How much for board

[Thefutureismyaim]

I’m sure this has been asked before but everyone’s circumstances are different so I’m hoping for opinions based on my circumstances.
son has come back home from university. He has secured a job and will have take home pay of about £1800 a month.
how much is reasonable to charge for board and lodgings?
I was thinking of charging £200 a month high includes food and everything else. He will pay his own phone bill and gym subscriptions.
I would like to not charge anything but I am on a limited income and can’t really afford to pay the extra costs of him living here. I have lost my single persons council tax discount which amounts to £50 a month and my food bill has sky rocketed as well as increases in electricity and water since my son came back home.
please don’t say I shouldn’t charge him anything as I really can’t afford that long term without risking getting into difficulty. I was managing to pay bills and buy food for myself whilst son was at university but the costs have increased now with two of us living here whilst my income has remained the same.
is £200 a month too much?

Definitely not too much if his take home pay is £1800. Have you added up all your extra costs for council tax, food, water, gas and electric? Food alone could be £200 unless he does a food shop or eats out a lot.

He needs to pay for what he uses, so his share of council tax, gas, electric, water and food.
food alone is about £200 for a grown adult man, so about £400 as a best guess

I think that’s very reasonable, but is it enough to cover what you need it to? I used to pay that amount and was bringing in far less per month

I think that’s far too little! You’re teaching him no life skills by not charging him the appropriate amount. The food alone is more than £200, plus the electricity, wifi, council tax, gas etc etc.

Dc1 payed that at the same wage (I had to ask as I'm on disability benefits and like you lost single person discount and obviously food, water, gas and electricity increased). It was still a struggle but I did it so that dc could save for a deposit quicker (I did explain I couldn't keep it that low forever and if dc wasn't prepared to save they'd need to pay more). They saved enough to buy a flat last year so was worth the effort we both put in. It felt like my way of supporting dc as I couldn't financially support them.

Thank you everyone.
i expected a bunch of replies telling me I was being greedy and that we shouldn’t charge our kids anything for living in our home.
i haven’t added up the actual costs incurred.
my WiFi is the same as when I lived alone and the gas hasn’t changed much. Council tax is the loss of single persons discount which is £600 a year. Electricity and water costs have increased .
my son doesn’t do any food shopping as such but he does buy his own toiletries and sweet treats.
thank you everyone for the reassuring responses.

I don't think 200 is enough. If he's lived away from home he will have a good idea how much things cost. Council Tax 50 pound extra im sure the food, extra utilities etc will amount to more than 150. Half the council tax plus extra. He presumably knows you are on a limited income. Ask him what he things is reasonable.

Even if u could afford not to take anything in my opinion that's not the point.

Once DD finished uni she’ll be helping with £50/week for a year to help her build up savings, then after that if she still wants to stay home she’ll be having to pay whatever her share is.

Ideally I also would prefer to not “charge” anything but as a single parent running everything on one wage, the cost of living is just insane. I feel very tired and I would like a break, at least a little holiday.

Thanks again everyone. It’s been really really helpful to have the opinions from others and to know that charging board is quite a normal thing to do with adult children.
I’ve spoken to my son and we have agreed £200 a month. That should cover the extra in my monthly food bill and the difference in the council tax bill. We will review it if the £200 doesn’t cover my extra expenditure related to him living here.