Buying flat with brother, girlfriend to move in, what "rent" does she pay?

clw1

If it was me I would suggest that you agree a rent that the girlfriend pays based on market rents in the area less a bit as she is sharing a bedroom.

Then from what she pays as rent you could assume that 60% is for the communal areas and 40% is for the bedroom. So you get 30% of her rent (ie half the communal area bit) and bro gets 70% (ie half the communal bit and all of the bedroom bit as he is sharing with her).

I've put it 60/40 as I assume that bro and GF will prob use the larger bedroom but if both rooms are a similar size you might want to use 50/50 to split rent between bedrooms and communal areas.

As well as the rent I'd suggest she pays 1/3rd of all bills.

podperson

I agree that the fairest way would be to charge her a set amount for 'rent' and then split between you and your brother. I think the mention of them sharing a room is a bit of a moot point - presumerably they would want to share a room anyway since they are a couple, me and OH have a 2 bedroom flat but we share the same bedroom because we're a couple - if you had a 3 bedroom house I doubt she'd want her own room. At the end of the day your brother wants to live with her - you may like her but it's something that you're not exactly choosing to do and it is going to enroach on your space and your privacy - imo you have a right to want some sort of financial incentive beyond getting £40 off your bills a month.

coin_operated_girl

rachbc wrote: »

Mmm tricky - I do beleive you should gain soem financial benefit form her being there beyound the reduced bills yes. I think the rooms thing is a red herring as prsumably he doing so because he wants to live with his gf not because he needs the rent! I would change her the going rate for a room share and split equally between you as yo are both her landlords rather than asking her for a proportion of the mortgage

I agree with this. I don't think its fair that the brother gets more of the gfs rent money because presumably he wants her there and is happy to share his room with her. If hes not and wants some sort of compensation for her being there then he shouldn't ask her to move in with him. I would do exactly as rachbc suggested.

scheming_gypsy

Charge her a quarter of everything and you and your brother split the other three quarters. So if the monthly outgoings is £1000 she pays £250 and you two pay £375 each.

no maths or science to it but it just sounds fairer

FatVonD

If she is going to move in I think you should all benefit by an equal amount. If for instance she would have been paying £600 per month elsewhere where then she should pay £400 which is split between you and your brother. Everyone is then £200 per month better off than they would have been with her living elsewhere.

RichGold

A 35 year mortgage? Did I read that right?

Did you never want to pay this off?

Padstow

I say keep it simple. GF has been paying £600pm and a share of the bills (a third in this case) wherever she lived before, so keep to that.

That may sound harsh, but you are now home owners, so when the boiler packs up, the roof leaks, or the carpet wears a hole or whatever, you and your brother will have to pay to fix it. She will be a lodger so not liable to put in any extra for anything.

JodyBPM

I think I'd look at it in a slightly different way. Assuming that you and your brother can both afford the mortgage without her contribution, I'd say that you both keep paying exactly what you will before she moves in, even after she moves in.

Bills should be split 3 ways.

Charge the girlfriend half the going rate for a houseshare (half as she is sharing a room with your brother). Use the money that she pays to make capital repayments to your grandmother, thereby paying her off quicker, and reducing your interest costs. This also means that if the girlfriend moves out at a later date, you are still used to affording the full amount between the two of you. Once grandma has been paid off in full, you could then put the rent money into a savings account for maintenance, improvements, decoration etc. (or you might want to split it half to repay granny and half for maintenance from the offset).

Padstow

RichGold wrote: »

A 35 year mortgage? Did I read that right?

Did you never want to pay this off?

Yeah, I gulped at that too. Let's hope they have the option to overpay. Maybe the two will end up like the Candy Bros, billionaires within 17 years! They started with a loan from their grandmother as well.

scheming_gypsy

my mortgage is at 35 years as well. Not everybody can afford the payments on 25 years or less when they first start off, but you've got 35 years to make overpayments and to remortgage for a shorter term. You're also presuming that two brothers will want to live together in a flat for 35 years.