How much is fair to take from partner

[clix]

My partner and I Intend to move into my home . I own it outright and have my two children with me 75% of the time while the eldest is at Uni and comes home
Sporadically . He has a child whom he sees eow and for hols . He will have his own room as he has sn and refuses to share . My partner and I do not know what is fair in terms of contribution to rent/ bills and food . Any suggestions please? We both earn equally but I want to keep my home Solely in my name for my children, right now.He is very happy with this decision until our children are grown up and leave the nest, so to speak which will be ten years maximum.thanks .

Well if he contributes to the mortgage he will accrue a financial interest in the property whether it's your sole name on the deeds or not. Same with contributing to any repairs, maintenance or renovations. I'd make it clear that he pays for other things like food, utilities etc instead

As you both earn the same sort of amount I would go 50/50 on bills and food and maybe 70/30 on your mortgage cost? If you ever put him on the mortgage then split everything 50/50.

Ok thanks . So do I not take
Rent from
Him then ?

If you don’t want him contributing to the mortgage then I’d say split the bills 50/50 and he pays for all the food and also pays for a bit more spending money for you both such as takeaways

Rent?
Is he a lodger?

I'd go 30- 40% of bills

look at the current situation. How much does he pay for bills, rent etc, how much will he be saving if he moves in with you versus how much extra it will cost you. You need to get things a bit more equitable so if he is saving say £750 a month in rent you also benefit in some way from that. it can't all be him benefitting or you will end up resentful.

Taking rent from him is the best way to go as it does make it clear that it's your property and he has no claim on it.

I'm assuming if you say you own your home outright, then you have no mortgage, so I wouldn't expect him to pay rent in this case. I think generally 50/50 is probably fair, given you are reserving a room for his child who only stays occasionally. I assume you are both paying for your own children out of your own money (not joint), so his contribution is to things like food, internet, electricity, meals out (whenever we have meals out again!), etc. At a push, maybe 60/40. But I think it depends on the ages of your children. If yours is young, they probably don't eat much. If they are 15, they probably eat a lot, use a lot of electricity, etc.

Does your partner have another property OP?

Could he not continue to live there?

It really complicates things when people move in together full time - people accrue some rights but as women who are unmarried on here always find out - you do not get a "right" to someone's house. I think you should see a solicitor and then decide how to proceed after that.

The op has stated that she owns her own home outright
Does this mean it’s mortgage free?
Getting confused re suggestions regarding mortgage payments

Does he have his own house? If so I'd suggest just sticking to stopping over when you want and not moving in together.

Hi it's my home with no mortgage . He does not own a home
Anymore . We intend to buy jointly if we work out, in approximately ten years . For now, he will have no legal
Rights to my home until we formally buy together and this is what both of us want. For context, he pays 700 per month for rent and bills currently .

Rather than charging him rent (I'd want to stay away from the word rent to avoid any financial claim in the house), I'd be tempted to say he pays 50% of all household bills and then covers the cost of the weekly shop.

I know this means you'll be better off as you have no mortgage to pay, but he's living in 'your' house.

I’d take legal advice in case he can gain an interest in the property in future- you need to protect the asset for your children

Fair would be half the going rate for a house share in your area, plus half of the utilities. You'd do well to make him sign a lodger agreement, which makes it clear he has no claim on the house. That way you are both benefiting from the move.

Brilliant advice from
You all. Thanks so much

Is split it 50/50 regardless.

You need to charge him something more than just half the bills, otherwise the only one benefitting from the arrangement is him.

Otherwise he's pocketing 700 and you're no better off, other than reducing your bills, which btw so is he.

I'd work out half the bills plus x and call it his contribution to living expenses.

I have been in this situation with an ex partner. I charged him 500pcm and made him pay by standing order with the description as rent. This was all inclusive to cover his share of bills, utilities, council tax etc and the we just shared the food shop etc
I am so glad I did it as he turned out to be an abusive arsehole. He tried to take my house from me but as I had made it clear he paid rent and didn't pay towards the mortgage he didn't have a leg to stand on. If you partner does do any DIY, maintenance, repairs etc make sure you lay him for it, or just use a good local tradesman as that can also give him reason to claim a share of the equity

Depends on a lot of things really. Does he own or rent currently? If he owns, what is he planning to do with that property?

You should both protect yourselves in the event of a split. You should not be worse off because he has moved in - council tax is one thing I can think of - but neither should he.

What's the plan in case of the event that you die before him and your house belongs to your DC?

Do you know what all your bills are now roughly? Does he know what his are?

What if your uni student DC moves home after uni finishes?

What if either of you becomes ill or loses your job?

Regarding food if you both continue to spend the same amount you do now it should work out ok provided you're roughly the same about the type of food you eat. If one of you is very frugal and one has expensive tastes it could cause problems.

With bills I'd be tempted to go for a percentage based split based on earnings. I couldn't be arsed trying to figure out who uses more electricity.

I'm not sure about rent. You're losing a bedroom and there will be increased wear and tear. Seems odd to charge rent to a partner though, but also seems unfair to have someone living in your home rent free.

I think he should pay rent plus a contribution to the bills.
You can save the money and do nice things as a family if you want but there are always hidden costs. Wear & tear, saving a room for his child.
I would charge what a room costs else where and split the bills.
You can get up to £7500 pm tax free renting out a room. So depending where you are I would say £400 rent plus bills and split the food costs

Lodger agreement

'rent' standing order

lots of ways - but just get something in writing which shows that he has no claim.

Keep him a million miles away from doing any DIY jobs or letting him buy things which could be seen as a contribution to upkeep such as paint etc.

Think carefully about the future - you clearly have MANY more assets than him - I'd be very wary about eventually putting all of it into a new house, even if the ownership split is in your favour. If something were to happen to you, things can get muddy and you will almost certainly find that he is set to benefit at the expense of your children.

I would probaby try and keep your house, in your name, even if you do go on to buy a property together, and NOT get married.

I'd split bills with him appropriate to the cost of your respective children. You will both be better off and he could possibly save to help provide a joint deposit on your next home together.

He will be in a precarious position because he has no rights to stay in your home should you split up. You could kick him out at a moment's notice. So a good buffer for him would be to have c. 6 months rent in cash savings.

Ask him what he thinks is fair. This may be quite telling.
Personally I would pay for all household bills and suggest he pays for food. Household bills could be seen as contributing to the home, so even though you will be subbing him with the increase in gas/water etc he will provide all the family food bills.

Definitely think of the long term implications on your children. If you died today they'd rightly inherit. If you buy together in ten years just make sure you're contribution is ring fenced so they don't lose out. You're bringing alot more into the relationship than he is financially so just be careful.

Half the bills if you own outright is fair. I would suggest you have a joint savings account for the new prospective home and he could put money into that that he's saving