Host family

charlie007

Hello

Am trying to make overpayments on my mortgage. I have enquiries about becoming a host family for forigen students. Anyone else got experience of this. What are your views. Thanks x

raindropsy

Hi, we used to have foreign students mainly French ones, I loved it, the funny conversations. I'm thinking of doing it again. All you have to do is give them breakfast and dinner, I believe they have lunch at school as they used to have bad experience with English hosts not giving them good food. We had two in one room, they are out all day until dinner. We used to take them out on the weekend to show them a bit of local culture, but on the evening they used to meet up with their mates close by. The company will come and look at your house if it is suitable and talk to you if you are ok. We had a dog, which was fine. We used to get £300 for each student for the 3 weeks, but that was 15 years ago. You will need to be home when they come for dinner, we had to take some poor kids from families who changed their mind about hosting the first week of having them! Not very nice for kiddies in a different country, they are about 15-17 years old and they do rely on you like a parent. If you are nice and have a bit of time in the evening and weekend to make their holiday nice for them then go for it, good bit of money, although I'm not sure if it would be taxable these days. Enjoy their company :-)

Picky

Which companies need hosts?

Jackie132

No. I've no inquiries yet about it. But its interesting and funny becoming a host family for foreign students.

JuzaMum

Hi


I have been a host family for 8ish years now. I usually have adult students as I have found this easier than teens. I get £115 a week off peak and £135 peak per student in a single room. I have two rooms downstairs and a downstairs shower room so the family is not disturbed at night. The first £4250 a year earned is tax free which is nice.
The language school I use specialises in management and business English. We have had quite a few air traffic controllers stay.
We provide breakfast and dinner and lunch at weekends. I do laundry for the students too. Around 50% of my students are Muslim which means some dietary restrictions.
It works for us as a family as it means I can stay home with the children. If I worked childcare would be a big bill.
Sometimes it would be nice to have the house to ourselves but on the whole it works.
Earnings this financial year will be £9000 ish.
If you have any particular questions please ask me and I will try to answer them.


JuzaMum

charlie007

Depends where you live I think. Worth checking out your local la gauge schools. Thanks for the tax info. Very helpful.

Cha-chi

Started hosting in 2002, loved it so much that I am now the Area Manager for a company for High School Exchange programmes.
UK wide (including Ireland and Scotland), always looking for new and welcoming hosts!
Teenagers have their ups and downs, there not going to be angles 100% of the time, but going with a good company means that they have done a lot of the work in vetting the students before they come over!

PM for information on our programmes!

C-C