How much rent should a teenager pay?

[SueEllen]

FFS, I don’t want to agree with you but I do. Do you want your son to charge you rent when you are old and frail? If you have kids, they are for life. At least give them a start. In many countries, they will buy their kids a property so they are not tied in debt. Don’t charge him but ask him to put away some savings each week.

I agree with you there.

There are other ways of making kids move out without taking their money.

However if the £20 a week is to save for them then taking their money isn't a bad idea. It also helps if they doing chores around the house, their own washing and ironing plus if they have a younger sibling making them share with them.

However with the price of rent at the moment they will probably move out and move back home again after a year.

[mudskipper]

My daughter gets about £50 a week from her part time job. I'm still giving her £100 a month pocket money. I think I'm doing something wrong!

[Zippy]

My daughter gets about £50 a week from her part time job. I'm still giving her £100 a month pocket money. I think I'm doing something wrong!

If she chips in with the household chores I think that's OK.

[EternalOptimist]

I always tried to teach my kids about values and choice. You can sleep in the bus shelter down the road for free, you can sleep in the coal-hole and mow the lawn and do the dishes for 5%, or you can live in luxury in the box room for 25%

[shaunbhoy]

I always tried to teach my kids about values and choice. You can sleep in the bus shelter down the road for free, you can sleep in the coal-hole and mow the lawn and do the dishes for 5%, or you can live in luxury in the box room for 25%

[Sysman]

I always tried to teach my kids about values and choice. You can sleep in the bus shelter down the road for free, you can sleep in the coal-hole and mow the lawn and do the dishes for 5%, or you can live in luxury in the box room for 25%

My parents' version:

"We sent you to an expensive school (you didn't have any choice about that, but we'll make you feel guilty about that for as long as we can).

"Now that you have finished university (and we earned too much money for you to get a grant, "the government cannot tell us how much we pay you for student life".

So I paid most of my own way.

I next got "No son of mine claims dole money", quickly followed by "You now have to give us 95% of your dole money".

"And do the lawn and gardening and washing up and cleaning the kitchen." For no visible recognition whatsoever, not even thanks.

Sod that, I moved out as fast as possible. The dole folks assumed my parents would charge me nothing, so I got a vastly reduced rate.

PS My siblings had to lie about their first wages to reach escape velocity. Thanks came years later about me pioneering complaints.

Meanwhile friends' parents were helping their sons and daughters start out in life. Not necessarily with hard cash, but with advice and support.

What really kicked in several years after establishing a career was when several good mates bought houses to renovate, or simply wanted a place to stay in between stints abroad. They could go back and stay with their parents; I never had that option.

Yes, I've had a few beers. I'll not rant so much tomorrow, but treating your kids as a source of income really annoys me

PPS Both my parents are dead now. I can finally let rip.

[EternalOptimist]

Yep, its a bugger. you really ,really want to help them. you bend over backwards and skint yourself, but it never ends. And who bailed me out ? not a chance

and would I have it any different ? again, not a chance

[MarillionFan]

Tough love can go too far by the sounds of it Sysman.

As a parent I reckon it's a hard balance between getting a work ethic and spoon feeding.

My mother was a grafter, my father died very early. She didn't have the money to save for us and when the opportunity to buy my first house came along she leant me £5k towards my £10k deposit. I paid her 6 back within the year.

I sometimes wonder whether saving up for the kids is a good idea. By the time they hit 18 both will have about 40k saved and I'm not sure if that's the right approach. Time will tell.

[wim121]

I find this whole practice of parents taking rent money from their kids abhorrent.

I'm glad Im not the only one.

It sickens me that parents charge rent to children grown up or otherwise. They should be ashamed of such lowly disgusting behaviour to be quite frank.

Why did they even bother starting a family in the first place if they can't define it? One subject that deeply annoys me still, even though Im in my late twenties.

I was shocked when I first met the other half. She was at college full time and working one day a week. Her parents demanded all her money in rent, then said it still wasnt enough. A meagre days wages would have saved her walking so much.

I dont see how parents can be so callous ...

It's not about money. It's about teaching the kids financial responsibility. Is this not the whole idea?

Through all of my parents faults, beatings and such aside, one thing they did was teach me about money, or rather, I taught myself.

I never got free pocket money, always had to do chores. After my 11th birthday the only way to get money after my father left for good, was to work. So since many employers wouldnt take on a child, I purchased garden tools and a wheelbarrow. In the weekends and holidays, I walked around for miles and got quite a bit of money out of it.

That money was my own, my pocket money. However whenever my mum needed the weekly shopping done, I would go and get it, paying for it myself. As I grew up and stayed at home as an old teenager, I would do so on a regular basis, do DIY, whatever else needed doing.

Even though I havent lived at home for years, close to a decade, I still give her a call before I pop round and let her know im going past the shops, grab her a few bits she may have forgotten.

In a way, I contributed more than if my mother asked me to pay £80p/w for example, but then she didnt need to.

The OP and others seem to missing the whole point in a family. Regardless of whether you are the child or parent in a family, it is each individuals responsibility to contribute to the family in whatever way they can. Financially, through chores or just basic consideration.

Make your children earn their pocket money, treat them with love and respect as a family member, then when they are older, they will see how much you struggle and do the shopping on their way home from work, or help around the house in whatever way they can. That is the whole point in families.

Sorry if my bluntness offended anyone, but quite frankly, Im not the only one offended by someone contemplating charging their children rent.

Also be advised that what you're doing is illegal in many parts of the world. I saw one televised court case in the US, where parents tried enforcing rent, then rules such as curfews on the elder child. The judge quite rightly said that if you are treating someone as a lodger, rather than a family member, you cant mandate on areas of their life.


So are your children common lodgers that may as well be strangers, or members of your family?

[Churchill]

You're all reading too much into DuckFace's original post.

His point appears to be that now he doesn't have to contribute towards the upbringing of that particular offspring by law, he doesn't want his "ex" making up the shortfall out of his offspring's wages.

Not once did it occur to DuckFace that perhaps he should continue contributing.

Oh well.