How much rent to charge 18 year old?

I get mine to buy and cook a decent portion of their food - still share family meals but we have fewer round the table affairs these days. I would however encourage saving. He them to do the Rebel finance course or similar then to start investing now for later.

Grethagreeen,no not confused. My friend didn't charge her son when he was living at home in his teens and working. He got married, mortgage kids,(he's got 3 he doesn't support) he feels he should be treated as he was before..it's his "home" he shouldn't have to pay. It never was his home, she downsized 10 years ago on retirement.. I have always helped my dks in times of need, break ups,child care,a home, but there is a limit.

Nothing (if l could afford to cover it) for first 12 months, so she can get started, then 25% of take home pay.

I was raised by my grandparents in a home where money was plentiful due to their business.
When I started earning from a part-time job at age 16, my contribution was to shop, cook and provide dinner for the family (my grandparents, myself and my 2 younger uncles) one week night and one weekend.
If I wasn't going to be there on my allocated nights I had to make sure there was a meal left to heat up.
I very quickly learned that chicken thighs were not just tastier but much cheaper.
Eggs from our hens were free!!! so plenty of egg based dinners.
Apples from the orchard were free so plenty of apple sponge/tart to fill up on after a dinner that may not have been a long lasting filling one.
Fillet steak for dinner???? in your dreams😂
2 years later when I was earning a very considerable wage I was then handed a bill a month to pay, done on rotation so it may have been a cheap internet one this month but an expensive electricity/gas one the following month.
I learned a hell of a lot about the cost of life and budgeting for it I can tell you - I also learned how to switch off the heating and yell at them to put on an extra jumper and point out that a cold shower was very very good for you😂

With mine, it's £200 + 1 bill that gets their name on it - my DD1 has the water bill, for example.

For me, getting their name on a bill to use as ID, having them pay & see how bills work (my DD1 and I have discussed how to reduce the water bill as we're on a meter - the water bill was picked because of her love of long showers), and starting that process of building up their financial history is the most important. My kids know I'm more than open to cutting or dropping rent if their financial situations changed or if they'd prefer to help the household with taking on more housework (I also pay them to do additional tasks around the home that I would pay someone else to help with or would be a significant relief to their father and I).

Also, those that pay rent get a bigger say in household projects and they're aware that the money goes towards activities or things they want around the house that would be a struggle or taking longer without their contributions. They can see/experience and part of their conversation of where their money is going.

I think you are getting confused with an obviously useless and selfish man by the sounds of it and parents supporting young adults living at home saving to get on the housing ladder. I understand the charging money if you need it only or if you feel like your child really need this life lesson as they don’t understand finances otherwise.

What have they to deal with?

The OPs daughter is an adult, earning a wage and is being asked to contribute towards food, phone and bills. That's called living!

I would suggest £200 board or she saves £300 into her Lisa. Which hopefully incentivizes her to save, if she chooses board I would definitely take it and might secretly save it for her but I wouldn’t let her know.

My daughter works part time and attends college she brings home about £1000 a month, I don’t charge her anything, I pay her phone contract, her college travel costs, half of her driving lessons and give her £20 a week towards her lunch costs, I have bought her a little car and she is expected to take over the majority of running costs once she has passed her test. I also pay £50 per month into her isa. I won’t start charging her rent until she has a full time job and her take home is £1500 a month, then it will be £200 per month which I will pay straight into her LISA. At the moment I am happy for her to use her earnings towards fun things. Her large friend group is all moving apart for Uni in September and she’s saving hard for a summer of music festivals and holidays, she’s not 18 yet. I was living alone,’skint with far too many worries when I was just a little older than she is now, I am more than happy for her to just enjoy her earnings at the moment, she works really hard for it.

Barnsleybonuz, 100%, agree. My friend of almost 70, had her entitled 40 year old son living with her. He often earns £2k per week,has borrowed money from her..she downsized to a flat,has only her pensions, state and small private, but her maintenance charges are eye watering.. she has a disabled ds living at home.. spent a lot of money making a room ready,new bed etc. it's making her ill. Originally he had roughly £70k, he could have put a deposit on a small property. He's trying to get her to move to a bigger place,hers has 2 bedrooms, she gave up the lounge for him.

Totally agree with this.

We have taken a token amount of £100 from our eldest who is working full time on roughly the same wages as me. He wants to buy his own house so we have encouraged him to save as much as he can but still pays that £100 to cover electricity as he works from home so heating is on all day as is his office light and powering 2 computers each day.

If you charge money it will take them longer to save to move our and her only saving £50 a month will take ages ro save up a decent amount of money.

Same will happen with our youngest when they graduate and start working.

I think you can understand that without having to pay your parents. Everyone’s circumstances are different. If you feel like your child needs this lesson fair enough. My son does not. He is sensible with money and understands budgeting. He also lived away at uni and had to budget for 4 years and did that very well so I am not worried.

That's actually a very good point!

My DS is in 2nd year apprenticeship and earns over £2k per month. We take a £200 contribution towards the home and he has managed to save over £10k in his first year.

I was going to up his contribution slightly as he got a pay rise, but as you say, if he was at uni, even living at home, we wouldn't have been taking money from him, so will leave it as is.

We cover his car tax, phone bill and ever-increasing protein items in the food shop.

To the OP, I think £200 out of £900 is a lot. I would definitely encourage more saving

Let her pay her own phone bill so she has some responsibility for managing a bill and then ask for a contribution towards food and energy bills. £150 a month seems reasonable on this basis.

Absolutely spot on. You’ve articulated that better than I ever could

Because once they’re earning they need to understand that a roof over your head, heating, hot water, etc. are not gifts from heaven. If they pay nothing, it’ll come as that much more of a shock when they do eventually move out, and have to pay not just rent or mortgage, but all the bills on top - gas, electricity, water, broadband, council tax….

Parents who don’t actually need the money can always save it for them.

I think she should take over paying for her phone and pay you £300pm.

The same amount you'd have her charge you, should you have to move in with her in old age due to infirmity.

I'd be mortified to charge my own child, BTW. Plenty of other ways to teach them economic responsibility that should have started way before 18.

I ask my adult son for £350 a month which is 15% of his take home pay. I will give him the majority back when he leaves home. He still saves and he has an inheritance from his grandparents for a deposit. I don’t need the money but again, I think as an adult he needs to contribute to his living expenses. He shares a car with his sister who is at uni and barley home and the only thing he has to contribute to the upkeep of the car is petrol.

DD and her boyfriend both live here, separate rooms. They are both full time uni students. I don’t charge them anything, we eat out every other week, usually breakfast or lunch.

I don’t charge either of them for being here, I did pay DDs insurance this year as she was still at college when she passed her test, but she paid for her own lessons. We are going away soon, they have both paid their equal share. Her boyfriend even offered to contribute to pet boarding costs. They cooks for us at least once a week, sometimes twice, at their expense for the meat and any extras as we usually have a good stock of veg, rice and sauces etc. They both buy their own food, and will pick something up for us while they’re out. If it’s milk or whatever that the whole house uses, they don’t take payment, in fact I think they bought the last lot of dog food too.

All I ask is that they save £150 a month into a savings account, each, and that they don’t take the piss.

We have two adult children back living with us. They are good company and pitch in. They also look after home and pets when we travel.

We don't charge rent, but that's because they both seem to be pretty responsible with their own money. If they were wasting money, we would charge and put some away for them (without telling them).

So we pay for food, electricity, internet etc. They pay their own phones and car expenses as well as things like medical insurance and personal toiletries.

Each child also puts $300 a week into property (they've purchased a small investment property together as they couldn't afford anything alone), $100 a week into their pension and $100 a week into a managed share fund. Those are dollars, not pounds. They also have some personal savings. They still seem to have enough disposable cash for an extra streaming service each, some Uber Eats and trips to the movies.

If we were struggling ourselves, or they were really blowing their money, we would charge rent. But while we can afford it, we are happy to have them back for a few years while they set themselves up for the future.

Shows you know nothing or are very privileged. When my mum (who was born in 1939) was working full time from 16 and living at home she had to give nearly all her salary to her mum and just keep some pocket money for spending. My dad was the same.

This was normal in my experience in working class families, or at least paying board of some kind was, because in the 1950s/60s you were expected to be moving towards getting married in your early 20s and having your own household. Yes my grandparents paid for their wedding and my grandma who was a talented seamstress made my mum's dress and the bridesmaids' dresses.

Yes things are different now but it's just not the case that for eons parents fully supported their offspring financially and gave them handouts, and it's simply nonsense to say that parents are only now charging rent and that wasn't a thing in the past.

And my parents both got into grammar school and were clever enough to go to university but never had that aspiration. It wasn't on their radar. They were expected to get a job at 16 and contribute to the household. Their parents left school at 14 or 12 and worked from then. A generation before that and little kids were dodging in between dangerous machinery in the cotton mills to collect the waste.

Dont worry about what anyone else thinks and do what you think is right, or what will help to run the home.

My son pays rent £50 a week and has done since he started apprenticeship earning about £1200 a month, and I lost the support for him (UC, CB)

He's buying a house just now at age 18 so not a complete parenting fail, but maybe a helping hand to get him out of the door. Oh and I gave him the deposit I'd saved since he was born so not a complete parenting fail oh judgy ones 😂

I wouldn't charge rent on a part time salary. Full time, sure, £300 a month to cover costs. Having said that if you need the money, £200 sounds reasonable.

I'd tell her to take over her own phone contract to build her credit score and say you will charge her £100, as you say she doesn't eat dinner with you, just breakfast and tea, on condition she puts £250 into LISA.