Telling the IL's to go stuff themselves?

[thezoo]

Firstly i know we are very lucky to be in this situation in the first place but AIBU?

We rent off my DP's parents/soon to be IL's
Its a ground floor flat lots of garden 2 bed and a garage but inside its not big the only storage inside is 2 tiny under-stairs areas (stairs from the upstairs flat) and we are allowed our "zoo" which many rented properties wouldn't allow

My SIL and her DP have half of our garage for storage (not our choice) on the say so of IL's yet they have their own 3 bed house with attic, shed and lots of shed-like storage space (you could fit our whole flat in their downstairs)

We have a little one due in 3 months and have nowhere to store bits and bobs her room is full to bursting and we haven't gone mad buying baby bits and cant fit any baby things in the living room unless we put some of our bits in the garage which we are happy to do

But

unless the SIL moves their stuff out of the garage we cant fit our stuff in so we asked FIL about getting the stuff shifted out of the garage within the next month so we can fit baby bouncer etc in the living room and his response was " well WE said they could" (IL's also have lots of storage space etc don't see why SIL cant use theirs)

do i point out we pay the rent AND have little one on the way so need the space

OR

do i shut up and be thankful and hope to hell and back our application for council housing goes through (don't think it will)

OR

do i go straight to SIL and tell her our problem, she would move the stuff no problem but then tell the IL's which would cause them to have a go at me, not DP

Yep you need DP to man up - are you sure you want to marry into this family?

Seems like the best choice is to go to SIL and if that doesn't work out, find somewhere big enough for you (tbh it sounds like it'd be better to not rent off ILs anyway).
You're not in a hurry as you can use the 2nd bedroom for storage now and even when the baby comes. You have time to find somewhere.

You have a lot of choices. Sometimes these choices are not what we 'want' but are choices we need.

1. Move. I know you say that you cannot because landlords will not take your animals and you say these animals are like 'service' animals without going into too much detail BUT people who NEED a service animal have one - not a zoo and in those circumstsances, I am sure you cannot be denied a property due to disabilities - if that is what you have. (If you want people to give you an answer that is fitting, you really ought to give full details).
2. Your DP needs to grow a backbone. What is his opinion on the flat/storage situation? If he is unwilling to speak to his parents, you really should be thinking about if he is an adequate role model for your child and the partner you want to spend the rest of your life with. It seems, you will ALWAYS be at the mercy of your in-laws and that is dangerous considering you have mentioned his violence and aggressive tendancies.
3. Speak to your SIL directly. It maybe that she simple hasn't realised that their stuff is encrouching on your space. You won't know the response until you do.

Ive got 1 dog 1 cat and 2 ferret's thezoo is a nickname friends gave me as none of them have pets most have 4+ kids instead and i like it so used it as a profile name

Parakeet i am not partially sighted or registered disabled, multiple close family death's, miscarriages, physical and mental abuse which have dogged me for the last 10 years and more have caused me previously to try to harm myself and have caused as my Dr words it severe anxiety, panic attacks and depression
When you hide in a corner crying and thinking that there is no point carrying on a wet nose poking you and demanding to sit on you lap and cuddle (hes way too big) or the joy of a ferret spotting "mum" and running so fast to get his cuddle he cant stop tripping over can make you forget all the bad things and smile for the first time in weeks

Im very careful regarding junk and will get rid as soon as possible the only things i am storing at the moment are baby bits which i will admit are taking up room when not needed yet but im not going to say no to a free brand new crib and pushchair and i don't honestly know anybody who would

i have spoken with DP and he seems to realize now and will be talking to his sister when they get back off holiday in a week or so
and as soon as we can manage save enough we will be buying the property from the IL's which they agreed to thankfully when we first moved in

Thankyou all for your advice x

Vast amounts of drip feeding here OP! Firstly, congratulations on the imminent arrival. I've had a baby after rmc and it is the most amazing thing - still hard work of course, but so so precious.
The fact that the use of the garage was a temporary arrangement is vital here. If not, it is up to the landlord what arrangement they make, I've had a landlord in the past store his car in the garage.
I do worry if a two bed flat with half a garage is not enough room for you. We have two dcs in a two bed with postage stamp garden (so no shed) and definitely no garage. What on earth are you storing? Can pets take up that much space?

How would telling them to stuff themselves help any of this! FIL doesn't seem great, but you aren't coming across that great either.

You have a small flat, lots of pets and a baby on the way. Perhaps you should consider moving if the space in your original rental agreement isn't enough.

However, you could just ask SIL politely if you could have some space for your things.

Nothing here indicates to me that you are being bullied by your in-laws and that perhaps you all need to work a little harder on your relationship.

And if you have disabilities, you must ensure they are recongised.
Your animals are not service animals, they are pets. There is a big difference.

I completely understand why your pets are so important to you, however I don't think that they are a barrier to private renting, certainly wouldn't put me off and although I know lots of rentals are no pets, many do allow pets and four domestic animals, three of which are small, aren't likely to be an issue to that type of landlord.

Perhaps you could rent an outside storage space? If your in-laws are not charging you market rents, I can see why they might lend hslf their garage to the older sister in the interest of fairness between the siblings. Have you even asked her if she'd be open to giving it up though?