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...

Your Council Tax won't increase. However your discount needs to be amended from Single Person to Student discount. You will need to provide a student exemption certificate which he can get from Student Services at his university.

£300 a month in Bristol is brilliant as a student ! ( I live near Bristol)

This. Anything else is a bit offit even if you need the money.

You shouldn’t charge him because you don’t really want him there, that makes no sense. Why not agree to a month rent free and then about £200 a month. Unless you want to profit - which is weird.

£300 a month is an absolute bargain in Bristol. A room in a shared house costs at least £600, going rate for students is generally more like £700+. If he finds somewhere quickly and moves on in a couple of weeks you could maybe give him something back.

i wonder if the solution is to think how you would like to be treated if you were in his position. My theory is that kindness to the young rarely goes amiss. (But also keep your boundaries in place - perhaps in a few months, you might have agreed to some people coming to stay?)

£300 a month is a bargain and entirely reasonable to charge him. My adult children pay £400 a month. That includes use of my car and I cook an evening meal every night, provide food for other meals and do all their laundry.

300, sounds very reasonable.

My DS is at UWE so edge of Bristol and his share of rent for a 4bed house is £625 a month, plus bills, plus food.
Do you have another room 🤣?

I agree with the pp who said if you don't want himing term don't ask him for rent.

My son goes to uni this year, his halls are 205 a week, so 300 a month to stay in your house is a bargain!

Www.spareroom.co.uk is your friend. There will be student houses coming up on there where one person has dropped out of uni so they need to replace the tenant.

My only concern is that if you make it too comfortable for him he won't actually want to move out! You'll need to make it clear it's just short term.

My child is paying over £250 per WEEK - this is uncatered, in London.

My DD & I have been looking at uni costs (she's about to start Y12) and the liwyest room in London I could find was £184 a week, more common to pay £250-300 a week.

But this is family, so I think £100 a week is fair until he finds something else.

£50 a week maybe as the per week emphasises that it's temporary. It needs to cover council tax increase and extra energy etc. Offer food when it is convenient as a friendly offer but not as part of what he is paying for. Think about house rules and make them clear at outset. Be really clear it is "while he's looking" - if he is actively looking he will get a room (probably not with his friends though) as people drop out and are desperate for someone to replace them and free them from their tenancy. There will be student specific online places for this. Also for single rooms the Spareroom website.

Might be useful to help save you a little kitty for the future if he can stay @£300 a month seems very reasonable.
Whatever you d, as others say, insist on set ground rules including timings for showers - you don't want to wait for a cold shower and make yourself late for work!

£300 a month is a bargain. Maybe charge it as £75 per week so it’s clear he can move out quickly if he finds something.

It is not unreasonable to charge more than your increase in bills, you really would prefer he didn’t live there and you are sacrificing space and peace and quiet to help family, you don’t have to save the money and give it back!

My daughter was in a student house share in Bristol last year paying £470 per month plus bills. The family would have been expecting to pay at least that, but probably more. £300 is very cheap.

That seems really high to me.

How can they afford it?

Don't let all the weirdos guilt you into giving a freebie.

Don't make it too low, or you'll be stuck with hm forever. Maybe say £300 a month for a couple of north's, then £500.

@WhoPutCrabsticksInMyBedroom
I know, it’s crazy!
They get minimum maintenance loan, they work in the hols and I have to top it up.

and for the OP - make it clear that the £300 is only if they eat what you make or they have to buy their own. Definitely charge them weekly and say it’s until they get sorted and maybe set a 3 month review. Good luck.

Have you looked at how much the student digs were in their university last year to give you a comparison?

Personally, I would give him a month for free, but make sure you are clear about ground rules - he buys his own food , he leaves the kitchen and bathroom clean, etc.

I would do it by the week. Set food and utilities separately because you don’t really know how much he is going to eat with you yet. He may prefer to mostly buy his own food.

I would only charge enough to cover your actual expenses. Just emphasize that it’s a temporary stay while he finds something. He likely is going to incur extra costs scrambling for housing at the last minute so would not want to take more money than necessary.