How much rent/board

[Miss Chicken]

One of my friends has her 19 year old daughter living with her. They are in disagreemwnt over how much board the daughter should pay for living there. My friend want to charge her $100 a week which the daughter says is too much but it covers meals, the power bill and other household expenses. The daughter has an income of about $300 a week.

My son happily pays $250 per fortnight. That price also includes pay (cable TV) and the internet.

I has suggested to my friend she makes her daughter an offer to share expenses 50/50 (which would cost her daughter more).

So I am asking people how much rent do you think a young person should have to pay their parents?

 

[RoJoHen]

My younger brother and sister (21 and 20) both still live at home, and my parents would never dream of asking them to pay rent. I'm 24, and if I moved back home, my parents wouldn't ask me to pay rent either (hell, my dad still pays for my and my siblings cellphones and car insurance!).

I know some parents do ask for rent, but it's not something that would be an issue in my family.

I guess my siblings do generally buy their own food these days, though.

 

[Goliath]

A hundred dollars a week sounds fair to me--especially on an income of three hundred dollars a week.

I used to pay my mother 300 dollars a month, back in the 90s.

Since she was renting, herself, it would hardly have been fair to refuse to kick in.

 

[Smiley]

If the child is over 18, and rent is being charged, charge the fair market value of the room and board. $100 a week does not sound unreasonable. She still has $800 a month to use for other things.

 

[Goliath]

If the child is over 18, and rent is being charged, charge the fair market value of the room and board.

Yes. You might, for example, look into what landlords are charging university students for a bedroom in a house.

 

[RoJoHen]

If the child is over 18, and rent is being charged, charge the fair market value of the room and board.

Yes. You might, for example, look into what landlords are charging university students for a bedroom in a house.

Probably a good idea.

The general going rate around my college is $300/month.

 

[Mallory]

A third of your net income seems very reasonable to me. I never charged either of my daughters for coming home for the summer from college, but if they hadn't of been full time students I certainly would have. Fortunately, both of them are very responsible, found jobs and rented their own places when they were sophomores.

 

[Michael Chris]

I have a reverse rent system set up. Meaning I get payed for staying.

 

[Holdfast]

I never paid my parents a penny for board.

On the other hand, when I was old enough and earning, I moved out.

I guess if I'd stayed as an adult, I would have contributed. If so, I think it should be a typical commercial market rate for a single room within a shared house in the area. No more, no less. I also think if you're an adult staying with your parents, it would be wise to draw up a contract, to avoid things getting messy.

 

[Amaris]

Every penny I get goes into the family. I make up about 50% of the income.


J.

 

[Seven of Five]

$100 from $300 a week is a good deal. I would think that charging board depends on the age of the child (or adult!), and what type of job they have or if they are still at college. I was at home on and off between the ages of 18 and 24, but when I was there I paid £80 a month when I had a part-time job, which went up to £120 when I was promoted. I got promoted again with full-time work, but my Dad didn't want any more money from me. I wouldn't have minded really, but it did let me save up properly so I could move out.

 

[wew]

I paid $300 a month between 1997 and 2004. My dad agreed to accept $200 per month while facing financial difficulty with the concession that I pay the other $100 a month when my situation improved.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I lived with my parents for a couple of years after I graduated and paid $30 a week; that was thirty years ago, so $100 a week seems pretty reasonable for these days.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

My younger brother and sister (21 and 20) both still live at home, and my parents would never dream of asking them to pay rent. I'm 24, and if I moved back home, my parents wouldn't ask me to pay rent either (hell, my dad still pays for my and my siblings cellphones and car insurance!).

I know some parents do ask for rent, but it's not something that would be an issue in my family.

I guess my siblings do generally buy their own food these days, though.

My parents are the same way. I pretty much pay for my own bills though.

 

[RoJoHen]

My younger brother and sister (21 and 20) both still live at home, and my parents would never dream of asking them to pay rent. I'm 24, and if I moved back home, my parents wouldn't ask me to pay rent either (hell, my dad still pays for my and my siblings cellphones and car insurance!).

I know some parents do ask for rent, but it's not something that would be an issue in my family.

I guess my siblings do generally buy their own food these days, though.

My parents are the same way. I pretty much pay for my own bills though.

Well, my dad pays the cellphone because we are still on a family plan. I occasionally surprise him and pay the family's bill online before he gets to it. "You can do that online?" he asks. He still writes checks for every single bill.

The car insurance is the same way. I'm still technically on his plan because it's cheaper than getting my own.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I always pay my bills on line. I've never even written a check!

 

[RoJoHen]

Oh, I've written checks. My college doesn't accept any form of payment other than checks. They're not set up to accept online payments. They won't even take a credit card!

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

How backward.

 

[RoJoHen]

How backward.

You have no idea.

 

[An Officer]

I wasn't asked to pay rent when I began working, but I chose to contribute £250 a month. On top of that, I payed for my own internet line and anything else I needed not relating to food (I normally had one meal a day at home, if at all). And I didn't even have my own room - definitely much more than market value there. If my mother had been comfortably off, I wouldn't have, but since she wasn't, I wanted to help out. She normally got her hair done with it, or went shopping, and that made me happy. I think I payed for a few handbags and shoes.