How much rent?

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I’m trying to save a decent deposit so that DC13 and I can move house in a year or so, and I’m considering asking my aunt if we could move in with her for 6 months to help save up. For context, my aunt brought me up and is DC’s “Gran”. I lived with her until DC was 17 months. We’ve had a lot of antisocial behaviour in our area recently and she’s frequently said we are welcome to move back in if we need to. She’s pretty fantastic!

I was just wondering what people thought would be fair to pay if we did move in? I know she’d suggest bare minimum and while I want to maximise my savings, I won’t do so at her expense.

Any thoughts?

I can’t really comment without knowing more

Location (north? South)
Size of house
Aunts outgoings - what does she pay? What does she earn?
How much do you earn?
How much can you afford to pay?

There are so many factors. You could offer market rent for a house share - look on Rightmove. But if you are both sharing a small room then maybe less. If she’s struggling financially and you not so much then half of bills would seem fair. If you can pay x and still save then offer what you can spare

We’re in the north and she has a 3 bed house. I have no idea what her outgoings are, and I’d guess her monthly salary is about £1800-1900 after tax? My monthly income including CM and CB is about £1750. If I completely got rid of my place, my other outgoings are about £450 (phones, car expenses, dc pocket money, lunch money, dc clothes, etc).

How much are you currently paying in rent and what size of place do you have at the moment?

If I were you I would work out something in between the min she would ask for, and your current rent (making sure the final amount is not risibly small compared to what you should be paying if you weren't family)

Also make sure you check for anything she might lose on your moving in (council tax reduction for single person etc)

I am in the North and earn similar. We are staying with my parents with my dd. I pay £250 but also buy them takeaways as treats etc. I pay my Dad’s mobile bill too.

I would say somewhere between £250 and £350 per month, OP.

I’d let her make the decision on what she thinks is fair and then buy the lions share of the shopping if you feel it’s not enough . We lived with my mum for about 13 months when we were between houses and only paid for the shopping and the odd bill as she wouldn’t take any money .

Look at it this way. If she's having the inconvenience of having you live with her, then she's going to want to maximise your savings so that you can move out sooner. Go with what she suggests so that she's not actually out of pocket, then treat her now and again. She doesn't need to make a profit out of you.

My dd is 22 and moved back after uni. She takes home £1500pm net and pays me £300pm, which is a completely accurate calculation of costs based on food, increase in energy bills and loss of single person council tax allowance. I wish I could afford not to charge her, but I can't, and it's a lot less than living in her own place. The biggest cost is food of course, so you could reduce that significantly if covering your own shopping, although you may feel your aunt deserves a bit extra for the inconvenience too.

If she has a 3 bed and you’ll be taking up 2 of them, then realistically, I would assume you’d pay half at least plus expenses.

I live at home (buy own food, etc) and earn £800 (student) and pay £250. I would think £400ish would cover two rooms and two peoples worth of bills? Thats assuming you cover your own food.