[Finance] Do you charge your kids rent ?

[WATFORD zero]

Something I read on another thread sent me off thinking about this.

When my kids turned 16 and went to sixth form college, they both had to get Saturday Jobs and ended up working at Primark. The money they earnt was theirs and obviously they could spend it on whatever they wanted despite any tutting from us. However about 10-20% was taken off them as 'housekeeping' (I think it was 40% when I was 16 but whatever ).

My son went to Uni and my daughter decided she didn't want to. My son's Primark job supported his living expenses throughout Uni (together with a few Summer jobs) so his only debt was the course fees. I had an agreement with my daughter that she had to work 25 hrs a week and pay 'housekeeping' if her boyfriend wanted to come over. (25 hrs at Primark focused her mind and she got a proper job )

All the housekeeping they paid us was put away with various financial Birthday and Xmas presents, child allowance and other bits and my son used it to pay off a major part of his Uni fees while my daughter used hers to spend 12 months in Oz.

However, back to the question, Do you charge your kids rent and if you do, from what age and how much ?

*edit* My kids are 28/26 so we are talking 10 years agoish

 

[Live by the sea]

I don’t have kids but I don’t think I could charge any offspring of mine rent , it wouldn’t feel right .

 

[luge]

I never had it charged to me as a young un. Parents said they would charge from age 18 after leaving college, but i went straight to University and was only back for a few weeks in summer. Never moved back in.

My sister was charged as she had half a year living at home not in education and was working.

When mine are older will have a look at it then. Depends on the times innit? I was last generation that could reasonably buy a house/flat if saved a bit.

 

[happypig]

Yep. Charged my boy 25% once he was working full time. Put it all away and when he started looking for a flat with his girlfriend I gave it all back to him (plus some other money from an inheritance) so he had enough for a deposit.

I think it's good to charge them a bit of rent to get them used to paying their way; fortunately we were in a position to squirrel it away for him.

 

[dazzer6666]

Something I read on another thread sent me off thinking about this.

When my kids turned 16 and went to sixth form college, they both had to get Saturday Jobs and ended up working at Primark. The money they earnt was theirs and obviously they could spend it on whatever they wanted despite any tutting from us. However about 10-20% was taken off them as 'housekeeping' (I think it was 40% when I was 16 but whatever ).

My son went to Uni and my daughter decided she didn't want to. My son's Primark job supported his living expenses throughout Uni (together with a few Summer jobs) so his only debt was the course fees. I had an agreement with my daughter that she had to work 25 hrs a week and pay 'housekeeping' if her boyfriend wanted to come over. (25 hrs at Primark focused her mind and she got a proper job )

All the housekeeping they paid us was put away with various financial Birthday and Xmas presents, child allowance and other bits and my son used it to pay off a major part of his Uni fees while my daughter used hers to spend 12 months in Oz.

However, back to the question, Do you charge your kids rent and if you do, from what age and how much ?

*edit* My kids are 28/26 so we are talking 10 years agoish

I started paying my parents as soon as I started FT work (at 18). Both our kids went to Uni (similar to you, they are now 29/25), youngest then lived at home for a year or more after that but we didn’t charge - we were fortunate enough to not need to, although if he’d been financially useless we would have done to teach him some discipline

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Something I read on another thread sent me off thinking about this.

When my kids turned 16 and went to sixth form college, they both had to get Saturday Jobs and ended up working at Primark. The money they earnt was theirs and obviously they could spend it on whatever they wanted despite any tutting from us. However about 10-20% was taken off them as 'housekeeping' (I think it was 40% when I was 16 but whatever ).

My son went to Uni and my daughter decided she didn't want to. My son's Primark job supported his living expenses throughout Uni (together with a few Summer jobs) so his only debt was the course fees. I had an agreement with my daughter that she had to work 25 hrs a week and pay 'housekeeping' if her boyfriend wanted to come over. (25 hrs at Primark focused her mind and she got a proper job )

All the housekeeping they paid us was put away with various financial Birthday and Xmas presents, child allowance and other bits and my son used it to pay off a major part of his Uni fees while my daughter used hers to spend 12 months in Oz.

However, back to the question, Do you charge your kids rent and if you do, from what age and how much ?

*edit* My kids are 28/26 so we are talking 10 years agoish

Mine was 18 last Saturday and I keep on joking that I will charge her rent, but I won’t. I think it depends on circumstances but a friend of mine said she did charge rent when her daughter was wage earning, but put it aside in a savings account and gave it back to her as a lump sum when she eventually flew the nest. That’s a good approach imo if you are able to do that.

 

[jevs]

I gave my mum £10 a week when I started working and was happy to do so.....,1982. take home was £39 a week.

 

[dazzer6666]

Mine was 18 last Saturday and I keep on joking that I will charge her rent, but I won’t. I think it depends on circumstances but a friend of mine said she did charge rent when her daughter was wage earning, but put it aside in a savings account and gave it back to her as a lump sum when she eventually flew the nest. That’s a good approach imo if you are able to do that.

Agreed - we would have absolutely done that but he was saving anyway so didn’t see the need…….

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Agreed - we would have absolutely done that but he was saving anyway so didn’t see the need…….

My daughter is very financially astute. She’s very good at spending my money and saving hers!

 

[WATFORD zero]

I gave my mum £10 a week when I started working and was happy to do so.....,1982. take home was £39 a week.

1976 - £7.50 from £18.50 take home

And from what was left, I would get into town Thursday to Sunday

 

[dazzer6666]

My daughter is very financially astute. She’s very good at spending my money and saving hers!

LOL. My daughter is actually here this week (rare visit, she lives in Scotland). She asked me what I wanted for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I said just take me out for lunch or dinner when you’re here…..so we went out today. Mrs D paid the bill

 

[Si Gull]

I paid rent to my parents as soon as I was working. Seems fair to me now but I probably complained at the time despite it giving me the impetus to leave home

 

[KZNSeagull]

Yes, our eldest pays and the youngest will start paying in September. Mother in law pays too.

 

[Questions]

Oh f*** I can’t even go there with this one…. I need time.

 

[BNthree]

Don’t charge mine as they’re in full time education still. If they worked full time and lived at home I’d expect them to contribute something.

 

[brighton_dave]

I paid 30pw from 1997.
If they are working full time then I think it it does them good.
We charged our eldest while we were renting and pretty hard up.
We own now, are good financially and still charge the middle one. I think it's a good life lesson. We get the my friends parents don't charge etc.
Charge em or they'll start running onto the amex pitch, chucking powder everywhere before chaining themselves to the posts.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

1976 - £7.50 from £18.50 take home

And from what was left, I would get into town Thursday to Sunday

Just to give you something to ponder, your take home pay then would not give you 2-4 hours daytime parking in the Brighton town hall car park nowadays (£22.80)

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I did with mixed results the narrative of which is too idiosyncratic to be of any value to anyone. Sufficed to say that home isn't a hotel and the kids aren't Ozzy Osbourne. Any digression from that will lead to upheaval. Me and the boy fell out for a couple of years (in his late 20s) but all is well now (that he's living independently).

My recommendation is soak them sufficiently that they are motivated to leave and live independently without making them feel rejected. Not easy (for me, anyway).

 

[WATFORD zero]

I paid 30pw from 1997.
If they are working full time then I think it it does them good.
We charged our eldest while we were renting and pretty hard up.
We own now, are good financially and still charge the middle one. I think it's a good life lesson. We get the my friends parents don't charge etc.
Charge em or they'll start running onto the amex pitch, chucking powder everywhere before chaining themselves to the posts.

My favourite from my daughter was 'You are the strictest parents in the whole school'
I said 'Thank you'
'IT WASN'T MEANT TO BE A BLOODY COMPLIMENT'

 

[WATFORD zero]

I did with mixed results the narrative of which is too idiosyncratic to be of any value to anyone. Sufficed to say that home isn't a hotel and the kids aren't Ozzy Osbourne. Any digression from that will lead to upheaval. Me and the boy fell out for a couple of years (in his late 20s) but all is well now (that he's living independently).

My recommendation is soak them sufficiently that they are motivated to leave and live independently without making them feel rejected. Not easy (for me, anyway).

It's not easy for any of us, but we give it our best shot and hope it works out