AIBU to not rent a house to our relative?

Renting a property to someone is a long term and serious business activity. Don't mix business and family as one will always suffer.

I’d tell her no and tell her because she’s morally opposed to people that rent out property, she needs to buy a home for herself.
Don’t reward her poor behaviour and rudeness.

I avoid mixing family and finances if possible.

But - if you choose, you can rent to here, especially if you think it will help her children. But you need to have a proper, professional contract written up as this could cause friction.

If she were a total stranger - would she be considered a good tenant? That may be a better way to look at it. Take the family dynamic out of the decision-making.

Just imagine how much worse it will be when you have to take her to court because she's calling the shots - sometimes via mutual relatives - and that's the only way to get her out, or to pay the rent you set rather than the rent she and her supporters think you should set.
This is one of those situations where it's better to risk death to avoid being a hostage where everything is much worse for much longer and ends in death anyway.
Bite the bullet. Say no.

Agree with this.

Set it out formally.

Initial deposit ( to be held correctly so no giving it back when the relative needs it a month down the line)

Full rental for a refurbished house - relative to sign as a legal guarantor in the event of non payment

Council tax

Responsibility for paying all utilities.

Maintenance of the garden.

Contents insurance for their personal belongings.

Say if the pushy relative is willing to take on responsibility for these charges then you will consider mean woman as a tenant - the next time you have a suitable 3 bedroom property available.

And that's what she is counting on, emotional blackmail. If you owned a shoe shop would you let her help herself to your stock without paying? If other family members are involving themselves in what's not their business then let them take her in for free.

OMG NO!! She’d be a nightmare about every little thing and you have THE WHOLE family on your case about it all as well.

Say no and don’t give it another thought, and definitely don’t feel guilty at all.

Gotta love the hypocrisy!

@NewNameForThisWWYD renting to relatives is always a risk. It might cause ill feeling now if you don't but equally would cause every bit as much ill feeling if they stopped paying the rent and you had to evict.
Renting out property is a commercial decision. If you've set a precedent before of helping out a friend, your best option is probably to say that she can rent it at just below market rent as goodwill, but that landlord costs have risen so much that you can't do more than that.
She can then agree or not, but if she does at least the tenancy is on a proper commercial footing.

Say no. If you need to add an explanation say rely on the property for income to cover outgoings so you can't rent it out at a reduced rate or to anyone who doesn't have references and guarantees for the full rent. Or you prefer to keep family and business separate.

She sounds like a CF. Whatever rent you charged her I bet you'd never see much of it.

Exactly, she will maybe pay once then stop and you will have awful problems getting her out. She will know all the tricks in the squatters' handbook, it will drag on for years and you'll be left with a wrecked property.

Are you paying the relative doing the house renovation or are they doing it for free or at reduced rates? That may influence my vote but despite the emotional blackmail I would be inclined to say no. A no is a one off no but imagine the weekly complaints about the shower, digs about rent etc or the problems of trying to get her out if the rent is below market rent. Ask yourself do you need the stress or do you deserve it?

NO!

Never, EVER, mix business with relationships.

That's why I'd refuse her request. The potential for a family fued and bad feelings are too much.

Is she hoping to claim benefits for rent? If so it cannot be a contrived tenancy, you would need a proper agreement and near market rent. Agree with others doing them a favour may well backfire.

No.

But not for the reasons that you don't like her etc or how she has behaved.

She sounds like she would not be a good tenant at all, and what happens if she trashes the place or does not pay rent (Because not only are you family, so should not expect her to, but also you are greedy landlords and owe her a house).

Never, but never, mix business and family IMO. i would say that it's never a good idea to do so and that you are worried about a possible rupture in wider family relations if one of you ends up having a grievance against the other.

(With a side order of no, no, no and no again).

No no no. She'll never pay a penny and you'll never, ever get her out. Not without evicting her - in which case you'll be the evil monsters who made the poor single mother homeless etc. You'd be mad to consider it. Do this and I guarantee you'll be expected to provide free housing for her DC when they're adults. Do not go down this road.

No way. She’s been an arsehole to you. You may never get her out, especially if you undercharge or don’t charge at all.

This was why we always had agents manage our rental properties.

Keep saying no, you’d never get rid of the CF.

This is an enormous consideration. just say no and stop engaging

No. No. No. See also lending money to relatives. It never goes well.

If you're still desperate to rent to her despite everyone telling you it's a terrible idea, go through an agency and get the best landlord insurance you can buy.

Fuck no. Why would you accept a financial hit for her benefit? She absolutely wouldn’t do the same for you. Also, she would be very difficult to get rid of if you needed to.

@NewNameForThisWWYD I would say no, but if you do end up renting to her do it the same way you would with a stranger. Full rent, with deposit, if you usually use an agency then let them deal with it all. Just because she is family doesn't mean she won't get difficult when she owes rent etc

Fuck NO!! With the renters reform coming in it will be so difficult to evict and she could (and probably would) make your life very difficult.

I would be on the “I have learnt lessons from renting to family/friends and decided that it muddies the waters when renting to family/friends so we won’t be doing it again”.

Even if you like her and get on well it's very unwise to rent to a friend or relative.

Keep everything professional.

Her hypocrisy is off the scale. It be a hard no from me - not least because she'll probably default on the rent, then guilt trip you into not pursuing it because she's "family".

It's not up to you to provide a roof over the heads of her children (although I do understand your wobble). This is down to her and her husband to arrange between themselves, as they would have to do if they didn't have a landlord relative with a conveniently empty property.

Hell would freeze over before I allowed her to rent a property of mine.

Given how she has continuously slated you and your DH over the years for being Landlords, and her general opinion of the life you have built together, keep her as far away as you possibly can.

She can find somewhere else to live - and if other family members say anything, tell them she is not your problem and you owe her absolutely nothing.