Cousin's son is suddenly without student accomodation and needs to stay with me, how much to charge him?

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My cousin (I am not close to her but I am close with her sisters) lives overseas and her son is studying in my city at Uni. He had uni accomodation last year and was v excited that he and his friends had found a place for this academic year. Today he contacted me in a panic, the landlord had backed out because one of the student's visa had not yet been granted and has said they cannot move in.

I have quite a lot of my cousin's son stuff here as he came to stay a bit over the summer as a base to visit other family, it was only days here and there and he is a delightful young man so I was fine with this.

Now he is in an awful situation, term is about to start and his house has fallen through. I have said he can stay until he gets something sorted and he will need to contribute to bills (I am mortgage free). How much do I charge him? He is 20 years old, very sweet, extremely innocent in many ways, has spent all his life in Africa or Dubai as an "expat". His parents divorced over the summer so money on my cousin's side (his mum) is probably not as easy as it was. I was thinking £300 a month- is that too much? Too little? I will probably cook for him if I am cooking anyway, but he lives on pizza and ordered in stuff which I never eat. He will be using heat, light, water etc esp as it starts to move into Autumn.

I want to be fair and I dont want to be out of pocket. What does anyone suggest as a fair rent in this situation?

My house (general bills, utilities, insurance etc) costs about £750pm to run. So would £300 be a reasonable amount to ask. Is it too little? Too much? It is family, so I am really not sure...

How much would his accommodation have been? I would charge him no more than this, maybe a bit less.

I wouldn't charge family that much. Maybe 200 max if you need the money. If I didn't need to money nothing or just tell him to cover his own foods

Do you know how much he was due to be paying in the student accommodation? I wouldn’t charge more than that, as it isn’t what he budgeted for. As it’s family I think that would be fair

If you need the money then I suppose £300 is ok. But as he's family then unless I needed the money I would charge him nothing.

I don't know. £300 would be way less I imagine. It's hellishly expensive to rent in my city (not London- but rental prices not far off).

What would he have paid in the house?

What’s happened to the rest of his housemates-won’t they all be looking to find somewhere together asap?

I work part time, it barely covers my bills, so I'm no by no means well off.

If its £750pcm for you to run the home... are you a sole income? If so, I can understand the £300 sort of. If you have another income from a spouse or partner, I'd say less.

I'm hoping it's just temporary
. A few weeks, but it may not be... who knows? It's very late to be looking for accommodation for students now.

Students in my city pay a lot more than that, £300 per month all in, including some cooking is a fair price.

I live alone in a three bed house. I've lived alone since I divorced 14 years ago.

Many rooms in halls this year cost £150 - £195 self catered. Last year my DD was paying £680 per month for a room in a shared house in a popular city. £300 is a bargain.

I certainly wouldn't charge more or as much as he was budgeting for rent

I would go for £200 but he gets his own food. I would offer him what we as a,family were having but I wouldn't cook separately for him or change what I was cooking. I would put a time limit on it as well because if this is far cheaper than uni digs you don't want him to become a fixture. It is a short term fix to help him out while he finds alternative accommodation.

No way would I charge family unless I was skint

It's family, but it could be a whole year if he doesn't find anywhere. I'm used to my own space. It's not ideal long term for me.

If you need the money then fair enough charge him but I think £300 is a lot considering he doesn't eat your meals and likely to be out a lot of the time and the utilities he will use are mainly water for a shower, internet and a little electric/gas. In some ways, he might actually save you money as I think you can get a reduction to your council tax for having a student in the household. Sounds like he's having a stressful time as it is and he's not trying to take the mick by staying with you.

I don't think 300 is too bad considering you are including food for him a lot of the time especially when you are not overly flush in cash yourself. Extra showers, washing machine, dryer etc.

If you feel it is too much you can always put some aside and give it back to him as a deposit for his next place rather than him flittering it on takeaways.

I have a family member who was in a similar situation as you. Can I just suggest that you are clear with the rules before him moves in. My family member had issues with her niece taking long showers and using up the full tank of water before my family member had her shower before work. Also inviting friends to crash on the couch rather than they having to travel home etc. It ended quite badly and the fallout lasted years.

@purplecorkheart good pint on the house rules. I don't want it to go bad because I love my family, I have none so they are like my sisters.

Check the rules for council tax in your area, but I think you will lose your single person discount. A house full of students would pay nothing but a house where one person is a student and one person is employed would pay normal rate.

I think £300 is reasonable, including bills and food.

Dd was in London halls 10 years ago and it was £175 a week then!
I think £300 is reasonable. You don't want to start too low and then be in a quandary about increasing it!
I would focus more on ground rules.

I think that sounds reasonable. I paid £100 per week over a decade ago.

If it’s just a few weeks would probably charge weekly? I had a similar situation when I friendly needed to use my spare room and I charged them £70 per week. If it makes you feel better like you say you could just make sure you have a bit of food in for him too? I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for some rent though.

Depends what you want.

To not be out of pocket, yiu just charge the extra eg the difference in your water bill last month and next month, ditto electric and gas (well, last year in September this year in September is fairer there) plus the council tax difference of 25%.

If you are looking to subsidise your own costs as well then £300 sounds fair

He might find somewhere by next week tbh