Child being exploited?

[Birdcatdog]

My 18 year old has announced she wants to move into her girlfriends family home. Apparently the mum is going travelling for 6 months and has offered my child to move in for £280 a month- not including food.
My child has just started their first job this week and the gf's mum knows it a decent wage -£27 grand.
I feel like the only person benefiting from this arrangement is the gf's mum and it feels like my child is being exploited. The mum would have to keep up the cost of her house whilst travelling as her own child will be living there. £280 is too much in my opinion? £50 a month would cover any costs but my child moving in wouldn't even be and additional person as the mum is leaving?
They live 10 minutes from our home and I have explained to my daughter that its a waste of money as she goes and stays at the gf's whenever she wants now. My child has specifically taken a year out to work and save for living cost when she goes to uni next year.
I feel like she is making bad financial decisions for no reason. She might not even know this girl in a year. They have only been together since February.
We dont have any strict rules at our house so I am confused on why she thinks she needs "independence". All of the things shes listed as independence such as shopping, cooking ect she could do at mine for free.
What am I going do to? Realistically I know I cant stop her. Im so sad

Your daughter is an adult. At 18 it’s not unusual to want to move out and spend all your time with girl or boyfriend.

Be careful you don’t burn your bridges with what you say to your daughter.

She’s an adult with a job. There’s no reason she cannot pay for whatever accommodation she is living in. She can learn more about budgeting and balancing living costs.

I’d call living in someone’s home with the expectation of it being free exploitation, personally.

I didn't say she should live there for free. I feel like taking £280 of a teenager is awful. I would never do that is the shoe was on the other foot. Pay for own food yes, and miminal cost of increased utility

£70 a week for board and utilities?? Good offer!

‘Exploiting a child’ is incredibly over dramatic - an adult is asking for rent and bills from another adult. Your daughter would be making a poor financial decision to do this, but you don’t have a child in this scenario and nobody is exploiting anyone

So about £65 a week to cover rent and bills? That sounds ok

Exploiting a child is a tad OTT.

Your daughter is an adult who can make her own decisions.

This would definitely be good practice for budgeting and seeing what it’s like to pay for and run a home.

Sounds like she's seen your DD as an option to help fund her travels!

£280 might be a not insignificant portion of her mortgage - I also think like you, she's taking advantage of your DD. It's difficult to tell an 18 year old though! There is plenty of time for DD to learn about budgeting etc when she starts uni. I hope you can persuade her not to pay the money.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

That's a very fair price.

Huw much would she pay to rent a flat with her girlfriend locally ?

Im not sure how people think this is a good deal for her? She lives here for free. Where she can save for her future and have money for fun life experiences on her year off education. If she really wanted to she could pay for her own food.

I agree, she is taking advantage of a teenager to fund her travelling.

Her girlfriend is going to uni and will be living at home so she would not have the funds to live in a flat.

Will she have her own room?

So will it be just the 2 of them living in that place?
In which case I can see why she wants to ship out.
Especially as you sound as if you baby her.

She’ll still have £1.5k to save and spend. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect an adult to contribute to their living costs, it’s a good exercise in what it means to have adult responsibilities.

It sounds like she doesn't want to live with you anymore though? I think it's pretty normal for an 18yo who is working full time to want the independence of living away from mum. Being able to do that for 280 a month doesn't sound so bad.

But presumably she wants to live with her gf, so either she does that in a third-party rented place (more expensive) or does it here for what is very cheap really. If she wants to live with her gf then the fact she lives at home for free isn’t really relevant. She might just want to not live at home, it’s a different dynamic, regardless of how much freedom she has.

Tbh it might be a good chance for them to test the waters without committing to an expensive contract. Youth is for stuff like this really.

Are you really bothered about the relatively small amount of money or is it maybe that you’re upset she is keen to move out?

The mum will be away traveling so your dd will have a whole family house to share with her gf for only £280 a month! Bills included! It is a very good deal.

She’s an adult with a £27k job.

On top of all the utilities she’ll be using while living there, why shouldn’t she pay a hugely decreased commercial rent?

Your daughter is not a child. It’s her choice. She’s not being exploited. She can live there and pay rent or not

A teenager earning 27k is hardly the same as one on a minimum wage in a part time job.

Keep quiet and let her get her own experience in life. Be the safe place to come back to when things go wrong.

A teenager earning 27k is hardly the same as one on a minimum wage in a part time job.

Keep quiet and let her get her own experience in life. Be the safe place to come back to when things go wrong.

Both to be honest. I am hurt that she wants to leave and I think shes making a poor financial choice. We saved all her life to give her a modest trust fund, talked about being sensible when she got it. She's only got the job because my partner gave it to her. I dont think she is mature enough to be making these decisions. I am worried shes throwing away opportunities for a partner she has only been with for a short amount of time. Swapping a stable loving home for a precarious one based on a relationship. What happens if they argue or break up?