Do you pay rent if you live at home?

Dunroamin

nicole2216 wrote: »

ive read this thread outloud to my daughter (who starts uni in Sept) and will be living at home.
My question is, at the moment we are in receipt of benefits.
Will these benefits be affected by daughters loans/grants/bursery?
She has no qualms about paying towards her upkeep/rent call it what you like. She is adamant she wants to contribute. If we lose Housing benefit because of her 'income' then I feel its only fair she contributes the amount that we loose.
Does this sound fair to other parents?

I believe you'll get a non dependent deduction from your HB that she may want to make up and, of course, your child benefit and child tax credits for her will end.

silvercar

StacFace wrote: »

With Student Finance loans are based on household income and where a student is awarded a lower amount it is because the parents are expected to 'top up' to the full amount. Therefore I would think of the friends living rent free as paying that 'top up' amount in rent.

I agree. If the government expect parents to help their students, there is no reason why that help can't be in the form of living rent/ keep free at home.

Similarly, if they were attending uni, they would/should have some form of income (eg; maintenance grant.) They are adults and cannot live for free; nor is it fair for them to expect to.

Some don't get any grant and the loan is reduced due to parental income. Some loans don't even cover hall fees.

Dunroamin wrote:

Do you actually mean rent or do you mean paying for her keep?

I think paying rent is optional but paying for food and utilities isn't, otherwise the whole grant/loan just becomes spending money.

spending money and books/ stationary/ transport. Remember a lot of students living at home will have high transport costs because home is not the ideal place to live near the uni, but it is do-able.

Dunroamin wrote:

Not very mixed!

A recent thread on charging rent when students came home from uni for holidays ranged from "never" to "charging for coming home in reading week".

I could never charge more than it would cost me to have the young person at home and even then only if I needed the money. Our children are our children and to profit out of them just because they turn 18 seems wrong.

Mine know they are always welcome to come home. Moving away is a big step and I want to give them the security that home is a base if they want it.

amiehall

Gosh, I'm completely financially independent and haven't lived at home for nearly 7 years. I definitely wouldn't be impressed if my mum asked me for money while I was there for a holiday though!

Mojisola

amiehall wrote: »

Gosh, I'm completely financially independent and haven't lived at home for nearly 7 years. I definitely wouldn't be impressed if my mum asked me for money while I was there for a holiday though!

Wouldn't you contribute any thing at all? We would always pay for shopping or do something else for Mum and Dad. I wouldn't expect to stay with friends without contributing and I don't see why my parents should pay for my food all week - unless they stay with you regularly and it's a reciprocal arrangement.

Fire_Fox

Yes, it's good for any adult to learn to budget and understand how much things cost in the real world. Too many youngsters leave home thinking they can afford a flat and get into all kinds of trouble when they realise how many bills there are and how much money that takes.

Most students have enough money for luxuries like a car, make up, clothing, music downloads, mobile phone, so they can clearly afford to make a contribution towards food or household bills however modest.

silvercar

nicole2216 wrote: »

ive read this thread outloud to my daughter (who starts uni in Sept) and will be living at home.
My question is, at the moment we are in receipt of benefits.
Will these benefits be affected by daughters loans/grants/bursery?
She has no qualms about paying towards her upkeep/rent call it what you like. She is adamant she wants to contribute. If we lose Housing benefit because of her 'income' then I feel its only fair she contributes the amount that we loose.
Does this sound fair to other parents?

As I understand it, you will have a deduction in your housing benefit because you have a non-dependent living at home. You will also lose any child benefit and child tax credit you got for your daughter.

The housing benefit reduction is something directly because your daughter is living at home, so it is reasonable to ask for that money. The child benefit and CTC you would have expected to lose anyway, whether she lives at home or not, so her living at home is not penalising you.

She will get a relatively generous student grant/ loan/ bursary compared to other students whose parents have a higher income, therefore it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect her to pay the extra costs - fodd/ utilities etc - that you incur by her being at home.

nicole2216

silvercar wrote: »

As I understand it, you will have a deduction in your housing benefit because you have a non-dependent living at home. You will also lose any child benefit and child tax credit you got for your daughter.

The housing benefit reduction is something directly because your daughter is living at home, so it is reasonable to ask for that money. The child benefit and CTC you would have expected to lose anyway, whether she lives at home or not, so her living at home is not penalising you.

She will get a relatively generous student grant/ loan/ bursary compared to other students whose parents have a higher income, therefore it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect her to pay the extra costs - fodd/ utilities etc - that you incur by her being at home.

Thank you. Thats exactly the response I was looking for. She is quite willing to pay towards food/utilities etc. I wouldn't expect her to buy her own food but she WILL buy her own toiletries, clothes etc (although she does this already as does. She takes her little sister to school when shes not at college and gets a little bit of money for doing this, and the 15yr old has a babysitting job, so she buys her own toiletries and make up). I dont mind paying for their essentials, but extras are up to them to pay for.

RoxRoxBling

I agree with what was said in post #3

I am a part time mature (25) student and I work full time.
As I'm part time i have to pay fees upfront. Some has been funded by student finance and the rest I've paid myself.
I do not pay board. (In fact I have never paid board and I've worked full time - but look how much I have saved - enough for a house desposit)
I do pay for my personal things, car, clothes, going out. Etc.

I'm more than happy to give 100 a month in board, but you could argue that that board money can be used by myself for a help towards my own house. Cause really the government aren't going to help.

The purpose of living at home is to save. What would be the point of living at home and paying for bills etc.

Rather than renting and living pay cheque to pay cheque. I've had the opportunity to save for my future.

RoxRoxBling

silvercar wrote: »

I could never charge more than it would cost me to have the young person at home and even then only if I needed the money. Our children are our children and to profit out of them just because they turn 18 seems wrong.

I totally agree with this. Although I have no children. Living rent free with my parents, has helped me to save - and all for my future. Best start to adulthood my parents could give.

And now I'm intending to spend my money on my masters.

Just to add: I have been saving since I was 18.

Fluff15

I paid £300 per month to my mum (plus £10 for my laptop insurance) when I was at home during the summer holidays/after leaving university, which covered rent, use of utilities and some food. I was expected to buy more of my own food though.

As my mum receives child benefits for my brother (under 16) still, and works part time as much as she can, her rent & CT is reduced so I know that my money covered roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of her total bills for the house.

I think it would be not unreasonable to ask for a small contribution, maybe ask for a larger amount though and save part of it for her when she leaves uni? My friend's mum did this and ended up leaving university with almost her whole student loan - jammy!