how much to charge adult kids

squizz11

At the moment I charge two £260 and one is paying nothing as he chose to give up work to study again.   all are over 20, one is also just finishing uni but he has lived at home for the duration  and paid rent all that time.

For context I was widowed a year and half ago and I have been living off savings since whilst I start a new business so I can hopefully earn more money than just getting a job.

I have roughly £300 coming in a month and outgoings work out at £866 per person as there are 5 of us ( one still at school)   I private rent and get no help as my savings are still over the threshold but they have taken a huge dip over the last year whilst I got myself sorted out.

when all three adults are working I know I will have to ask for more 

Singlemummy_2

How is the one studying keeping himself? Is he claiming benefits or expecting you to cover all of his costs. If he was managing his own home he would still have outgoings so the fact he’s given up work shouldn’t necessarily mean he pays nothing. Can he work part time alongside studies? 

Spendless

Can you break this down more please.

The one that has just given up working - to go to Uni? Still young enough to be assessed on your household income as to what student loan they receive? Is the student loan they receive going to be the  same as  the sibling who is just finishing Uni and has paid whilst living at home. If so charge the same.

The working one - what do they earn? Do they have huge commuting costs, are they saving to move out?     Is what they're paying proportonate to their income or are you currently subsidising because of any of their curcs. Is the one graduating from Uni going to earn a similar amount - if so charge the same if you are happy with this.

£866 x 5 = 4330 seems a lot of monthly outgoings to me, it even seems a lot at £3464 if you're not including the 5th person at school.  Can you break costs down to give a better idea of what you're paying. If the older 3 all moved out tomorrow, which costs would go, which would remain static and which would reduce? All that will be helpful in making a decision about what to charge.   

squizz11

the oldest is 28 and he left a low paid job to restudy for a year, he has tried to get work to fit round it but never managed,   I'm keeping a record of costs he owes and I know he will pay it back  the other one is his girlfriend,  she earns £30k a year,  I haven't upped her rent as she has literally only just got the job, was a minimum wage earner before
the 20year old has just finished and is looking for work.

rent £2600   I  live near London and have been evicted twice in a year (landlords needed to sell or move back in)  with 4 people plus a dog and cat and rentals at premium price and time constraints because of eviction we didn't get alot of choice.

council tax 256pm
gas and electric £550pm ( the house we are in has 2 boilers so expensive to run)
food  £180 per week 
water £60 per month.

if they moved out I would move house.

Annisele

Do all the adults in the household know what your income and expenses are? If they know, then I'm surprised they're not embarrassed to be paying £260 a month (unless you meant £260 per week). If they don't know, tell them!

sheramber

You need to sit everybody down and show them your weekly/ monthly outgoings along with your income and ask them how to resolve the deficit. 

If you don’t tell them you can’t expect them to know.

DullGreyGuy

There are many theories and not correct answers. 

Some will say charge a commercial or near commercial rate for their rooms... they should be paying their way (you could chose to repay them some/all of it when they are looking to buy or such themselves.

Others will say to look at the difference in your costs between living alone and living with them... split that cost between them.

My mother went for a % of my salary which personally I didn't like as it doesn't reflect reality, if you do lots of overtime your landlord doesn't charge you more

calleyw

So one of your sons has his girlfriend living with you.  In the real world if he was not living at home he would not have been able to afford to go back to studying with out taking loans etc.  Also his gf would be expected to plug any gaps.  She now has a better paid job so she needs to be pay keep to cover both of them.  There are lots of jobs such as fast food places and supermarkets are always looking for staff. And most of them are able to cater towards student schedules.

sk2402005

What an awful situation for you, i cant even imagine how things have been for you.

However, the maths is reasonably simple, there’s 6? adults living in the house, so its £700 a month each (so still cheap, especially for London)

If they dont all pay the same, your children will start to resent each other, and that doesnt end in a happy place.

I realise clearly you want to look after your children, but they are adults, and it doesn’t sound like it will be long before your savings dry up, or you start to get yourself in serious debt.

When your business picks up you may well decide to subsidise them again.

Spendless

sk2402005 said:

What an awful situation for you, i cant even imagine how things have been for you.

However, the maths is reasonably simple, there’s 6? adults living in the house, so its £700 a month each (so still cheap, especially for London)

If they dont all pay the same, your children will start to resent each other, and that doesnt end in a happy place.

I realise clearly you want to look after your children, but they are adults, and it doesn’t sound like it will be long before your savings dry up, or you start to get yourself in serious debt.

When your business picks up you may well decide to subsidise them again.

There's 5 people.(4 adults), made up of 1 schoolchild, the OP, one  son who is just finishing Uni,  the  (older)   son who gave up his job a few months back to study (doesn't say what level course this is or if it attracts funding)  and the older son's partner who has only just got a job that pays more after earning the NMW. That's where the issue lies. The OP has 2 student son (one just finishing, one recently started) son's girlfriend who has only just started earning more, a school aged child and his/herself. No one fetching in particularly much but also living in an expensive area.