Should you charge your children rent?

Supporting your working grown-up kids can come at a price for stressed parents

- By ELLA WALKER

Think it’s mean to start charging your kids rent when they get their first pay cheque? Well, not doing so could cause problems. It’s tough for young adults to jump on the housing ladder and, with rentals often being unaffordable on top of the rising cost of living, taking financial care of your grownup offspring can become a burden.

Octopus Money found that almost two-thirds of parents aged 45-65 feel more financially stressed now than they did in their 20s, partly due to supporting adult children. Harriet Davis, financial planner at Smith & Pinching, said: “Parents, ideally, would love it if their children were financially independent”