MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Terry and June charge their son rent?

lupilu_2 · 18 November 2009 at 12:16PM

suetony88 wrote: »

He should most definitley pay rent and all the utility bills. It does not have to be for a profit though. They could keep the money aside for him until he wants to get on the property ladder. Then they can surprise him with a lump sum.
If they do not charge him any rent, he will not understand the responsibility of money and paying for his way in life.

I think it depends on the parents situation, the rent they earn from that flat may be a vital part of their income, in which case they have no choice but to charge rent, however the fact that they let their other two sons live their rent free suggests it's not, if not, then I agree with suetony, charge rent, to teach the value of money and the responsibility they must learn with money, to always make sure their bills are paid, but save it up, then hand them a cash lump sum when they get their own place, (though personally I'd hand them half the amount and open a savings account with the rest, a nice isa or something like that where they can't take the money out and hopefully have to contribute on a regular basis, teach them the value of rainy day money as well.) otherwise they're going to have a large amount of their income to spend on whatever they want, they'll never get used to having to pay bills.
the only way I'd let him off was if he was going to use the money to pay off his student loans, then he could start his life hopefully, debt free.

borkid · 18 November 2009 at 1:16PM

Defintely charge him rent and if he is earning enough the full market rent. They can always give him a rent holiday if they feel he needs it. We had decided to do this with our son several years ago when he was thinking of living at home after uni. What he didn't know was we were planning to invest the profit and give it to him when he wanted a deposit for a house oe the like. The sooner children learn how to manage money the better. He is 28 and debt free apart from a mortgage and a small interest free sum he owes us. That should be paid off mid 2010.

mastermank · 18 November 2009 at 1:17PM

It's not a question of whether or not it's correct to have your child pay rent or whether he's working or not it's a matter of giving the children equal support. It was his brothers choice not to work in the same way it was his to work so why should he be disadvantaged.
Allow him the same length of time rent free as was given to his brothera and then either charge a commercial amount of rent or ask him to move out.

doshi · 18 November 2009 at 1:20PM

Hi, he should pay as he is going to be earning money! The previous two kids were students so it's not fair for them to have paid ( or perhaps they should have paid a nominal amount)

I charged my brother a very nominal amount per month and then gave him the money back at the end of the year for the same scenario.

regards doshi

MrsOrange_2 · 18 November 2009 at 1:26PM

Why do students get away with paying nothing when the hard working son gets stung for rent. He's got himself a job and is no burden to anyone so why should he not enjoy his hard earned cash. I think the parents should be ashamed even thinking of asking him to pay rent when his dosser brothers haven't paid a penny!!!!!!!!

borkid · 18 November 2009 at 1:41PM

There seems to be a misconception by some that students don't work a lot do work very hard. It's just that they don't do paid work for some of the time. A bit like the traditional housewife.

Sorry but you can't treat all your children absolutly equally down to the last penny. We have lent, interest free, both of our children money. They had full time jobs our daughter then became chronically ill with an untreatable illness and is unable to work there is no way we would call on her to repay the debt as things stand. We take her out and always pick up the bill. My son is married, 2 wages coming in, we expect the debt to be paid, as it is on target, and contribute something when we go out.

glossyhair · 18 November 2009 at 1:45PM

suetony88 wrote: »

He should most definitely pay rent and all the utility bills. It does not have to be for a profit though. They could keep the money aside for him until he wants to get on the property ladder. Then they can surprise him with a lump sum.
If they do not charge him any rent, he will not understand the responsibility of money and paying for his way in life.

I agree with this post - but I think that he should be charged less than the market rate as his brothers both got complete freebies!!! If the parents can afford freebies for two then they are obviously not short of a bob or two so a reduced rate would seem to be fairest.

I like the idea of surprising him with a lump sum later. He learns how to manage his money AND gets to enjoy his parents generosity. Lucky fella :-) If I was a parent in this position . . . that's what I'd love to do for my child!

seaworld40 · 18 November 2009 at 2:06PM

I think they should charge rent because he will learn the value of money and also learn how to budget and save for things that he needs. He may even be able to save a deposit for somewhere else to live.

opinionatedmadam · 18 November 2009 at 2:31PM

When I moved back home from Uni and started earning money I thought it was only fair to make a contribution to my mother and not expect her to cough up for my living costs. We calculated the cost of bills and I contributed half plus a little bit more, based on the fact that my salary was very low. What I paid was about 1/2 of what a shared flat would have cost. I think Terry & June's son should pay at least the running cost of the flat plus a bit more to help him learn the value of money and some responsibility. I would probably have asked the older sons to pay towards the cost of the flat too as they would otherwise have been paying rent somewhere else.

fluffybunnies · 18 November 2009 at 2:43PM

they should charge preston rent, but explain to him that if or when he decides to go to university that they will then fund him through his course as they did with his other brothers whilst they were at uni.

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Terry and June charge their son rent?

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