Should children be charged rent at home?

THOSE complaining about their children coming back to live with them after university should stop moaning and be grateful for their youngsters’ company. The extra years at home will help them to save for a home of their own, as it seems inevitable that buying a house will be delayed towards 30 and beyond. However annoying they can be, enjoy them while you can — they’re a long time gone.

STUART WHITELEY, Slough, Berks. WHEN our children finished their education, the eldest after university aged 22 and her sister after she left school at 17, we told them their net earnings after expenses had to be divided into three — the first part for the household, the second to go into savings and the rest they could spend as they wanted. It worked well, as they had a nest egg when they married, and it taught them the value of money.

GORDON KINGHORN, Newcastle upon tyne. YOU can hardly charge your own children the market rent for living at home after university, but while they are away, there’s nothing to stop you letting out their rooms at the going rate and using the income, part of which will be tax-free, to give your children a top-up to their finances, so they can start paying the mortgage for their own homes. With tenants who are not relatives, you can let on short-term contracts and evict those who prove difficult (which you can’t do with relatives).

BARBARA MERRIOTT, Plymouth, devon. SHOULD adult children living with their parents pay rent? The answer is surely yes. our two daughters both lived at home during the Nineties until they married in their mid-20s. as soon as they started working, I asked them to pay £100 a month towards their ‘keep’, but, unbeknown to them, put all the money into a savings account. When they each wanted to buy a house, I gave them the money I’d saved (interest rates were good then), and it was enough for a deposit on a three-bedroom semi. Naturally, they were delighted. young working adults need introducing to the real world as soon as possible. Those living with their parents these days should be able to afford at least £200 a month — a good amount, if saved over several years.

J. Le BRETON, High Wycombe, Bucks.