DS (16) wants to move out

[GentleOliveFatball]

Hello, my 16 year old son wants to move out and rent a house with a friend (who is 18) They are both responsible and my son has been keen to move out for a while. (We get along fine, but our home is very small and now he's getting older I think he struggles with not having much of his own space/space for when friends visit.)
I trust both my son and his friend, they have spent months researching and saving money. Between them they can cover rent, food, bills etc for a small two bedroom semi-detached house, walking distance from where they both work.

However I'm worried that landlords will not rent to them because my son is only 16. I don't mind signing the tenancy agreement if I have to, however I don't know if I can since I won't be living there?

My son is still only looking, and I'm aware I must do more of my own research however any advice would be appreciated.
We live in Scotland by the way.
Thank you!

But this isn't in England, as the OP states.

I think it's great he is working and feels independent but. .. starting rent at this age is a bad idea as he is missing the opportunity to save for a better future and could end up renting for life. Also at 16 his work ethic may not be as solid as you think and with added freedom he could start partying more and end up losing his job. I would try to have a realistic chat with him about costs.

Is there an echo? in england , but england?
If the lad has better reading comprehension skills than most of the posters here, he'll be grand!!

He could go into the army but he would not be engaged in combat, would be subject to strict safeguarding rules, and wouldn't have the freedom that a 16 year old living in a flat would have.

What you've got to think is if you would be happy to not have a clue where your 16 year old is or what they are up to.

Many( including me) wouldn't be happy with this.

The bar is low when all the pp can celebrate on here is a child’s ability to leave home as soon as possible. It’s bloody tragic.

He is unlikely to ever afford his own home, drive a car, skill up or educate himself beyond the very basic Scottish education baseline and will be saddled to the day he dies paying rent and bills. Why the f* would anyone celebrate this?!

That’s IF he isn’t being exploited by older men for sex, drugs and other crimes. Wake up fgs!

at 16 you can join the army (might be 18 now?), Get a job and have a baby. All things that require far more responsibility than just moving into your own place!

I wouldn't want or encourage mine to move out at 16 but there are are kids who cope absolutely fine.

@Artistbythewater
Are you always so dramatic? Making ridiculous sweeping assumptions.
I left school on a Friday and arrived at my live in job on the Monday, aged 17.
I never returned home, have miraculously managed to have a good career and my own home and raise a family.
Scottish education is very good, I have my 4th DC currently in 2nd year at Glasgow Uni.

To add That’s IF he isn’t being exploited by older men for sex, drugs and other crimes. Wake up fgs!
MN hysteria at its best 🤣
He's 16 at college and working not a 5yr old.

@Artistbythewater i rented a flat at 16 in scotland, you can legally marry without parental permission at that age here.

His sums are:
Rent - £850 a month (split between two people)
Two bedrooms, central location, comes furnished, freehold tenure type, long term let, £850 deposit.
He's currently making £1081.60 a month (not including overtime but he does a lot of that as well) he has saved a bit of money already (I'm not sure how much exactly)

It’s not ‘peak MN’ to be concerned that this child deserves better. That he needs someone to look out for him, beyond a cursory glance in his general direction, and to encourage him to gather the skills he will need for the future beyond boiling an egg and cleaning the shitter!

How is he going to afford driving lessons?
A car?
A deposit for a house?
A holiday before the age of 50?
A savings pot for a rainy day?
A pension?
A future doing something other than MW jobs?

It’s so fucking short sighted, egged on by those equally incapable of coping with anything beyond their own very narrow world view.

I genuinely feel sorry for him, and others like him. They stand NO chance in the real world.

Talk about abject disadvantage.

< I am sure there will be a millionaire along at any moment now to say they made their first million in a grotty squat in Glasgow surrounded by crack cocaine> but back in the real world….the poor kid doesn’t stand a chance.

What's he like with housework and washing, OP? Are you absolutely certain no drugs or undesirable influences will be in the picture? Could he draw up a monthly budget unassisted? And stick to it? Does he have reasonable plans for what he wants to do over the next few years? Is it easy for him to get back home for dinner?

I'd want positive answers to all those questions before I'd be happy about it.

Scotland surely is not that different from England…

If it’s a private landlord then they might be willing to rent to an 18 year old with a 16 year old dependent, but then the 18 year old would have to prove they can afford both their own rent and the cost of a dependent. Through an agency? I would have thought no way. It was hard for me and my husband to rent privately given that most rentals require you to be ‘two working professionals with no life other than the sole purpose to pay rent someone else’s mortgage.’

Anyway, sorry but in this day and age what kind of parent are you letting your 16 year old do this?

If your son can afford to pay rent and upkeep of half a 2 bed house why are your family unable to move to somewhere bigger, together (with him contributing to the rent)

it seems so young to be living independently.

And seems very limiting for him- he might want to work now, but how will he study or take an apprenticeship etc in future if he also has to consider the full cost of accommodation etc?

id be worried there were some nefarious motives for this plan

How is he going to afford driving lessons?
A car?
A deposit for a house?
A holiday before the age of 50?
A savings pot for a rainy day?
A pension?
A future doing something other than MW jobs?
Do you honestly think all
of us who left home
young have none of these things?
Such a drama queen with little grasp of anything other than a cushy wee middle class life propped up by parents.
This attitude is insulting to those of us who have stood on our own two feet, many through no choice of their own.
@Artistbythewater you should stop because you're insulting and embarrassing.

Yes! Thank you.

I'm ill now so it's different, but I managed a full-time job, a master's degree and several holidays even though I moved out at 16.

This is the most depressing thread I have read in a very long time.

I can see now that it’s going to take whole lot more to achieve anything like equality in this country than just merely trying to recreate similar academic opportunities and investment in our young people.

It’s a cultural issue as much as anything else, the total lack of awareness of what it takes to be successful, comfortable and competent into adulthood, that starts from a very young age and advances into very poor decision making into adulthood perpetuated by misguided adults that have no other world experience.

So he has to pay
420 rent
Council tax
Electric
Gas
Water rates.
Food.
Contents insurance.
Clothing
What else?
How much will that come to?

I am exasperated. Utterly exasperated, and no this forum is not an echo chamber to validate the op.

@Lavender14 they are in Scotland , social services can not stop a 16 year old getting married or moving out just because they are 16!

Mobile contract
Wifi
Transport
Sky TV
TV license
Leisure activities
Savings

Plus a budget potentially like a TV or a washing machine, a bed etc assuming it isn’t fully furnished already with everything he could possibly need.

I feel so sorry for the child trying to be an adult in a world that will be ready to totally rinse him dry.

@betterangels and @ChaosHol1 my question was aimed at DoAWheelie, not the OP. I know the OP is in Scotland.

I have no idea where DoAWheelie is from.

I still think a 16 year old would need a guarantor in Scotland.

It's not ideal but it sounds like he's given this a lot of thought and they've planned carefully. Are you close by? Will he be heavily supervised? Has he got an exit strategy should things not work out? As those who are a)not being hysterical and/or b)have grasped it's Scotland and not England have said, he could be living independently with a spouse now, and so whilst I would encourage him to stay with you for a bit longer I would be open to having further conversations about it.

I'm a LL and I would not rent to a 16 year old. I'd be too worried about them. Why not encourage him to save a deposit for buying after he is 18. He should use the next 2 years to save hard whilst he still lives at home and has more spare cash.

16 year old are not magically more mature and capable in Scotland than anywhere else, it’s just their legal system is chronically out of date.

It clearly needs updating to protect children like ops so they are steered to safe guard their futures, and not just kicked out/pushed out as soon as they finish their GCSES.

It used to be the same in England twenty years ago but was changed when we recognised the harm that can be caused to a child’s future by going it alone before they even reach adulthood. He is not an adult. Nowhere close neurologically.