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AIBU?

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Original poster

to be uncomfortable with this?

52 replies

winkywinkola · 08/10/2014 22:02

So, we registered with our local college to take two home stay students.

The college told us we should charge £150 per week for a bedroom, two meals a day (I will give all three at the weekends anyway), all washing done and cleaning of room.

They've come back with one who sounds absolutely lovely.

But she says she can't afford £150 per week. She asked if she could do our cleaning and ironing for us and reduce it to £100 per week. Thing is, I have loads of ironing that takes about 4 hours minimum per week. Cleaning my house with 4 dcs would take a good 2-3 hours per week.

She would go to college to study English 2 evenings per week.

I feel like it's too vague. I feel like she'd be working her ass off and STILL have to pay to live here. I would feel like I had a resident slave!

Please could you tell me what would be reasonable?

OP posts:
Loadsamoney2014 · 09/10/2014 08:40

If you're in London or another high cost area then 150 sounds pretty fair. I'd pass on this student and wait for another who can actually pay.

Jill2015 · 09/10/2014 08:49

I'd pass, especially as you need the money. It could just turn into a pain each week trying to sort out, and if she is starting out by not having the full amount to pay, it's not a great start.

londonrach · 09/10/2014 08:49

Id pass on this one as it opens up alot of problems. In a month down the road she might ask for another reduction. Keep it simple rent, food etc is is x amount.

Jill2015 · 09/10/2014 08:50

It's a fair amount, in my opinion, and I'd stick with it, if that is the college guideline.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 08:59

You shouldn't be organizing anything to do with the cost of the accommodation. (I have worked both for immigration and a language organization which does homestay)

Scammy McScamster this one.

The college should have a designated accommodation officer who places students, inspects your home and gives you very specific guidelines on what you are expected to do, and how your student (adult or child) is supposed to behave.

The student has to pay the college for the accommodation and they pay you, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly (with a paper trail!) the student is invoiced, and you are receipted.

Homestay families are generally paid about £15 a night. This should include breakfast and evening meal and/or packed lunch, depending.

The arrangement you've been presented with sounds extremely dodgy.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 09:02

Bear in mind that if you take the student on those grounds you have no recourse whatsoever to the college if anything goes wrong. You would also have to look into the legalities of having her do household chores for you- it would depend on what kind of visa she is on (if non EU) and how it would class as work. You might have to declare you are employing her, and end up being liable for her NI contributions etc.

Water so hot you can make tea with it IMO.

There are a million bazillion reputable colleges/language schools around. Before accepting anyone from a language course/college check that they are approved by the British Council/English First.

TheRealMaryMillington · 09/10/2014 09:04

You're not doing it for fun, I presume but a way of earning a bit of money?

So, whether the girl is lovely or not, it has to be full rent.

I though the idea of paying her min wage to do £50-worth of housework is quite a good one, but will the whole point was to make a little money will it be worth it?

chickydoo · 09/10/2014 09:04

My DD pays £300 a month, all bills, inc wifi etc. she sorts her own food out.
£600 a month is huge for a student!

KERALA1 · 09/10/2014 09:12

I have hosted language students for ages. No no no to this. If she can't pay the full amount she can't come - it's a slippery slope if you start giving in.

Also give them a sheet with clear rules, mealtimes, let you know if won't be back, curfew, only English at meals, no smoking, no visitors. Start off being polite but firm, once you establish they are decent you can be friendly but don't be too matey from the outset.

KERALA1 · 09/10/2014 09:14

£130 - £150 pw for meals pretty standard here.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 09:20

Another point to consider here is that immigration (still presuming she is on a student visa, which doesn't preclude working, just limits it and excludes certain categories) will have already seen that she has funds to last her for the length of her stay. She will have been told before she came the cost of the accommodation.

So, whatever the cost quoted (and it is more than reasonable, and I think posters on here who have homestay students will confirm it's anything but a big earner!) she knew it before she set foot in the country. So she's trying it on.

poolomoomon · 09/10/2014 09:23

I can just imagine threads further down the line about her not doing all of the chores, not doing them to your standard, having to chase her to do them etc. Also I can picture her saying he can't afford the full £100 some weeks so is it ok if she ups her chores or babysits for you one night instead.

I'd pass and hold out for someone who can pay the full money.

ImperialBlether · 09/10/2014 09:28

I'd hold out for the full amount.

Presumably if you're broke you wouldn't be paying £50 pw for someone to clean and iron. You have no idea of the quality of her work. It would be impossible to cancel the cleaning and raise the rent later.

jammytoast · 09/10/2014 09:32

£150 per week is more than I pay to rent my whole 4 bed house. And if I lived on my own the money I would spend on food for a week would only just bring rent and food to £150 in total.

So I think £150 per week is ridiculous to expect a student to pay for one room and some meals that you are preparing for your family anyway. Sorry.

londonrach · 09/10/2014 09:36

In london here around the corner from me students can let a on suite room with access to a kitchen (all bills apart from food) for £400 per month. £250 sounds cheap. One of my patients pays that for a bedroom in shared house without bills....

sparechange · 09/10/2014 09:38

jammy, that is a totally ridiculous comment! You don't know where the OP lives, and if it is London, that is a very cheap rate, given that rooms in shared student houses are above £750 a month now.
Your rent in presumably a totally different part of the country has no relation at all to it, and given it is what the college has suggested, it is probably a fair amount

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 09:39

How much does a 24 hr stay in a hotel cost?

Because that's what a foreign student is paying for. But in someone's home.

Full board (in some cases) lodging, cleaning, cooking. Free phone/wifi/television. They get their pants washed and ironed and placed lovingly on their bed.

Some will muck in and wash a few cups. The majority will not, because they've paid to be waited on. They are given choices when they apply for their accommodation - homestay, or renting a room/flat/house on their own. Which would be cheaper. Because all the things a homestay has to provide, they would have to provide for themselves. Homestays usually choose homestay because they want to be part of the family and practise their English in that way. So the OP will find herself working as a casual, and unpaid English teacher as well.

babykonitsway · 09/10/2014 09:39

I think you would soon hear, "ooh can I pay £80 this week and do some babysitting/shopping/cleaning to offset it".

Not a chance. Get someone who can pay. £150 is very reasonable.

HumblePieMonster · 09/10/2014 09:41

honestly, I wouldn't mess about.
just stick to the terms suggested by the college.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 10:03

If the student is over 18 and you have children they will also need to be CRBd.

I have a feeling the college won't have told you that.

And if they are there for a certain length of time, then they stop being classed as "visitor" and your council tax may change. The student must have insurance and (I think) you also have to inform your own insurance provider that there is an extra person living with you.

Some colleges have rules about students (even adult ones) never being allowed to have lifts from the family they are living with (again, all something to do with insurance) Others are more lax on this.

I think your college is not actually organizing accommodation, but simply putting interested families in touch with interested students- reading between the lines? Is that right?

Seriously, save yourself the hassle. Get in touch with one of the billion schools/colleges where it's all done for you.

ImperialBlether · 09/10/2014 10:13

You don't have to tell your insurance provider there's an extra person living with you, for god's sake!

Rules about giving students lifts wouldn't apply if the student was living with the OP. The OP isn't the student's teacher!

The student wouldn't have to be CRB'd to live with the OP, either.

You really are making all this up, Sangria!

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 10:16

Of course I am.

Having run a language course for the past 20yrs which has always used host families and which follows the British Council guidelines.

It's all lies, just ignore me. Hmm

DrankSangriaInThePark · 09/10/2014 10:23

Of course, my language provider is a highly reputable one, paper trails, making sure students on visas actually attend their courses, checking Corgi gas certificates, inspecting each family before and after each student arrives and leaves, asking host families not to take students in their own cars wherever possible, making sure our students have adequate insurance and warning the families that they may need to contact the Council Tax people if the student is with them for longer than 12 weeks etc etc.

There may be more rules and guidelines. I am academic director so tbh, I only know much of this from office paperwork that the accommodation officer deals with.

Just wanted to put the OP in the picture that it's not just a case of sticking someone in the spare room and giving them a sandwich.

purpleroses · 09/10/2014 10:59

I used to have a lodger, and my home insurance provider said I needed to tell them that. Would imagine you need to too if they're there more than a certain length of time. I didn't actually have to pay any more for home insurance, it was just a formality.

£150 for a room including bills is about what students would pay here. But it does depend where you live - and it's possible the language colleage advertise a high-ish rate to potential hosts, to get you interested, but in reality a lot of students expect to pay a bit less where you are. So find out whether they could get you anyone who can pay the full rate before you turn down a nice-sounding student, and end up with an empty room.

WhereYouLeftIt · 09/10/2014 11:03

^"I was kind of hoping for £150 per week as we are broke."
"But she says she can't afford £150 per week. She asked if she could do our cleaning and ironing for us and reduce it to £100 per week."
Say no. Because I'd bet good money that the cleaning and ironing either wouldn't get done, would get done so badly you'd have to redo it, or she'd angle for further reductions. The fact that your main thought is "I would feel like I had a resident slave!" and not 'but I need the money/this sounds like she could be trouble' suggests to me she could find you a soft touch (i.e. you are a nice considerate person).

Say no, stick to the colleges suggestions, listen to DrankSangriaInThePark.

(My SIL had good experiences doing this BTW. But none of her students tried this on her.)