Would you charge your children to live at home?

Michelle Green, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, charges her 20-year-old son Alex £100 a month to continue living at home

The vogue now is that some parents have taken to charging their adult children for living at home. The estimate is that around 50 per cent of the 4.5 million adult children staying at home pay rent.

Many of these parents insist they aren't making a profit off their children, charging around £250.

Consider the case of Joanne, 55, a retired estate agent, and Mike, 56, MD of a recruitment company.

Their children — procurement officer Alex, 23, Sam, 21, who works in IT, and Jessica, 19, a personal advisor for a bank — each pay £200 a month to live in the four-bedroom family home in Bromley, south-east London.

This makes Joanne and Mike's yearly rent income a rather considerable £7,200.



Roz Weston, 46, from Middlesex, works in the family manufacturing business, and her husband owns his own company. Still, their daughter Laura, 22, is charged to stay at home

Joanne Berry, however was asked if her children should be allowed to live at home gratis.
Her reply:
'Not a chance! I spend £200 a week on food and toiletries alone, before paying out for our own mortgage, utility bills, Wi-Fi and the cost of every light in the house being left on by my kids.

'Mike and I both paid rent to our parents and feel strongly our three must do the same now they're working.

'They might not like it, but we believe we're doing them a favour by teaching them houses are expensive and they need to learn to budget with their incomes.'