Have you 'lodged' with your parents? How much did you pay?

getmore4less

lonestar1 wrote: »

I'd go for the most your allowed under the governments rent a room scheme currently £4250 a year any more and you'd have to declare it and pay tax

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

I lived with parents a few years back and payed £400 a month (Im not sure if my parents declared the income or not) which included utilities and council tax but bought my own food etc I also payed for decent broadband.

It was cheaper than renting my own place and helped me save up some cash but certainly not so cheap I stayed longer than I had to

It has been said on here before that people living as a houshold can contribute as much as they like without any tax implications

family would count as household.


edit(see someone else has pointed that out)

goodwithsaving

My parents charged a nominal sum of £100 a month when I returned and got my first professional full-time job. The deal was that I could go on holiday and 'wind down' after a tricky few years, on the agreement that I also saved and moved out within a year. I moved out within 4 months.
It was their way of helping but without directly giving me money.
Others have charged their children market rate and put it into another account, handed back as a surprise lump sum on their leaving.
It depends upon individual circumstances and your sons attitude towards money. I am a good saver, and my parents knew that.
I've never understood a hardline approach but I guess I'm lucky that we had a reasonable sized house so weren't on top of each other, and I was out a lot anyway.

Gonzo1987

I moved home from Jan til May and paid £120 + the extra council tax as my mum lost her single person discount.

TBagpuss

I think as a minimum they should be paying enough that you are not out of pocket, so a share of the groceries and any increase in bills. And of course, they should be helping out with cooking, cleaning etc.
Above that, it depends on what you feel is reasonable.

One option is to look at what proportion of your (joint, if there are two of you) income you spend on mortgage/rent and charge them a similar proportion of their income.

I probably would not charge rent to a child who was attending university, but would expect his/her partner to be paying. Which might work out at them paying the going rate for a room in a shared house, and leaving it up to them how they split that cost between the two of them.

Round where I live, a room in a shared house is around £65 p.w. + bills.

moneysavingvixen

On the first occasion, when I was earning £8000 a year, I paid £30 a week for a room.

When I briefly returned, earning £30,000 a year, I paid £400 a month for a self contained flat.

I think the idea was the first time I covered the extra expense incurred by my parents (I paid for all my own food, did my own cooking, washing etc.), the second time that I paid a more realistic amount, but less than if I had to rent my own flat. It allowed me to save and buy the house I'm now in.

GwylimT

Remember as your son is living at home he will receive a smaller student loan as it is assumed he doesn't have to pay for housing.

I lives with my dad for about six months when I was in my early twenties, I paid the market rate at the time for a room in a shared house, I however was working fulltime on a good wage. We didn't have a spefici rule for buying food but generally whoever was cooking the meal that night would buy the ingredients.

When I moved out he gave me most of my rent back towards my house deposit, he kept £1000 to go on a lads holiday

greensalad

Do you need the money?

Honestly, I don't see many young couples who want to stay living with their parents any longer than they have to. They will want to leave! And I don't think profiting off your children is the nicest thing.

I would charge them as lonestar suggested, around £350 a month. I would deduct money for bills (electric, council tax, water, gas) and then I would put the rest away in a savings account. You can sit the money in a savings account and when they are ready to buy their own place or move out, you can gift them the money they paid for rent.

Going by how much my bills are, I'd say you're looking at saving maybe £265 a month after you've deducted the bill cost. Over 2 years that could be £6,500. An amazing amount to gift to a young couple perhaps paying for a wedding, or paying to furnish a house or get a mortgage.

In terms of food it would be sensible for them to do their own food shopping (perhaps if you have space they could have a little fridge to themselves?) and then just mutually put a tenner in a pot every other week to pay for milk, bread, butter and teabags.

Pincher

As with lots of things, if you make it official, you create unintended problems. When you come to sell the house, the HMRC could force you to define what portion of the house was let, and is therefore NOT CGT exempt.

Just get them to pay some bills, and do some chores. Grocery costs a lot, hint.

dodger1

If I didn't need their money then personally I wouldn't charge them a penny. If I actually needed help then I'd charge whatever the increase was in utilities etc.

Mojisola

Pincher wrote: »

As with lots of things, if you make it official, you create unintended problems. When you come to sell the house, the HMRC could force you to define what portion of the house was let, and is therefore NOT CGT exempt.

I don't think this applies to lodgers and certainly not to family members.