AIBU to not rent a house to our relative?

OP, absolutely not. If she thinks you should be letting it to her for free, I guarantee she’ll default on the rent, while expecting you to make good every tiny piece of wear and tear. You really do not need the aggravation she will bring to your life - don’t even entertain the idea of letting it to her. You’ll rue the day if you do.

“You have made your contempt for our roles as landlords very clear so we don’t believe it’s a good idea that we become yours”

Your doing the right thing in regards to not letting her rent your house. She has been nasty and disrespectful to you and your husband in the past about being landlords.
My feeling is that she has a chip on her shoulder about you having other properties but has no idea of the time it took for you to save the deposits and how you went without to do this.
Then with being a landlord there are a lot of rules, regulations and taxes to pay so being honest you can't afford to give her cheap rent ect.
She would stop paying her rent or be ringing you constantly with ever minor thing that wrong. Then if you tried to evict her she tell all the relatives about it and cause more trouble.

Your better off getting that house fixed and renting it out at full market rate to good tenants or you may decide to sell it due to the new rules coming in. Going forward I would keep quite about any homes you decide to buy or sell.
I left my lesson years ago about keeping quite about certain things.

I wouldn't have this woman in my life at all, let alone rent her a house.

Is it his sister?

It’s a firm no.
Unless you can afford & want to give her the house for free, don’t expect your rent on time or without hassle. Your kindness will end up backfiring spectacularly. I’d tell her no. If the family want her to have free accommodation that badly, maybe they can put her up.

this

Ah sorry, I must have missed that earlier.
That makes sense then.

Don’t do it. If you charge her anything, she probably won’t pay anything anyway. If you let her live there for free then what’s in it for you? She doesn’t like you anyway so maybe this is a way to get her to stop talking to you completely 😂 What an absolute cheeky fucker!!

Oh this sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen.
What happens if she just stops paying rent and refuses to move out. Whathappens if tou rent it to her for free and then need to sell it due to personal circimstances. What about if she trashes the place. What about maintence issues, if you dont fix them in time or if tbere is an issue and you think ahe is a fault
Given ahe has not been reasonable in the past then it sounds like a headache for the future.

It's very rare for me to be on the side of a landlord (come across too many bad ones in the course of my work), but in this case, I think you'd be entirely justified in saying no, OP!

She's one cheeky fucker, constantly having a go at you for being a LL and then wanting you to be her LL! And the last thing you want is a cheeky fucker for a tenant.

Been there, done that. I don't not reccomend.

And mine wasn't even as bad as yours. Given her opinions she isn't going to pay and isn't going to give it back. If family are getting involved it'll be alot worse when you have to force her out.

Say someone has already signed for it, you didn't know as its dealt with by the estate agent.

With the new legislation coming in at the end of this month it would be really difficutlt to be rid of her if she proves to be the tenant from hell. If she has the kind of atttude you imply she will be constantly asking for things and carelessly breaking things which need to be replaced.

The simplest is to say you already have a tenant lined up and have spent time and money on credit and financial checks. Your new tenant will be paying market rate as you have to recoup the cost of refurbishment.

Agree. Short pain, long gain with saying no now…..alternatively years of CFxckery, resentment, frustration ahead - and guess what you all fall out in the end anyway - but the losses will be greater.

Deffo say no. And how would they even find out you have a property due to be available soon anyway.

No way. Never.

She has been openly rude to you. The problem is not the actual rudeness as you can shrug that off. The problem is that it indicates clearly that she’s going to be a total and utter cheeky fucker.

I mean really who thinks it’s ok to be rude? I’ll tell you who - it’s the person who thinks that they can stop paying rent. And maybe thinks you eventually ought to just gift them the property.

Say no.

Is it worth the trouble if you say yes?

Well done. Get it actioned ASAP.

None of her life struggles are for you to alleviate. The DCs have 2 grown arsed adults to fend for them - any help you provide let’s these two entitled flakes off the hook and you are inadvertently enabling them and enmeshing yourself with a toxic situation which will only escalate as the divorce kicks in.

If she begs or asks why - just repeat the one more time only. “Because it doesn’t work for us” - if she asks again ignore.

Expect her to send in the family flying monkeys to pressurise you to change your mind - tell them you have already communicated with her directly, won’t be changing your mind or explaining further and don’t appreciate this approach.

Also expect there to be some sort of emergency / crisis where she needs accommodation urgently…..don’t be fooled, manipulated or triggered.

The sooner you get another contract signed the sooner you get her off your back.

Stand strong against the CFs!!!

It’s still a no from me even though she has children. You need to think about how difficult it would be to evict her if she couldn’t pay the rent or damaged the property. She has shown you that she isn’t a nice person or that she will be respectful towards you.

The new renters rights laws will make it more expensive and difficult to evict tenants. It’s absolutely right that tenants will have more protection but if I were a landlord I would be extra careful about who I rented to right now.

Wishing you good luck

I'd just tell her you have already promised this property to another person once the work is complete.

Say no, she’ll just refuse to pay rent.

Sorry but why doesn't your husband just say no... instead of you telling them it's his decision? Am I missing some context why he wouldn't contact her directly?

Believe me, you won't regret that decision in the long run. You have save yourself a shed load of grief.