Is she paying too much?

[WhataMissMap]

My niece is a student who has just moved into her boyfriends house.
She shares a room with him. He works and owns the house.
It’s in a small northern town where the property is valued around 180,00£.

The family give my niece £250 a month to help her.

She could live with me without paying any expenses and this is. What she has been doing up until recently.
My niece and her boyfriend stay with me m2 or three times a week. I cover all their food and don’t charge anything.
I’ve just discovered my niece is paying her boyfriend £250 a month to live with him.
Does this sound a reasonable amount?
I’m really out of touch with these things.

Sorry about the typos my phone is playing up!

Sounds completely reasonable to me!

What does it include? Just rent our bills/food as well?

It depends - how much is council tax (he will have lost his single person)? How much is gas and electric? Does this include food and groceries?

It depends on what their outgoings are; mortgage, utilities etc and what their incomes are. Why are they staying with you 3 nights a week when they have their own home?

It depends what that covers. You say they share a room, of course they do they are a couple! But if he owns the property then your niece has access to the whole house.

I would have thought your niece should only be paying 50/50 of the bills. If the £250 also covers her monthly food then that sounds reasonable otherwise it might be a little high.

It’s plus bills and food.
I mentioned that they shared a room as I wanted to make it clear that she doesn’t have her own room.
Thanks for all the responses so far.

It covers council tax though.

Shares a room? are they in a rented room or is it his house & they live as a couple?

I think it's perfectly reasonable that she pays her share of the bill and food. Why would it be?
£250 isn't even half of what most people pay towards their rent/mortgage/utility bills/council tax bill/food on a monthly basis. If she was in student accommodation she would be paying a great deal more as well. It's good to teach her she has to pay her way in life.
The value of the house is irrelevant. Why would she have her own room? She's living with her partner.

He's paying a mortgage so of course she should be paying her way.

He won't have lost his single person council tax discount, as she is a student.

wow I could only dream of paying £250 a month in rent haha! I pay 685!

She is living there - he has a mortgage - in all honesty she should probably be paying a lot more. if that was me living with my boyfriend id actually expect to pay half of the mortgage and half the bills tbh.

So this set up seems very good!

Half of utilities and food.
Nothing on mortgage- it's not her house. Lodger contract for a room if necessary.

But 250 a month sounds quite decent really- a hour share could easily be that before bills.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves it's not your mortgage if you rent a house but you still pay the rent.
How ridiculous to suggest she shouldn't have to pay anything towards it because it's not her mortgage.

Sounds pretty reasonable.

that is crazy to say she should live there rent free because it is his mortgage?? how do you think it works when you rent a house in any other situation?

I think the cheek is that he is spending 2/3 times a week with you and not giving any money for food

It's between the two of them really, but £250 a month is a very cheap rent, by anyone's standards.

That's why I said to set up a lodger agreement for a room instead of contributing towards mortgage- it makes it clear she has no claim to the house. Paying mortgage implies she has a claim.

It's between the two of them really, but £250 a month is a very cheap rent, by anyone's standards

It's not cheap for half a room in a shared house in a small northern town. Going rate for a room all to yourself is about £3/400 pm.

If he owns the house, who else lives there if it's being described as a 'shared house'. Is he letting the other rooms out?

If I was the OPs niece, I'd live with with the OP and then keep up the current arrange where niece and BF spend similar amounts of time at her house and the BFs house and she wouldn't have to pay him anything for 'lodgings' or bills, but maybe she would buy some food for both of them when they're at OPs house, and he would feed the both of them at her house.

@BarbaraofSeville it's not a shared house. It's his house

Thanks for your replies.
They come back 3 nights a week to visit her dog.
The house is in a beautiful area, is more spacious so she can study more easily and has washing machine , dryer, coffee machine and lovely food!
Maybe I should consider doing something quid pro quo if the arrangement continues.

If they are back at yours 3x a week then £250 is extortionate and you should be billing him for the near 50% of the week he’s at yours using your facilities and eating your food.

that rent may be fine for the area but why isn't he paying you when he stays and you provide food etc?