Brother wants to rent a room from us

pixiedust09

Just looking for a bit of advice, my brother who currently rents a flat has asked if we'd consider renting him a room for a few months, to enable him to pay off his debts and save a deposit for another flat. He works quite long hours but would obviousley be using water, gas electric etc but would provide his own food. My 5 yr old nephew would also be staying every other weekend and school hols etc.

My question is how much rent should I ask him for? I want to be fair and give him breathing space to help him out, but don't want to be taken for a ride either.

tidds

Surely only you know how much your bills are, how much you want to earn off him? We could suggest £200, or maybe £600.... It's a difficult one for a forum to decide.

thesaint

How much is the rental of a room in your area?
How much is his flat rental including bills?

TBagpuss

Have a look in your local paper, on gumtree etc and see what he going rate s in your area for a room in shared house, including bills, and start from there.

Persoanlly, I'd take that figure, knock a bit off and start from there.
If the plan is that he will also have his meals with you add that in - a room in a shared house is often inclusive of bills but excludes meals and groceries, so make sure you are comparing like for like.

LAst time I rented out a room to a friend, the going rate in my area was about £65 per week, she and I agreed on £55 per week. We sometimes chose to eat together but we were each responsible for buying our own food

Mojisola

pixiedust09 wrote: »

Just looking for a bit of advice, my brother who currently rents a flat has asked if we'd consider renting him a room for a few months, to enable him to pay off his debts and save a deposit for another flat. He works quite long hours but would obviousley be using water, gas electric etc but would provide his own food. My 5 yr old nephew would also be staying every other weekend and school hols etc.

Apart from the money side of things, don't have an open-ended agreement or you'll be back in a couple of years, asking for advice about how to get him to leave.

Set a time frame and agree to have a (semi-formal) discussion at the end of that. If necessary, you may have to set a deadline for him to move out if things aren't going well.

Discuss expectations on both sides before he moves in - will he do a share of household chores, etc.

Also, how well do you know what his life-style is like? Does he play loud music late at night when you will want to be sleeping? Will he expect to be able to bring one-night stands home with him? Will he use every mug in the house and leave them lying around for you to clear up? (Sometimes it's the small things that lead to the most aggravation. )

Is there anything about the way you live that he will find difficult?

This could work very well for you and him but it will be more successful if you talk beforehand and agree to raise any problems as soon as they start to bother any of you.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would have said "going rate for a room" and don't knock any off (the mate's rate bit comes in from the fact the nephew will be there too sometimes).

We obviously don't know how well (or otherwise) you get on with your brother.

In your position too - I would be taking account of the reason why he was in debt, ie:-

- is it his fault (ie he did a lot of spending on consumer goodies)

OR

- couldnt be helped (ie he was being good with money but something totally outwith his control affected his finances for the worse - eg an unexpected job loss or health care costs or the like).

and might give a bit more "leniency" if the debt wasnt "his fault" iyswim.

HappyMJ

pixiedust09 wrote: »

Just looking for a bit of advice, my brother who currently rents a flat has asked if we'd consider renting him a room for a few months, to enable him to pay off his debts and save a deposit for another flat. He works quite long hours but would obviousley be using water, gas electric etc but would provide his own food. My 5 yr old nephew would also be staying every other weekend and school hols etc.

My question is how much rent should I ask him for? I want to be fair and give him breathing space to help him out, but don't want to be taken for a ride either.

If it was my sister (I don't have a brother but I'm sure same applies)...I'd let her stay a month for free then I would expect her to offer about £200 to £300 per month if she hasn't found anywhere to move to yet. It doesn't usually take very long to find another property to rent. I wouldn't ask for anything but if she didn't offer I'd make noises about her leaving. I would expect her to buy her own food, do her own washing and generally keep the place clean and tidy.

As a guest she wouldn't cause an increase in my council tax but if she becomes a paying guest then you've got to tell council and you lose the single person discount if you were eligible for a discount.

If you're on benefits yourself sometimes it's just easier to let him/her just stay as a guest and not ask or expect anything as your benefits would be reduced.

pixiedust09

Thanks folks, rooms in my area seem to be in the range of £300-£600, but was thinking along the lines of £250 a month, as he's family, or is this not enough? He probably won't eat with us during the week but may do at weekends especially when my nephews with us. I will probably end up doing his washing, but he will be expected to keep the kitchen and bathroom clean when he's used them, I don't think that's unreasonable. His debts are mainly from a car loan and credit cards when he was with his ex, which he managed to pay every month no problem, but since she cheated on him about 18 months ago, he had to find a flat and bills etc on his own as well as maintenance for his son. He earns about £25k a year, and as far as I know the debt has been consolidated.

I won't be allowing any one night stands, this is mine and hubby's home and he will need to respect that. He's not one to play music, so no worries there.

HappyMJ

pixiedust09 wrote: »

Thanks folks, rooms in my area seem to be in the range of £300-£600, but was thinking along the lines of £250 a month, as he's family, or is this not enough? He probably won't eat with us during the week but may do at weekends especially when my nephews with us. I will probably end up doing his washing, but he will be expected to keep the kitchen and bathroom clean when he's used them, I don't think that's unreasonable.

I think that is a fair deal. I would expect him to wash his own clothes but that's absolutely fine of you want to do them.

Even if you said you thought £50 a month was the figure you were looking for then that would be fair too.

It's whatever you can both agree to.

Ozzuk

If it was my bro and he needed help I'd likely just make sure bills were covered. mine did actually live with me many years ago, I think I charged £25/week then.

But that's just me, charging him a higher rate wouldn't necessarily be 'wrong'.

Do you have kids/pets? You'd get a cheap babysitter

pixiedust09

No kids, but plenty of pets 😉