How much to charge?

hivoodoodoll

Hello all, just wanted to find out peoples opinion on how much I should charge a friend who wants to come and stay with me for four or five nights every month.  She is happy to buy all her own food and I would just change her bedding once a month. Obviously I need to take into consideration bills but I really have no idea what to suggest she pays.

Decepcionada19

 For water bills, I would suggest that you take daily water meter readings before your friend moves in (I'm assuming you have a water meter under your kitchen sink). That way, you'll get an idea of your own usage. After the first period of four or five consecutive nights' stay, you can get an idea of the extra water used by your friend. Ditto gas and electricity consumption if you have accessible meters or smart meters. In all honesty, her costs will not be high for such a short period per month.

amandacat

It depends how good a friend she is. 
But if you wanted to be fair then add together your water, gas, electric, council tax bills, any other relevant bills for the month. 5 days a month is 1/6 so divide by that and then split in two between you and her. You might also want to add in mortgage/rent when calculating the above cost. That would be the formula if you just want to cover her share of the costs. 
If you’re inclined to make a profit then add a bit on top for the inconvenience/time to change bedding/ clean the room. 

hivoodoodoll

Thanks. I am now wondering if my single persons 25% reduction in council tax will be affected. I think I need to ring the council in the morning as her main residence he will be in France and she won’t have one in the UK. 

FreeBear

hivoodoodoll said:Thanks. I am now wondering if my single persons 25% reduction in council tax will be affected. I think I need to ring the council in the morning as her main residence will be in France and she won’t have one in the UK. 

It won't affect your council tax one bit regardless of where her main residence is. You will still retain your single person discount.

As for how much to charge, look on a site such as Spareroom, see what the average cost for a similar room in your area is. Use that as the starting point.

hazyjo

Has she offered to pay something? Yes, I think she should pay, but thought I'd check she had actually said to you she was expecting to and not just looking to crash and offering to pay for her own food, etc.

tbh it might be easier to just cook for her if you're cooking for you/others. Cooking twice will cost more and possibly be annoying if she's in the kitchen when you might want to be.

As FreeBear suggests, work it out pro rata from what similar nearby properties charge on spareroom. If it works out at something like £40 rather than say £100, I'd consider just saying get a takeaway and drinks in, or take me out for dinner once a month. Obviously not everyone would appreciate that, or may have kids so not able to head out easily, or if you did have kids perhaps see if she's babysit a couple of nights or something?

Mutton_Geoff

Will she have exclusive use of her room? Will her stuff be left there whilst she is not there? I'd find out what a room generally goes for in your area per month, divide by 30 then double it as a daily rate. That way there will a financial lever in case the 4-5 days a month creep up to 20-25 etc. Make sure you don't exceed the HMRC rent a room rate of £7,500 a year.

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

[Deleted User]

You could look at AirBnb rates for a room in your area and then charge less/what you think is reasonable. 4 or 5 days a month is not a lot so personally I'd just try to cover the bills if she is a friend.