Do you charge your late teen rent?

[MarzipanMice]

My DS is 19 and has just started his first full time job. He’s just above the minimum wage level by a few pence per hour. He has a car which requires a lot of maintenance due to its age and his car insurance is expensive. He’s fairy good with his money and puts a set amount aside into savings each month. DH feels we should start charging DS rent, but I’m not sure I want to just now. Maybe if he was on a higher wage, but I’m not keen just now.

what do you do? And if you charge rent, what do you charge?

Oh fgs.

This is a weekly thread and to summarize the eleventy billion previous threads, some people do, some people don't. It's entirely up to you and your personal circumstances, no need to feel you have to do what anyone else does

I'm not on here for a silly argument, where my points are wildly misinterpreted.
I'm out.
Merry Christmas everyone! 🎁 🎄

This ⬆️

No. They are going to find it hard enough to live (cost of housing , cost of living) in the future without their parents taking their money. Unless of course you are struggling financially.

I would however insist they start saving.

Hang on minimum wage nowadays isn’t that bad. We charge £100 a month just because utility bills and food are so expensive.

Minimum wage is about £1300/ month ,they csm still contribute to their house hold costs whilst saving a good amount.

Yes we do, our older one is back home after uni and working, saving to travel. We think that’s brilliant but we are charging her £250 a month rent.
We are saving the money for her
in addition to this we are matching it, we don’t need it, but we think it’s an important life lesson - holidays and travelling are wonderful but they are a luxury that come after paying bills first. It’s a nominal amount, she takes home about £1250 a month, more over the last couple of months. When she’s back from her travels she is then also expected to take on the insurance and bills associated with car repairs and her phone bill. At the moment we pay for those.
She’s actually pretty good at saving so when the time comes for her to move out we’ll
give her her money back and it will be a nice bonus for her.
dc2 is currently at uni and we have the same expectations of her when she comes back (if she moves back home).

We don't plan to for as long as the dc are learning. Any money they earn in their spare time from study is theirs to keep. Whether they're 18 or 25, we'll support them.

As soon as they decide learning is finished and they just have a job - yes, they'll have to contribute financially and more than a token amount. It will still be a lot less than they'd pay living alone!

No I’ve never charged rent/board. But my DS is at Uni so has bills to pay for his own flat even when he’s not there, and a car. He has two jobs, one at uni and one at home and is on minimum wage for both. Even before uni I wanted him to save, which he did. I don’t need the money, he does.
It may be different if he was home full time and working so as PP’s have said all circumstances are different and you need to work out what feels right for you.

No, because we don't need to.
Eldest dc saves every month and we're happy with that.

Ds1 pays £100 a month which is roughly what he'd spend on food if he wasn't at home.

I agree with this - my kids can comfortably save 1000/month on not much more than minimum wage. There a poor kids on pennies narrative which simply isn’t the reality of adult children living with their parents - even if they are on minimum wage.

Agree, when they are learning I wouldn’t charge rent but my DS is in his first job on mw and manages to pay £100 rent and save £1,000. He doesn’t drink or smoke though.

Yes. Two years ago it was £50 a week. It was enough for dd to be contributing to the household but not so much that she couldn’t run her car & save to be a mature student.

Its totally personal. I will because I will need it - I don't think people realise sometimes how privileged the 'save it for when they move out' trend is - but how much will depend on what they're earning. I wouldn't take anything from a kid still at school working on a Saturday and in the holidays. But in full-time work, yes I will.

Charge £500 a month and put into a savings account to give back to him/her when they need a deposit to buy a place.

Yes - DS20 works full time and he pays £200 p/m. I'm saving it to help when he has a wedding or buys a home.

Yes.

dd2 is 18 and gives me 250 a month. Considering she comes home with 1500 quid a month I think that’s reasonable. Shes got a habit of wasting food, turning the heating right up and leaving her lights on all the time I do think it’s justified.

she doesn’t drive (is learning), she’s on shein all time, she bought herself 2 pairs of 100 pound trainers which she’s never worn but she’s very generous when it comes to her dsis and me which is rather lovely.

of she was earning much less or struggling then I wouldn’t charge.

I am single parent on a very low income myself and it helps

As soon as out of education and working and the child benefit stops they need to start paying. Life isn't free and adults need to be able to support themselves. Im trying to raise independent capable adults here

Yes, we charge DD20 £100, which is less than 7% of her income - it’s a nominal amount designed to make her think about the cost of living. She’s able to save loads herself so I don’t feel guilty. She’s free to help herself to food and I also pay for basic toiletries and her phone bill (which isn’t much).

Yes, we charge rent, £200 a month. When our son has a full time job, then it will go up to an equal share of the bills (we've paid our mortgage off). I don't agree with letting your grown up kids live with you for free because "you can afford it" - I bet most people of our age would benefit from putting the extra into their pensions.

Absolutely not.

We did once they were working f/t (3 of ours did apprenticeships). We made it clear that it wasn’t ‘rent’ per se, but a small contribution towards their food bills/phone bills etc. We charged 10% of their take home pay, which was buttons but I felt it was important for them to realise that they were no longer children and had to take some responsibility for themselves if they weren’t going to remain children.

This is so annoying isn’t it? Because so many people do save it (because they can afford to) they expect it! I know people say you should have kids if you can’t afford them, I doubt 19 years ago any of us envisioned how much protein some of them would be in habit of eating or that they would take two showers a day!