Would you ask family to pay or let them stay for free or reduced rate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I could afford it, I wouldn’t charge them. If I couldn’t afford it, at cost (the mortgage).

+1 but I’d only do free or reduced rate for a week. Anything more, I’d charge them more than cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m PP. I just realized the OP is asking their sibling to use their house. Has the sibling offered it out before? I hate when people ask to use our house without being invited to use it.

It took me a minute too as at first I answered very differently. OP should offer full cost.

[Anonymous]

I would let them use it any time it wasn’t rented as long as they paid the cleaning costs. If they wanted to reserve a week that might otherwise be rented, they would need to pay me close to full rate.

[Anonymous]

I would never charge my siblings to stay at my property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d never charge a sibling. They would had to schedule around the rental weeks.

Something like that, yes. They would not get priority in the high season, but would be able to go for free at other times.

We would do something similar.

You really have to wonder about a sibling who would ask for your rental during high season, though. That seems pretty entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m PP. I just realized the OP is asking their sibling to use their house. Has the sibling offered it out before? I hate when people ask to use our house without being invited to use it.

It took me a minute too as at first I answered very differently. OP should offer full cost.

OP here. Neither Sibling A nor Sibling B are strapped for any cash. Not that it matters. I only mention it because some have asked.

I am neither Sibling A nor Sibling B. I am a separate/peripherally interested party related to Sibling B.

Sibling A has in the past invited Sibling B to join them while Sibling A stayed at the house. Sibling B thought it might be nice to bring their family to the house for a "B family" vacation and as far as I can tell doesn't mind paying full cost or footing the bill for their family. Either way, the arrangement Sibling A and B make with each other is not really any of my business except that they have chosen to share this information with the rest of us.

I posed the question because it is not necessarily the way I would have approached the situation and was curious how other families would approach the situation.

[Anonymous]

Really depends on how important the income is to the sibling who owns the property.

I own a vacation property, and I wouldn't charge anything (not even the cleaning fee we might ask a friend to pay). But if our financial circumstances were different and the income loss was something I'd feel, then I think it's not unreasonable to charge for the rental or at least view the rental fee as a gift. If I were the visiting sibling, I'd offer to pay.

My family is well-off enough that this isn't really an issue. DH's family is not, so we always make a point to pay (or at least offer, they don't always accept) for things like shared rental fees or meals when we visit etc.

[Anonymous]

With the going rate at $5600-$8400 for a week unless they are very wealthy that a huge gift. I wouldn’t want to charge my sibling but I also wouldn’t want to be put in the position of giving up that much income. At minimum I hope you don’t expect a peak week and I hope you’re extremely grateful for any break they give you. If you cannot afford full price find a place within your budget OP. Your sibling’s investment should not be viewed as your perk.

[Anonymous]

My mom has a beach house (paid) but she's on a fixed income. I give her half the weekly rent to use the house, and do things like mow the lawn, weed, touch up paint, small repairs, etc. It ends up being mutually beneficial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I could afford it, I wouldn’t charge them. If I couldn’t afford it, at cost (the mortgage).

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m PP. I just realized the OP is asking their sibling to use their house. Has the sibling offered it out before? I hate when people ask to use our house without being invited to use it.

It took me a minute too as at first I answered very differently. OP should offer full cost.

OP here. Neither Sibling A nor Sibling B are strapped for any cash. Not that it matters. I only mention it because some have asked.

I am neither Sibling A nor Sibling B. I am a separate/peripherally interested party related to Sibling B.

Sibling A has in the past invited Sibling B to join them while Sibling A stayed at the house. Sibling B thought it might be nice to bring their family to the house for a "B family" vacation and as far as I can tell doesn't mind paying full cost or footing the bill for their family. Either way, the arrangement Sibling A and B make with each other is not really any of my business except that they have chosen to share this information with the rest of us.

I posed the question because it is not necessarily the way I would have approached the situation and was curious how other families would approach the situation.

NP. If I were Sibling B, who wants to use A's property for his (extended?) family's vacation, then I would tell my sibling A sister that I wanted to pay the full rental cost. If it is the high season then I would do pretty much anything (including driving to my sister's bank and making a straight deposit to her account) to make sure my sibling accepted the full rent because that's the way we roll in my family.

If it were off-season then I would gladly accept if my Sibling A told me that I could use the property for free. I would probably buy an expensive enough gift that it was at least half of the rental cost.

[Anonymous]

I allow people to stay free at our beach house when we are there. Even in the winter it's fully booked when we aren't using it. If they want it without us, I would ask they pay at least 50% so that they can review us. Below that often VRBO and AirBNB view it as suspicious and won't post the review.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I let them use it for free.

[Anonymous]

I am sibling B. I know my sibling needs the income from the property and would never ask them for use during the season. Off season, sibling never charges me for its use. I've bought stuff for the house over the years though. Not knick-knacks - stuff that needed to be bought like lighting and rugs etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sibling A and their family own a beach adjacent property that they rent out. It normally rents for $800-$1200 per night.
Sibling B is interested in staying at the property with their children and grandchildren.

If you were Sibling A would you ask Sibling B to rent the property at full price, a reduced rate, or waive the cost of the rental?

Oh wait, if you are Sibling A, you should offer full price. You should not ask to reduce the rate or waive it. But, sibling B should be decent and let you use it if its off season/not rented but you should pay cleaning and other costs.

This is the right answer.

+1. My sister has a house on Nantucket that she rents for most of the summer. I’d never ever ask to stay there during the summer without paying the market rate of $7,000. Never. The house has 5 bedrooms so it’s rarely full when she is there during the non-rented summer weeks and we are welcome anytime.

In the off season, if the house isn’t rented we can use it whenever we want. She only asks that we pay for her house cleaners so the house Will be ready for a last minute rental.