Having a home stay student

[Northwestsouth]

friend With a kid suggested I become a home stay host as get money for renting out my spare room. I’ve had lodgers and I never feel uncomfortable for various reasons.

I’ve applied and could potentially have an international at £175 per week. He’s from
kuwait and government is funding his studies. Will be for initial 12 weeks. Have to provide a cooked meal and leave out breakfast.

friend with a kid said it was easy, but she was getting people of her daughters age (although she’s only just gone to secondary school so not sure how close in age they were).

Im in Manchester so the housing crisis meant I could increase my rent to £500 per month.

Friend thinks I'm being unreasonable as it’s going to be bad. Any thoughts?

It worked well for us when we hosted overseas A level students. I wouldn’t be keen on hosting an adult though.

Teenagers you are like their parents?

I've had up to 5 at a time (big house back then) we loved having them all. Age range from 14 - 21 and all nationalities. Many returned and we even took one of our young girls back in lockdown who was stranded for months at university and I just hated the thought of her being alone in student accommodation. Never had an issue, really embraced their differences and we all learnt from it. There's very little money in it but it's a fabulous experience. The children still speak fondly of our students in the big house. Go for it.!

Northwestsouth · Today 23:03
MrsSkylerWhite · Today 20:50
It worked well for us when we hosted overseas A level students. I wouldn’t be keen on hosting an adult though.

“Teenagers you are like their parents”

No,it did t feel that way. They were all keen to be with us, open, friendly with our children and happy to muck in with the family. I would liken it more to teenagers staying with distant relatives: much more polite than they would be with their parents 😁

15 years on, we’re still in touch with our first.

£180 per week x 5 students = not good money?

To be fair by the time I'd catered for all their needs food wise ( veggies/ gluten free and so on) I had a whole host of foods different from our own. Breakfast, packed lunches and dinners took up most of that money. Yes there's money to be earned but it's not a lot. I think if your going into this thinking it's a big earner you'll be disappointed. The benefits of making new connections and the children experiencing international students was more rewarding for us as a family. We did it for many years and I still some of them to this day. Try it and see!

I know a few international students who've come over and stayed in someone's house. Ds swims for a large club within a university city.

A few have let their hosts house because the host isn't providing what they should or because they've expected them to interact with them more than they intended!

I've not ever known any move house because they've been asked to leave.

Anecdotal I know but they've all come to achieve their degrees and continue their swimming - usually they compete at world level for their country - so they have lots to lose by being bad students- lodgers.

Perhaps someone in same situation would work for you? Although with swimmers you'd have to put up with someone who gets up at the crack of dawn!

I teach these types of students. You'll get hit or miss on how good they are in home stays, but usually hit tbh. He's 21 so should be out a lot, so do ask him to let you know if he doesn't want dinner. He probably won't be used to UK food so have a chat about how willing he is t⁰o try our strange 'exotic' dishes.

Often young adults who come from restrictive backgrounds get a tad over excited with the freedom and discover booze partying and sex, so be prepared for that just in case. Chat about no over night visitors and him letting you know if he's staying out late or overnight. Too old to give a curfew to.

The great thing about homestead is the set end date. Even if it's awkward, they're leaving soon. 95% of my students are lovely and respectful. Perhaps read up on the country's culture norms for politeness. Russians don't say thank you to people for services they pay for (ie when paying in a shop, homestay giving them a lift), while we thank everyone and anyone so it seems very rude. Don't point the soles of your feet at Asian students and they regard tap water as very very unhygienic so bottled water is expected. Kuwait students tend to be very wealthy and are used to multiple servants, so you may have to teach him how to use the washing machine and put his breakfast dish in the sink. We had one girl who had to be shown how to brush her own hair!

And avoid under 16s if you only have room for one, they tend to stay in more and need the company.

Get paid extra for food choices.

Yes you do get paid for extra food choices £20 it was back then. I was encouraging you to give it a try for the right reason not financial gain. It's ended up with me being cross examined for taking in students. Yeah we had a big house, I originally agreed to three .. ended up with more because of greedy fuckers not looking after their students and taking in more unhappy with their initial placement. I loved them all, beautiful young things full of life and hope for our future. That's why I see them to this day, we became part of their extended family and them ours. It was never about the money, I took them on days out at the weekends to see more of the UK! So the money I did get was well spent on them mostly. So.. you do you and I'll do me.

If you are comfortable with lodgers and fairly easy going (sounds like you are) then I’d go for it, especially just for 12 weeks.

I’ve had lodgers and currently have one. If everyone is fairly reasonable then most minor issues are resolvable. Especially if you have gentle boundaries to avoid issues such as constant use of washing machine or loud noise at night.
So I might say to my lodger that I’ll be doing a lot of washing on x day but if she wants to do a load or two on any other day to go ahead.

some of the issues you mention:

lodger being in a lot. If appropriate you could signpost to local attractions/help with getting bus pass or whatever is suitable in your area.

if bathroom provision is shared then mention you use the shower at 8 (or whatever) but the person is welcome to have their shower before or after.

with meals I’m sure you will quickly work out likes/dislikes especially if you eat the main meal together a few times. You could also find a way some nights of leaving the person a meal to heat up or assemble themselves if you are out. For example if you had chilli and they enjoyed it make sure there is a portion or two in the freezer. If they prefer fresh salad or stir fry and you’re planning to go out, perhaps they’d prefer to make their own that night?

@rockingbird can I come and stay with you?

My late grandad sounds similar to your outlook on this, he welcomed many nursing and medical student lodgers into his home over many years - back in those days he could have 3 in one large room. For me I recall them being like slightly older cousins. The house was always buzzing and happy, they muddled along together, although I’m sure as in any family there was the odd row about bathrooms queues or whatever.

they all cooked together, it widened his horizons and he was welcomed as a honoured guest to families around the world. It led to him travelling extensively. He met most of the parents who appreciated his role as more of a surrogate family member than just a landlord.

:) food I think is the biggest hurdle and them being home all the time…. Hopefully they won’t want to spend time with me

How did this go OP, have you gone ahead and hosted this guy?

I am thinking about doing this myself because I’ve just had a flyer through the door from a company looking for hosts. I live on my own in a city. I always have a lodger in the spare room, and they are often international students anyway. I find them on SpareRoom and they’re typically aged 19-22, usually here for an academic year but sometimes just an exchange programme of one term. Most but not all have lived away from their parents before.

One of my motivations is I don’t want the lodger to be someone who feels they’re my flatmate and expects to be able to have a relationship while staying here, having their partner over for meals and movies and overnight stays. International students will accept this restraint more readily I think than a Brit lodger.

I was thinking I might contact the company. Another reason is my current habit of renting the room to the same person for 9-10 months feels too long and I’d rather 2-4 months instead.

I don’t know if a Homestay company will pay as much as I get through SpareRoom (where I don’t have to feed them either). But I would actually like a bit more interaction with the person than I currently do. My current lodger is very self sufficient, but I’d have enjoyed being able to be a city guide or to have helped with conversational English practice for example.

I have to say being a European through and through, I would only want to host Europeans. I wonder if saying this to the Homestay company would give them an attack of the vapours? In which case I’m best off sticking to SpareRoom.

Sorry for the hijack OP, but let us know how it panned out for you?