Before reading this, YES I've been naive and taken someone (friends of the family) at face value. I have learned my lessons in that respect, and would appreciate advice on what to do next..
My partner and I split up a few years ago and the house we own has been rented out to my brother and SIL since then (ex takes no interest in the house, so I'm on my own trying to rent it out for the first time). They moved out in September this year and the property needed decorating before renting it out again. Then SIL said that one of their friends and her BF were desperate for a place to stay as her mum had "thrown them out" (alarm bells should have been ringing) and they might be interested in renting it.
I spoke to the friend and agreed that they could move in as soon as it was empty, as long as she didn't mind renting it as it was. I then found out that my SIL had let them move early and they were all living there together. I was annoyed as we hadn't had a chance to speak about the lease prior to them actually living there.
When I approached her with the lease (standard 6 months) she asked if I would mind it being on a monthly basis as they were looking to buy somewhere ASAP. It wasn't what I had in mind, but since they'd already made themselves at home, if they signed the lease and gave me at least a month's notice that they had bought a flat then I'd be willing to release them early. We'd done each other a favour - they had a place to stay and I had tenants in without a break. I figured they'd probably be there for 6 months anyway by the time they found a place to buy and got moved in.
She contacted me this week to say that they were going to view a few flats and she'd keep me updated. 2 days later, she text to say that they'd put a holding deposit on a flat with a view to moving in December so she was giving me a month's notice.
BUT…
I only agreed for them to stay less than 6 months term because they wanted to BUY somewhere. I could have had someone in by October for 6 months and now I'm left without tenants from Mid-Dec, one of the worst times of year to get tradesmen in and then rent a place out. I feel totally taken advantage of as they would not have got a short lease elsewhere and annoyed with myself for not refusing it in the first place.
To make it worse, she doesn't seem to realise that she's being a bit unfair as she's asked me to be a referee for them for their new rental. She then text me again to say that she "somehow put on the form that they'd been living at my house for 6 months" and would I mind telling a "little white lie" for them to the letting agent when they called.
Should I
a) say no with no explanation
b) completely ignore her request and ignore the letting agent's phone call
c) tell the letting agency the truth
d) tell her I'll lie for her, but explain that I feel she's been unfair to me and hasn't stuck to her part of our arrangement
e) tell her she's a total wide-o and shit on her car bonnet
I don't want to rock the boat as she's a very good friend of my SIL and don't want to get her involved. And they're still in my house, so I don't want to piss them off either. And they're going to move out anyway so what difference will it make to me (other than probably make me look bad and feel shit later on if I'm a total bitch).