AIBU to not rent a house to our relative?

[NewNameForThisWWYD]

We have some properties that we rent out. A couple of relatives have always had a problem with this and have taken every opportunity to tell us that we are terrible for adding to the issues with housing.

Now one of these relatives has split from her partner and is looking for a house to rent. She has asked us if she can rent from us and asked if she can do so at a cheaper rate or free to help her out. We have a property empty currently as we are having some work done on it. It will be ready in a couple of months so this relative could in theory move in then. Other relatives are putting pressure on us to help her, one even said we should let her stay in the house for free and completely ignoring the fact that this woman has been horrible to us over the years.

I want to say no. It’s a relative on my husband’s side and he is happy to say no but doesn’t care either way. Neither of us like this relative very much, she is very opinionated and has picked the fight about landlords with us many times at family events making a scene. Every time we see her she makes digs and negative comments. She has also made it known that she disapproves of other choices we’ve made and is generally just very judgemental. We see her at family events to keep the peace in the wider family but really wouldn’t care if she wasn’t in our lives.

She works in a career that pays well above average wage and has 2 children. The house she wants to rent from us has 4 bedrooms.

What would you do? Say no? Rent to her at market rate? Rent to her at a lower rate? Obviously my preference is to say no but I think this will cause issues with some other family members.

If the children have to change schools, that's due to their father's actions, not yours. He caused it. It's not your responsibilty to fix it.

Why would they have to move school? It’s not like she will have to move 200 miles away! Just say no.

I don't really care what you do but put YABU because the way this post is written is soooo one sided.

To summarise...

You have a house you rent out and it's empty. A relative is in hard times and you have a chance to do them a favor by letting it out to them at a discounted rate. This would save you agents' fees and you'd presumably know they would take care of the property.

You've given all the background about her being horrible, and disapproving of your choices, and she earns above average etc etc because you want a bunch of strangers online to validate your not wanting to do it. So don't do it. You obviously don't want to. Maybe she's mother Theresa, maybe she's a monster. We'll obviously never know, and it's your house so it doesn't matter.

Honestly I'd want to hear from her perspective given how one sided your post is about her!

As its your dh's family and he is happy to say no you need to go with that. Let him deal with the fall out.
You owe them nothing.. Especially not a free house..
Maybe her dh had cause to escape....

She will find somewhere to live and any upset will soon blow over. If you rent to her there could be drama which stretches for years

Precisely, @FOJN

As you suggested, better a bit off passing angst now than ongoing rows that could go on and on

If you have a buy to let mortgage I imagine the provider wouldn't be too happy come renewal if you were giving her the rental for free. If you ask her to pay rent, what happens when she decides to stop paying, are you going to be happy to take her to court?
You may be worried about the fall out with family if you say no now. But just imagine the fall out in the scenario where she hasn't paid for months because she thinks you can afford it and you then need to accept that she'll never pay rent or you need to take her to court
I would be saying no and stating you don't mix family and business

The trouble it will cause in the family now, pales into comparison to the trouble allowing her to rent it would bring. Unless of course you'd be happy to let her live in it rent free??

'No I'm surprised you're even asking considering all your comments over the years about us having rental properties'

job done. Deal with the family bitching. It's the least worst situation!

Sounds like many family members disapprove of OP's choices anyway. I'd go with that option that maximises their disapproval, but that's becuase I'm petty.

That would be a hard no from me!

The family feels entitled to your property. That entitlement is exactly why you should never rent to them.

No no no no

And no

You may be worried about the fall out with family if you say no now. But just imagine the fall out in the scenario where she hasn't paid for months because she thinks you can afford it and you then need to accept that she'll never pay rent or you need to take her to court And starts screaming that you're evicting "family".

What @loislovesstewie said - watch a few of the Nightmare Tenants or Baillifs programmes on television and you”ll see how many landlords start out doing someone a favour and live to regret it

Hard no from me, use every excuse you can find!

My answer would be no. She sounds like a nightmare and piss taker. You would be nuts to take her on.

Hell no. She sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen!

This!

💯 this. If she's a nightmare relative she'll be a nightmare tenant. Definitely do not let her move in.

If she's working why can't she rent like everyone else? Just ignore requests. You'd be mad to rent to her especially for free or even mate's rates.

She's going to be an extremely difficult tenant of you rent to her at full rate. If you discount her rate then you are going to be limited by the new laws in how much you can increase rent by whensl she finally moves out.

I vote no, don't rent to her at all

Nope. This won't end well. She won't end up paying, you'll end up having to evict her which the whole family will end up judging you more much more for. Better doing it now. You're sorry she's in the position she's in but you're not comfortable with that arrangement. No more details. Everyone else can have the opinions they want. Eventually you will have someone else move on and they will move on. No one has the right to decide what you do that will affect your own family financially, especially when they've been critical of you in the past.

Just say no. It’s your house & having relatives in a property that is yours often leads to difficulties. They sound very entitled.

A big no from me

If you really can't say no then increase the rent.

Why should she get it cheap thereby disadvantaging you. I'd also have an agent dealing with the property so that if there are ant issues you have a neutral intermediary and that includes paying on time.

I'd say no on the basis that I don't do business with family or friends, and while it's unfortunate that her relationship has broken down, she already possesses the resources to provide for her and her family.

Not on your nellie! She is a CF