Rent prices have gone up for most people throughout the UK, with many landlords depending on their landlord insurance providers as a safety net in case their tenants fall into arrears. However, many young people have a different safety net – their parents. But today it has been reported that even parents are increasing the amount of rent they charge their children. Whilst parents aren’t traditional landlords, it seems that the ‘bank of mum and dad’ has also suffered from the poor economy, and like other banks is passing on the costs to their users.
On average, parents have increased the amount of rent they charge their grown-up children still living at home by twenty five per cent, with many saying that it is due to an increase in cost of living. A survey conducted by myvouchercodes.com shows that out of fifteen hundred parents whose children still live with them, half charged rent and the average cost has now risen from £250 to £315 per month. Discussing the findings, chairman of myvouchercodes.com Mark Pearson said: “I don’t think any parent likes taking money off their child, but it is a good way to prepare them for the future, when they’ll have to part with a lot more of their earnings each month for bills and such.”
However, it seems that the prospect of moving out may not be a realistic one for many young people, especially as the housing charity Shelter has said that last year 1.7 million adults between the age of 20 and 40 now live at home due to the fact that they cannot afford to get onto the housing market. This is bad news for many parents who had hoped to reduce their outgoings after their children had grown up, but now have to continue to fund their entire family.
Shelter stated that many families were financially stressed due to the fact that their children are still living at home, and four in ten of those surveyed said they still have to do a big “family shop” every week even though they had hoped this would have stopped by now. Furthermore, one in five surveyed said they had to cut back on holidays due to their children living at home, and one in ten said that ideally they would move house but now cant.