How much rent to charge 18 year old?

[TakeALookAtTheseSwatches]

My daughter left college last year and started looking for a job, she started working just after Christmas. She works part time hours and her take home pay per month is around £900. She's putting £50 in to a lifetime ISA and she has no other bills (I currently still pay her phone contract which is about £30 a month)

We provide all her food, she eats tea with us and we have breakfast things/snacks in the house. She doesn't usually eat dinner but will sometimes buy herself a meal deal if she wants something.

So what would be reasonable? I was thinking around £200 a month and I'm happy to put £50 of that in her lifetime ISA too if she wants. She is saving up for a car so isn't spending frivolously. Is £200 too much?

Another reason for charging board is to take the opportunity to put some more money into your pension, most people could do with investing more, and if you are old enough to have adult kids it's going to come sooner than you think!

So many people on here seem to think we should keep on putting ourselves last for the rest of our lives by dint of deciding to have children, even if we have done our bit and successfully launched them!

Stop charging her rent and get her to start a private pension and put the money into that instead.

£200 is fine, its less than £50 a week. I charged mine £50 a week 10 years ago.
My mum used to take 1/3 of my salary 40 years ago which l thought was fair. I still had loads of disposable income.

Don’t you have to pay to live in your own home?

It’s not an unusual concept… and your daughters will one day indeed pay to live in their own home if they become successful independent adults.

I actually love this idea and haven’t heard it before. I’d definitely do this.

Yes but I don’t see making money out of dc as a priority. They will have a much tougher time in the jobs market and housing market than us. It sounds pretty mean. I’d encourage saving and getting a better job. We gave huge house deposits to our dc. We didn’t take from them.

We don't charge our 18 year old who is working full time on the understanding that he saves well, she should be saving more than £50 I think.

He has about £1,600. We sat and worked out a budget with him.

£1,000 to ISA (figure this will lower as he starts driving lessons etc but for now he can do this)
£200 to a short term savings account (towards holidays/concerts etc)
£200 to live
£200 is now extra as he got a pay rise

When we have discussed rent it has been (as a full timer) around £100 pw, but for now we would rather he saves this.

I would charge her nothing but encourage her to save. In my extended (Asian) family, charging young adults is unheard of (unless there or poverty of course) and they all successfully ‘launch’ with very good work ethics.

DS pays us 100€ a month, 50€ is ‘rent’ the other 50€ covers his phone, PlayStation stuff, tv subscription thing.
We are saving it all for him (he doesn’t know) so one day, it’ll be a little lump sum for something. But it gets him used to budgeting, even though it’s a small amount. He has a full time job and a part time job.

I don’t buy into the rhetoric of working adults living at home not and whether you need the money or not is irrelevant. The ones I know who were never charged board have this sense of entitlement and are utterly shocked when they leave home and have to start paying their way.
I think £150-200pm in your daughter’s circumstances is fair. If you don’t need the money put it aside and give back to her when she leaves.

I don’t understand the theory of taking money off them to teach them how to budget but then handing it back a few years later. That’s not realistic, let them save it, let them feel the buzz of knowing THEY did it. Thats just my thoughts. Unless of course you are clear with them what the plan is…then they know what’s happening and they see it as saving.

I charge board because I can't afford to pay for another adult to live. And even if I could, I wouldn't

She gives me 12.5% of her wage each month and pays for lunches, toiletries, transport and her own bills out of that. She also has to put money in her savings each month

It worked out fine for my eldest, she started working full-time at 18, spent a few years living her life and going on holidays, then bought a house at 24

But he knows that it is a possibility at some point.

If you're struggling financially, then it's fair to ask for a contribution.

If you aren't struggling, then I wouldn't ask for any rent but I would certainly encourage her to save more than £50 per month.

My kids took on some of their own expenses. They paid for clothes, going out, premium toiletries, car expenses (insurance and petrol), gym, contact lenses subscription. They liked knowing how much things cost vs how many hours they worked to buy those things.

Premium toiletries are basically expensive stuff (designer brands) - I bought “normal” toiletries like facewash, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant etc with the food shop.

I think that £200 is a reasonable percentage but it might help to explain where that number comes from.

£200 or a little more is completely fair. Either to you as a contribution to bills or she puts it aside in her ISA. Either option teaches something about budgeting.

When dd started her apprenticeship at 16 we asked for £100 a month out of her £900 wages.
We saved this for her and it meant she could by a car and afford to run it.
She's learnt over the last 3 years if she can't afford it, she can't have it.

I charged my daughter £50 per week. We didn't need the money but it gave her a sense of contributing to the household and encouraged her work ethic.

I’d never charge my adult children for living in our family home.

They don’t suddenly cost more once they start earning. It smacks of they’ve got a job so I am going to take advantage of that and profit from it.

Another vote for zero unless you actually need the money.

No, it smacks of they are now working adults and most parents have made financial sacrifices such as their pension etc, in order to bring them up so it is time to contribute to the household. Plus there is no longer any child benefit or in some cases single person's council tax discount.

When would it stop? My sil was still living with her parents in her thirties not paying a penny towards the running of the house.

I charged 20%. It meant that if their wage fluctuated, eg hours dropped, it was fairer.
Also I never had to ask for more board.

@Doseofreality if you don’t wish to charge board that’s fine but you’re no more right than those that do.
Imo if they’re spending their wages on clothes and alcohol then they can spend some on necessities eg food and utilities.
I have given my dc a lot more money towards house deposits and weddings than they ever paid in board.

I think at that age 10-15% of their wage is reasonable, we plan to charge rent but will invest it for them (without telling them!) and give it back when they want to buy a house.

The thing is you would be paying out a lot of money if she had gone down the uni route.

I don’t see why she should have to pay you given that she hasn’t?

Agreed. The culture the UK has in terms of charging rent is a total outlier globally.

Personally I would prohibit it as it is exploiting young people who already have it hard enough.