Would you charge? If so, how much?

[caitlinbree]

H's bff (we're talking 20+ years of friendship here) has to be out of his current rental this weekend, and the place he was going to be moving into fell through.

Now he is scrambling to find a place.

Our house isn't very big, but we do have an (almost) empty second bedroom we could let him use for a couple weeks while he finds a decent place.

Would you charge him rent while he is staying here? If so, how much?

[lucky513]

if its only a couple of weeks I would just ask to cover groceries

[underwaterrhymes]

Ditto lucky.

[birdistheword]

Agree with both of the above. I wouldn't charge, but would ask that he kick in for groceries.

[Deleted]

I would tell him he could stay for two weeks at $50/wk for groceries. After that, he needs to start paying rent at the going rate for a studio apartment in your area to be paid by the week. So for instance, if it costs $600 on average, he needs to lay $150 in your palm every Friday otherwise, his shit is going on the lawn.

[statlerwaldorf]

No. I wouldn't charge him for groceries. Assuming he is not normally a douche, I would assume he would chip in without needing to ask for the money.

[caitlinbree]

RE: Groceries - He's actually a manager of a grocery store, so I'm not real worried about that. He has a habit of bringing us over nice steaks, etc... just because.

I'm kinda paranoid that he will get comfortable here and not look very hard for a new place. I think we'll tell him he can stay here rent free for 2 weeks, but any longer than that we'll start charging him rent on a weekly basis.

[TemperanceBrennan]

I wouldn't necessarily charge him rent. I would however make it very clear exactly how long he can stay or have some sort of agreement saying how long he can stay, that both of you sign.

I have friends who keep trying to help out friends who are looking for a place to live and they end up with an unintended roommate for months. The first one stayed 6 or 8 months. The second one was closer to a year, I think. These were good friends who needed a place to stay for a couple of weeks while they looked for a place. So, just make sure it is clear from the start how long is acceptable.