Friends want to stay for two months - while moving house - help?

Unfortunately in these sort of situations time scale is unpredictable. A couple of years ago my son, dil ad3 teenage girls moved in with us whilst having an extension built, supposedly for 6 weeks, ended up staying 7 months. Tearing my hair out towards the end - fortunately no arguments, but there could quite easily have been - think very carefully before you go ahead.

As they are casual friends I wouldn't even consider it. We all know how often there are complications with house moves, a friend has had a relative staying with her for months now as a couple of house purchases have fallen through at the last minute. Little things will soon start to irritate you - just let them make their own arrangements,

Please think very carefully about this and try and visualise the day to day effects on you. I did this for my brother, wife and two very young children. What was supposed to be three weeks turned into three months and then I had to ask them to move in with her mother due to no financial assistance (I was a single mother with three youngish children), the smoking, the no cooking, cleaning etc. She was so lazy and the oldest did not go to school for a whole term! Calls to mobiles using my landline, cat hair everywhere causing my youngest's asthma to deteriorate, smoking in the house.......................awful experience.

Our house move went horribly wrong. We should have had four weeks effectively homeless and it turned into seven. We stayed with various family and friends. As there are children involved, I would be very wary.

I think as you have doubts you should say no. Better to lose the friends without the need for lengthy, possibly expensive upsets first. House moves between exchange of contracts and completion date are normally 4 weeks, often quicker, they can get holiday home cheaply this time of year.

If anything went wrong with the transaction you could be stuck with other people and their moving traumas for ages, my former estate agent told me one of her clients died on completion day, anything could go wrong.

You don't say if they asked (which is implied) or if you offered, or how the subject came up in the first place. You don't say if they are moving far and if you are nearer where they are moving from or moving to.

However, it is definitely up to you to decide. The holiday flat idea sounds a good compromise.

No don’t do it! We had DS and DDIL for 4 months, even then we decamped to our holiday house.

Agreed with everyone who has said NO, and for the reasons given. How could casual friends possibly ask such a huge favour?

Think of the wear and tear on your furniture and carpets, I love children but they do make messes.
I don't allow eating in the lounge in front of the TV, how would you feel if they plonked themselves down with food while they watched ?

Don't even mention finances and rules if you actually want to say no.
Just say no, you feel it wouldn't work.

It would be a no from me also. Would you be expected to babysit? Who would look after the children if either was sick?

They may well change their minds if you all sit down and discuss finances and rules as had been suggested.

I always say if you hesitate or double think it then it must be a No I am very sorry

Oh gosh, just say No. I agree with vampire queen, no, no, no, to casual friends (with children). A nightmare in the making? You would be a sitting duck?

Say no for the sake of your sanity.

We stayed with family for three weeks between house moves a few years back. All adults. They were out at work, we did our own thing including cooking for ourselves. We got along fine, I enjoyed being there and appreciated their kindness more than they could know.

Having said that there was a huge ‘but’. It wasn’t so much us that felt awkward, it was ‘stuff’. Furniture was in storage but we needed clothes and shoes. We needed to keep valuables safe and what seemed like a mountain of paperwork attached to the move and other paperwork that we couldn’t risk going missing. Of course there was the laptop and a printer. Our personal lives were in many plastic storage boxes. Their cupboards were understandably full. We stacked boxes then re-stacked each time we had to find something. Our large bedroom felt very squashed but we were careful not to stray into their space.

So, with this experience would I consider housing casual friends and their children? Definitely not! Unless you have masses of empty cupboards and the patience of a saint it just won’t work. With children you also need to think about electronic devices and separate televisions. There will be noise!

You are right. The timescale could easily go on and on. It would be so much better for you to say a regretful no.

Casual friends? No way! You're not responsible for the roof over their heads. They could rent on AirB&B, which is what people I know are doing between houses.

Though come to think of it, you could AirB&B your own house to them and go on holiday with the proceeds!

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
- Benjamin Franklin ...

Better to say no now, however difficult it feels, perhaps text or email first so that they know before you speak to them face to face. It might feel a bit uncomfortable to say it but will be worse if you reluctantly agree & get stuck with the situation.

Casual friends? Why on earth even consider it .....I wouldn’t
Relative or close much loved friend of course
A money making proposition if needed yes

How cheeky of them to even ask .....let them rent a chalet or caravan for a couple of months

The only experience I have of this is from a couple we know. His sister and her husband came to stay with them while waiting for their house purchase to be finalised.
But the deal broke down, they nearly lost their deposit etc.
By the time they had found and bought another house everyone's nerves were frayed,
They were together for about a year.

If you decide to go ahead you should sit down together and write out some ground rules including how much it will cost you, who will pay for damages, who will cook, clean etc.
I have done something similar three or four times in the past and it worked fine but only because we were all clear about how it was going to work. I did have enough room then for separate sitting rooms and we ate at different times so cooked our own meals.
You might find they decide not to go ahead when it becomes clear it's not a free ride!

We once rented some holiday type accomodation for about two months ( fully furnished) when between houses, it worked well.

ps they weren't casual friends, they were very good friends.

We had friends staying with us for about two months years ago (they had four children!). Actually, DH was away and I was out all day at work so I just let them get on with it and came home to a cooked meal each night.

We stayed in a grannie flat for 3 months tagged on to the farmhouse our old friends lived in. We were lucky, we paid them a good amount each month and had separate cooking and bathroom facilities. It was tiny, we were squashed but it was doable and we all survived. Sharing a house, no matter how big is a different kettle of fish - think carefully about this.
We've had various adult children and partners live with us for months at a time, that's been fine. Can your casual friends rent a house for a couple of months>