How much should i charge my partner rent?

FBaby

If for example my bf rents out his house for £500 a month and pays this towards his mortgage he will be saving a lot more by not having any bills to pay for in his house apart from his mortgage.

Don't forget that he will have to pay taxes and that he will need to put money asides for repairs, cost of potential months without rent (in between tenants), cost of refurbishing etc... These can be quite a lot and it might be that in the end, he doesn't get to cash much of the rent he will receive.

Ultimately, the fairer way to do things if you calculate your outgoings and then subtract from your joint income. Then divide by two and you get an equal disposable income. You can then decide what you pay and what he pays (or what is transferred to one of the other) so you are left equal.

However, you might want to discuss what moving in together means to both of you. If my partner at the time had posted something like your OP when we agreed I would move in to his place, I would have told him to forget it as to me, it meant an element of commitment beyond being just housemates.

Kim_kim

I can understand the op asking for "rent".
Why shouldn't he pay half the living expenses & some rent.
He could pay the equalivent of renting a room.

Mojisola

Kim_kim wrote: »

I can understand the op asking for "rent".
Why shouldn't he pay half the living expenses & some rent.
He could pay the equalivent of renting a room.

Because that would give him rights to a proportion of her house if they ever split up.

HappyMJ

Kim_kim wrote: »

I can understand the op asking for "rent".
Why shouldn't he pay half the living expenses & some rent.
He could pay the equalivent of renting a room.

It's a relationship isn't it.

It should be "their" house instead of "her" house so why should he be handing money to his partner for "rent"...the OP is not paying rent herself so she will be keeping the money for herself by making mortgage payments so she is increasing her equity.

The OP wants to protect her investment so therefore she needs to stay away from linking any payments to the mortgage payment at all as the mortgage payment isn't just interest it's also capital in nature.

It's not your standard landlord/tenant relationship.

Paying half the household bills only is the safest way of protecting herself. You never know he might give her some extra for other expenses but forcing him to pay more than half the bills may be considered as a contribution to the mortgage as well and he can potentially build up a beneficial interest in the home.

Kim_kim

Mojisola wrote: »

Because that would give him rights to a proportion of her house if they ever split up.

But you could have a lodger in renting a room with board paying a similar sum, they would not have rights.

HappyMJ

Kim_kim wrote: »

But you could have a lodger in renting a room with board paying a similar sum, they would not have rights.

A lodger doesn't pay bills. The amount charged to a lodger includes all bills.

A lodger would also not have their name on the council tax bill. The OP's partner will tell council that he's moved in and the council will then send a bill to both of them in both their names. He can pay half of that bill as it's in his name.

If she puts the mortgage in his name then he can pay half of that too but I doubt she would want that.

She could put all the utility bills in both their names and he therefore becomes liable for them too. You don't do that with lodgers.

goodwithsaving

HappyMJ wrote: »

It's a question that comes up quite often here. If you're going to live with someone in a relationship akin to marriage then you should share everything including your income, your assets and your expenses. You can still have separate bank accounts and have your income credited to your own account but you have to make sure each person in the relationship has exactly the same amount of money to spend as they please each month.

This isn't fact, this is your view although you seem to have stated it as factual advice. This approach may not be suitable for every co-habiting household - certainly not mine!

TBagpuss

Mojisola wrote: »

Because that would give him rights to a proportion of her house if they ever split up.

Not automatically. OP, you may wish to get cohabitation agreement drawn up - you can set out in that he won't gain any rights to the property and can also set out arrangements as to practicalities in the event that you separate (how much notice you'll give him, how you will divide up any furniture etc you may buy together). You can also provide for things such as whether he *would* gian any interest in the property if he were to make any capital contributions over and above his normal 'rent'.

The problem with partner gaining an interest in a property comes where people don't have anything drawn up in advance and a court is left to try to decide whether there was an unspoken or implied agreement. f you have a formal agreement, preferably with both of you taking separate legal advice first, you should be fine.

I'd suggest that it would be reasonable to ask him to contribute a bit less than he'd pay to rent a room commercially - say if the going rate for a room in your area is £75 week + share of bills maybe ask him for £50 + share of bills.

You can review the arrangements regualarly and decide when, and if, you want to change them maybe in a year or so you may decide to sell both properties and buy one jointly, or to put both into joint names.

Good luck, and well done for thinking about the unromantic practicalities. Making sure that you are both on the same page before you move in together helps avoid disputes later on.

boliston

Charging a partner rent seems a bit "odd" to me - it makes more sense to simply share any joint costs such as food, utilities, council tax etc

Once you start charging a partner "rent" the you are getting into quite dangerous territory as you could be liable for tax on the income you make and don't even dream of allowing a partner to pay towards a mortgage, however tempting it might seem.

justme111

If I were you I would like to think that my man will offer me even more generous conditions than I believe are fair. If I was to worry he offers me any less I probably would not have thought about moving with him.
So how come you already decided you moving together without discussing money?
In my mind the best thing in case of similar size budgets would be him paying you half bills and half of whatever monetary benefit he obtains by living with you ( bill payments difference, rent payments (net ). Re him claiming interest in your property - unlikely to happen , court unlikely to give it , if anything it would not be much and he has property himself which you could counterclaim against so I would not particular worry about it. Even better if you do the agreement.

PS. I do not like the way it sounds -"charging a partner rent". "What is reasonable for him to contribute " is better