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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think no adult kids would agree to pay this!

419 replies

Cruelstepmother · 10/06/2019 23:51

Just found this 'how much rent could you charge your kids' calculator! www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/content/pa-rental/ - they suggested my cuckoo-back-in-the-nest stepson should be paying us £593.80 a month. What are your views?

OP posts:
isabellerossignol · 11/06/2019 07:08

Mine says £598 per month. Which is almost twice as much as our mortgage repayment, so we'd be on a nice little earner if we had adult children and charged them that much rent...

OhMyDarling · 11/06/2019 07:11

It’s interesting... I have 3 dd’s for whom I have never got maintenance as their dad doesn’t work so he won’t have to pay. If he did he would only pay like £6 a week? Which quite frankly is insulting.
Previously a CM calculator showed that he would have paid £250 a month (total, nlt per child) based on the last wage he wasn’t about 5 years ago- he has been unemployed since.

This calculator says £710 (each?).
Why the discrepancy?!
£250 in CM until they finish education but £710 the minute they graduate?

The world hates us single parents!

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 11/06/2019 07:11

Currently living with my parents, I give them £250 a month...that calculator suggests £910 a month which is more then the rent of the house I’m moving into next month! Jesus!

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 11/06/2019 07:12

Sorry, it’s suggests £977.08pm!

Faithless12 · 11/06/2019 07:12

The calculations are out. The contributions to gas and electricity are roughly what I pay in total, gas i pay about 10% more and electricity I pay exactly £1.50 more a month than the contribution DC would be making. If I had 2 DC I would be making money on this arrangement not just covering costs.

DC is very much a child so no chance of charging him rent although interesting if this is what they reckon he costs me then child support should recognise that.

Faithless12 · 11/06/2019 07:15

@OhMyDarling this is something I’ve been saying for years. We know how much it costs to bring a child up. The NRP should have to pay half even if they are paying forever.

TheJoxter · 11/06/2019 07:17

I got £594. When I was living at home I paid £100/week so £433 a month but it was a council property so rent was a lot cheaper than average.

TeenTimesTwo · 11/06/2019 07:21

£664.80
I think a number of people above missed the could not should be charging.
It's about the 'going rate' for round here, in terms of rent + bills.

DD1 wants to move in with her BF. We have said they both need ~£500 a month spare to afford to, because 1 bedroom flats are £600 / month round here.

PonderingPanda · 11/06/2019 07:22

Just done mine. It says gas and electricity combined was over £100. I don't pay that now for 3 of us!

Trebla · 11/06/2019 07:22

You could be charging 677.80

That's twice the mortgage and the gas bill!!!!

I've got 4 kids - I need never work again........

smallereveryday · 11/06/2019 07:23

I just found the 'strap line' Have a look and see how much you could charge your adult children.. the whole concept of parents wanting to see how much they could get away with is unbelievably distasteful.

Surely parents want to help their children as much as possible. Some parents are lucky, have high incomes and no mortgage.. or low outgoings and can afford to host the children for free. That's great if you are in the position to do that .

However there is absolutely nothing wrong with charging AC a reasonable rent - but surely reasonable ends at the point where you 'profit ' from them being there. So if you are already paying rent /own house for a property with spare bedrooms and had no intention of moving - then reasonable is an equitable share of utilities and council tax.

If the intention was to get a smaller place to save your rental expense - then the difference between the existing place plus the utilities- is fair.

The moment you profit from your children- your moral compass is screwed.

VeganSteve · 11/06/2019 07:24

Ha, it makes our kids pay the whole gas/electric bill each!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 11/06/2019 07:26

For our rental house... £580.
Our tenants pay £600... And it's three double bedrooms.
Obviously they pay bills on top of that but I don't think it adds up to £1760 for the 1 adult and two teenagers that live there!

Nousernameforme · 11/06/2019 07:34

£601 haha with four dc i am never letting them leave that's my retirement plan right there .

Seriously though i don't think anyone could save up to ever move out at these prices.

fairweathercyclist · 11/06/2019 07:36

The one time I had a decent summer job while at uni I earned around £140 a week and paid my my mum about £25 a week I think (for 10 weeks).

And another time I had a 2 week holiday job and earned around the same and the family friends I stayed with near London charged me about £20 a week "keep".

Loveislandaddict · 11/06/2019 07:38

Just done mine. The gas and electricity price is only a fraction under my total power costs!

SnuggyBuggy · 11/06/2019 07:38

I guess if you never want your child to have the chance to move out this would be OK.

My DP wouldn't even accept the 10% of salary that was more normal when I was 21. They wanted me to be able to save for a deposit and my DDad is from a culture where parents don't like to take money from their children.

rwalker · 11/06/2019 07:39

Another £580 here looking at the breakdown of charge
food ok
gas\elec it's what we pay in total for every one
we own our hose so wouldn't want any contrubution for that
charge ds £130 worked this out just to cover food really . Lol he thinks he's over charged .
what we have done is put this in bank for him just over 2k in there will give it him back at some point towards a deposit if he bought a house not told him that though he has no idea .

Ali1cedowntherabbithole · 11/06/2019 07:39

£641Grin GrinGrin

Though as DH has just pointed out, it’s a good negotiating tactic for parents who only want a third of that!

TinyPaws · 11/06/2019 07:40

This calculator is clearly bollocks, the suggested rent is more than the market value for renting a room and suggested bills are more than my entire energy bill!

crispysausagerolls · 11/06/2019 07:41

730£ for mine - I think it’s such a mean thing to do though

Parky04 · 11/06/2019 07:41

£698! Do not ask for anything but they buy and cook their own food, do their own washing and ironing, keep their room clean and help with household chores. My DS is becoming very domesticated!

Redcrayons · 11/06/2019 07:41

£731 x 2 DCs. Kerching! Can't wait for them to leave school now Grin

I don't know about going rate for rent round here but the gas and elec is my total monthly bil, so that's too high. £95 a month on food for a sporty teen boy sounds about right though.

ZaZathecat · 11/06/2019 07:46

I charge my DC nothing because: their salary is low, we don't need it, it allows them to save for the future. If we were struggling, I would charge a suitable amount that they could afford and would cover their keep - not try to profit from them.

gatsby2019 · 11/06/2019 07:47

Far too high, its £300 a month more than my partner pays me, and I'm happy with what my partner contributes