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

[Mxflamingnoravera]

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...

The landlord's reason for cancelling the house sounds suspect to me. We have just signed a tenancy agreement for dd in another Uni town. We have had to promise to pay up if other students bugger off and don't pay.. 🙄😬 I wonder why the landlord doesn't't rent to the rest and just ask them to find someone else/cover the other student's rent?

Anyway, £300 seems reasonable to me too.

I would only charge for the increase in bills.

Previous poster is incorrect about council tax - if he is a student, he doesn't count and you can keep your single person discount. Double check with your council if you are not sure.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/council-tax/student-housing-council-tax/

I think £300 sounds very reasonable. It will probably be half what he would have been paying (or less) and covers all bills plus some food, by the sound of it. He should be able to save some extra money towards a deposit/rent up front on a new place. If there is a chance he may end up staying with you all year, it is not a good idea to charge him just a token amount, as you will end up resenting it.

I think £300 is a bit much. I would charge £200 maximum. To be honest I would probably let him stay for free for a month before I started charging him, but make it clear this was a temporary arrangement and hope that he'd find another student place in that time. I appreciate that may not be an affordable option for you though.

Of course you should charge something OP- he will be using water, heating, hot showers, baths, washing machine etc - it all costs money. He should sort his own food as well, why should you have to be out of pocket?
I would say £50 a week is the minimum if you are expected to feed him as well.

My son is paying £400 a month for a student house share before bills
at a city university.
I think £300 a month isn't unreasonable if that includes bills and if you need the money.

£300 is an absolute bargain for him if you are in a high priced area. My son in London is paying nearer £900 plus bills. He has friends struggling to find remotely affordable places.

£300 per month sounds fine, it's only £75 per week, and presumably includes all bills!

Yes he's a student, but he has to stay somewhere, and anywhere else he'd stay would probably charge at least £500, so he'd be getting a good discount due to the situation if staying with family.

Charging any less, you run the risk of him getting too comfortable with paying so little, and perhaps staying much longer than you intended and would prefer him gone sooner.

I just spoke to his mum's sister, she says £300 is entirely reasonable and her sister would expect to pay at least that. Our family do a lot of this kind of thing, we are Ireland/UK/Africa based and we put up each others kids. It's just the first time for me. I charged my son £50 a week over lockdown to stay here and he was fine with that (he'd been gone from home 8 years and earning good money but wanted to be near me and his dad during the pandemic) so £75 a week with the cost of living rise doesn't seem too awful.

Hopefully it will only be a few weeks, not months.

I think you should charge him only what he is costing you. So, the increase in utilities and council tax. You say he mainly buys his own food but maybe charge him for basics. £200max.
Not sure why others are fixated on what he would be spending - he's family, and it doesn't sound like you're hoping to make a profit out of him!
If you're worried it will end up being for a full year, be honest with him and say for the first 3 months you'll charge him cost, but if he needs to stay longer you will want to review it.

It's Bristol, rents here are sky high

I wouldn’t charge more than it’s costing you. Things like insurance and tv licence you would have to pay for anyway.

How high though-what was he paying? £600 a month? £1000?

I charge my son who is 23 £400 a month for all inclusive food, bills, some cooking and doing his washing!

£300 is entirely reasonable. Those saying let him stay for free initially aren’t taking into account he has already used your house during the summer.

I'm in similar situation with my DB. Charging £65 a week including bills. Love him but also need to make ends meet!

I'd give him say a month to find something else and not charge. Unlikely he's going to walk into a flat share at this point in most uni towns. After that if he wants to stay he pays fair rent.

I think £300 is about right. However, I'd also be having a serious conversation with him about how bills work, and that heating and electricity is very expensive now. There are so many stories on Mumsnet about lodgers who just whack the heating up as their bills are included and they either don't care or don't realise the cost!

I think that’s really reasonable. DS is about to move into uncatered halls (in London) and it’s an awful lot more than that. But do set out house rules too.

£300 in Bristol is an absolute bargain OP, so please don't feel bad! Rented accommodation is extremely expensive here so I think what you're asking for is very fair

I think this is a horrible situation for the student, who was probably really looking forward to his first house share with his mates. I would focus on setting the ground rules that mean that things go smoothly whilst he’s staying, and would just charge a token amount to cover your extra expenses for food / your extra costs (and then if all goes smoothly save it up and give it back to him when he departs telling him he deserves it as was such a good guest 😊).

Thanks all, esp @exexpat re the council tax bit, that is very helpful because I do get the rebate as I live alone.

I will find out tomorrow what his plans are. No doubt I shall be back here for more advice!

DDs uni halls were the cheapest in Bham which is a cheap city and it was £90/week.

Now she's out of halls it's £135 all bills included 5 beds en suite shared house.