insurance together came to about £3500 for the first year - of which she gave me £1000 towards the cost - This is before petrol and tax/mot etc. I pay for all the petrol and fill the tank right up when its needed. This costs about £33 every 8/9 days or so. I've had my car insured now for almost 2 years and the premium had come right down to about £530. When it needs renewing, my mam will pay for almost all of it, I will contribute to the cost and will probably still pay for all the petrol as i use it that little bit more.

I stay at my girlfriends parents place on my nights off and almost every weekend so sometimes get my tea there and also my sunday dinner there too for nowt so I don't usually eat alot of food at home but still pay towards shopping bills whenever it is needed!

I'd say I get off pretty lightly with board as when I'm getting full pay, I come home with £950ish a month after tax. At the minute its gone down to £700ish because I'm saving up for a deposit for a house with my girlfriend. She pays her parents £200 board but she earns alot more than I do. I know mortgages aren't cheap these days but the £300 we are paying in board now isn't that much less than what we'd be paying for our mortgage so its not as if we're in for a shock when we do eventually buy our own place.

annie-c

zipman23 wrote:

I know mortgages aren't cheap these days but the £300 we are paying in board now isn't that much less than what we'd be paying for our mortgage so its not as if we're in for a shock when we do eventually buy our own place.

Hello zipman! This isn't a criticism of you - you seem to have a really nice, respectful arrangement going on in your house, but just a warning - you ARE likely to be in for a shock when you get your own mortgage . At least, I had a bl**dy great shock - at the total cost of mortgage, insurance, utilities, Council Tax, repairs, you name it, I was shocked at the amount I had to pay for it!