Protecting Your Money While You Share Your Home

Consider an example: an older homeowner might say, "I'm not worried about someone breaking in. I'm worried about someone being nice to me for six months and then emptying my savings."

For some older adults, the deepest worry about sharing a home is not a break-in. It is being quietly taken advantage of by someone who seems kind. Adult children may feel it too, sometimes before they can put it into words.

That worry makes sense. Here is what the numbers say about financial exploitation, and practical steps that can make it harder for anyone, inside your home or outside it, to take what is yours, whether or not you ever share your home.

What to know

Financial exploitation is the most common form of elder abuse. Adults 60 and older reported nearly $2.4 billion in fraud losses to the Federal Trade Commission in 2024¹. Because most losses are never reported, AARP estimates older adults lose $28.3 billion a year to financial exploitation².

Rent from a spare room is money too, and it deserves the same care. Handled well, it can steady a budget. Handled loosely, it can create confusion.

Why it exists

Most householders 65 and older own their homes, 78.6% of them³, and scammers look for people with homes, savings, and steady income. Grief, illness, and isolation can make anyone more trusting of someone who seems kind. Politeness, not wanting to make a fuss, and believing people are mostly good are fine qualities. They are also what a con artist hopes to find.

There is also embarrassment. Many people who lose money never tell anyone, especially when the person who took it was close to them².

Why it deserves respect

Wanting to protect your savings is sensible, not paranoid. Your family's concern about your finances is worth hearing too, even when it sounds like a lecture.

Clear money boundaries also help the match itself. When rent terms are written down and accounts stay separate, nobody has to wonder, guess, or feel awkward.

What the evidence tells us

• Most losses come from people already close to the victim. About 72% of the money lost to elder financial exploitation, roughly $20.3 billion a year, is taken by family, friends, and caregivers². When banks report theft by a known person, adult children are named most often⁴.
• Most scams by strangers happen remotely. About 80% of bank reports of elder financial exploitation involve scams, not theft by someone in the home⁴. They come by phone, text, and email, not through the front door.
• The person you share a home with is not automatically safe. Exploitation relies on trust. Offers to help with bills, requests for a loan, or pressure to keep things from your family are signals to pause, whoever they come from.

A well-structured home share cannot eliminate risk. Written rent terms, separate finances, and people who check in can reduce some of the conditions in which exploitation goes unnoticed. The person you share a home with pays you; they do not manage anything for you.

Ways to lower the barrier

• Keep finances fully separate. Rent is paid by check or electronic transfer, or in cash only with a written receipt. The person you share a home with never handles your mail, accounts, cards, or passwords.
• Put the money terms in writing. Your home sharing agreement should say how much rent is, when it is due, how it is paid, and what happens if it is late.
• Never sign anything new because of a match. No power of attorney, no changes to your will, no joint accounts, no loans. If anyone raises these, pause and talk to someone you trust.
• Name a trusted contact with your bank and brokerage. They can be reached if something looks wrong, but they cannot see your accounts or move money⁵.
• Freeze your credit. It is free at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion⁶.
• Turn on account alerts for large withdrawals and new payees.
• Check your benefits before you set rent. Whether rent income affects a public program depends on the program and your state. Here is what to ask: Does rent from a room count as income for this program? Do I need to report it, and when? Ask the benefits office that runs the program, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program for Medicare-related programs, or start with BenefitsCheckUp.
• Get free help with taxes and paperwork. Rent may need to be reported on your tax return; IRS VITA and Tax Counseling for the Elderly offer free help. Consider a daily money manager if paperwork is getting harder⁷.
• Know the helplines. They are listed below, along with Senior Medicare Patrol (877-808-2468) for Medicare fraud.

Conversation starters

If you are an adult child or friend raising home sharing with an older adult:

• "Could we set up a few money safeguards together? Not because I don't trust you, because I don't trust scammers."
• "Would you be willing to name me, or someone you trust, as a trusted contact at your bank?"
• "If you decide sharing the house isn't for you, that's fine. These safeguards are worth having either way."

If you are an older adult talking with family or caregivers:

• "I want you to know how the rent would be paid and that my accounts stay mine alone."
• "If you ever notice something odd with my money, I want you to tell me. Here's how I'd like that to happen."
• "I haven't decided whether to share the house. Either way, I've frozen my credit and set up alerts. Is there anything else you'd want to see in place?"

Clear money boundaries mean nobody has to wonder, guess, or feel awkward, and that is good for both of you.

Home sharing and older adults

Home sharing works at any age. Older adults are one of the fastest-growing groups sharing a home with someone who is not family⁸. Rent from a room deserves the same safeguards at any age.

Last reviewed September 25, 2026