AIBU to end a tenancy so my niece can live there?

[SunnyDaysAndCoolNights]

We have a house that we rent out to a family with 2 children who have been in the house for about 7 years. The house is in the same city that our niece is at university in.

Just after Xmas, my niece asked us if she could live in the house for her second and third year at uni, (possibly longer) as the houses she had looked at weren’t very nice and she can’t stay in halls.

After speaking to my husband, we decided to say yes and we gave our tenants a section 21 notice in February. Our tenants were/are not happy and have been advised to stay in the house by the council. We thought that may happen which is why we served the notice in February despite my niece not needing the house until September. We were also aware of the new rules coming in soon which would make it harder to end a tenancy.

Since finding out that we have ended the tenancy for our current tenants, my brother and his wife (not nieces parents) have told us that we are ‘typical arsehole landlords’ for ‘kicking out a family’. They think our niece, also their niece is selfish for asking, that she could have found somewhere herself and that we should have put our tenants first as they have been our tenants for quite a long time and they have children. My brother and his wife rent with their children, so obviously that may play a part in their feelings on this. I feel upset they would say these things as I think it’s normal to put your own family first. My other brother and his wife who are parents of my niece are very annoyed at our other brother and his wife.

Would you have done the same as we have or would you have put the tenants first and said no to your niece? I do have sympathy for my tenants, they’re a nice family and have been good tenants, but obviously we love our niece and to us, she comes first.

PIA for your tenants but it's your place and family comes first imo. I vote YANBU.

She has said she feels sorry for the family but is putting her own family first. I see nothing wrong with that.

I have no idea why OP is asking as she's clearly wanting to defend her position, so opposing pov are pointless.

This type of accomodation would almost certainly be far more suitable for an autistic student living alone than a house large enough for a family will be too.

Well she’s a right little princess isn’t she? I’m sorry but you pandering to her is making her worse, not better.

Whats the point her doing a degree? How’s she ever going to get a job if she can’t cope with life in general? Part of the university experience is about learning to cope with others.

OP, you have done nothing wrong, but you were never going to get any sense on here because MN hates LLs. Every resentful renter will use your thread to take out some of their frustration and will refuse to admit that they would put their own family’s needs first, even though most of us would.

Your tenants rented a home and had children knowing that they would likely have to move at some point. It is hard for them but they aren’t bothered about upsetting you by staying past the end of their tenancy and they will end up being given a council house anyway.

Your reasons for supporting your niece are entirely valid, and it is very kind of you to support her even though it will likely cost you financially.

They’re not OPs family. I find it ridiculous that people are saying they would prioritise another family over their own. I suppose it goes some way to explaining why so many mumsnetters don’t seem to have any family and friends. They’re too busy worrying about randoms.

She may well not meet the threshold for that type of accommodation given that its probably not very much of it, and there will be a high demand so those with the highest needs will be prioritised. She may not have very high needs at all.

Yes, I agree. There are a lot of resentful renters on here. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t put family and friends before strangers yet we are supposed to believe everyone would. 🤪🤪🤪

This is horrible. Please say it’s a reverse. Why would anyone question whether it was okay to do this?

Landlord does something thats not considered moral or for the greater good.....Im Jack's complete lack of surprise 😂

Best of luck to your niece op! I'll admit to wishing Id had this type of wider family support when I was younger. Dont blame her at all for preferring to live in a nice house with a discount. Its tough for the family but landlords gonna landlord 🤷‍♀️

As I said I was a homeless officer for 25 years. I've dealt with God knows how many families who were homeless. It's stressful, upsetting and creates so many problems. I've met some very pleasant landlords and then some who really were the absolute pits. So, I'm sorry if I'm not overly concerned about a 20 year old and her aunt who think making a family homeless so a princess can live all by herself because nothing else is good enough. And on a reduced rent too.

We are LL with two houses left from 8 a few years ago. We would not even have considered this request from a relative.
You describe special needs, but I would still not have bunged a family out to make life easy for a relation. The short notice is also a problem.
Sorry, but you have this one wrong. It's this imperious attitude that has got us all a bad name,

We had a similar situation, my husband told me that it was not a nice thing to do so we kept our family in the house for a further 5 years .
Anyway at the end of February we got a phone call to say that they were moving out at the end of the month.
We have decided to sell due to the new regulations, but it is proving harder than we thought as the market has dropped and now there is a lot more work to do on the property , new kitchen and bathroom etc.
I think we did the kindest thing for our tenants but not for us who are approaching retirement and don't need the stress.

Is renting to a relative considered the same for tax and other legal purposes? What about the minimal rent under your new laws?

Will she having any financial assistance she's receiving reduced or done away with because you're charging her minimal rent?

she was very upset after looking at places as they all had damp/mold and were in bad condition or she would have to be in a shared house which she can’t cope with. We went and looked at some places with her and they were bad. She was contemplating giving up and moving back home which I didn’t want as uni has been good for her in a lot of ways.

How do you feel about her telling you if you didn't rent her your house she would think about leaving school? Where I'm from, that's called emotional blackmail. I'm sure that hasn't been easy for you with her and your brother pressuring you to put your property at her disposal.

I think what you're doing is awful making a family homeless but I also understand you're in between a rock and a hard place with your family.

That said, what would your niece do if you didn't have a convenient house that meets her standards and she doesn't have to pay market rate for?

I hope your tenants find a decent place soon and their kids' lives aren't massively disrupted. They're really the ones I feel for here.

If you can afford to let her have the house at a peppercorn rent, @SunnyDaysAndCoolNights, why can’t you keep your tenants in the house, and put the difference between what she would have paid, and what they pay towards her renting a decent place?

That way everyone wins - you are treating your good tenants and your niece with empathy and decency. What you are doing is legal, but immoral.

It is a terrible thing to make a family homeless in the current climate. I have a sister and her husband who faced the nightmare of having to find another home quickly at a rent they could afford and a brother who had a tenant he couldn't get rid of who wrecked the place and didn't pay their rent for months. This is your tenants' home: not just a house, their home. They are settled there and you have turned their lives upside down and given them an immense amount of worry. As for your niece, she will be missing out by not sharing, even if it's on important life skills like getting on with people, negotiating, dealing with landlords, solving her own problems, and basically living in the real world. Plus she may very likely want to stay on after the two years are up because of the low rent. How will you deal with putting her rent up to market price even if she hasn't got a job? Are you prepared to make concessions for her ad infinitum? I don't think 'putting family first' is any excuse for putting a decent family out of a home, and I think you know it or you wouldn't have posted here.

Omg, that is the meanest thread I’ve read on Mumsnet! To kick out a decent family who are good tenants and thought they had a home in order to accommodate a family student! I’m actually shocked. Haven’t really got anything more to say as you’ve done it now. That poor family.

This will come back to bite you in so many ways and you will regret it.

You had long term tenants taking care of your property and reliably paying the rent.

You are now risking your niece not paying asking for a delay, asking for cheaper rent, her house mates not taking care of your property, your niece and housemates not wanting to pay when not at uni getting use of the house, student parties, irritating the neighbours, fall outs with the family if you push back on any requests for delays or enforce payment etc, insurance issues and raises of any parties get out of hand, your niece feeling taking care of the noise doesn't matter as much because she's family and it's what families do etc and so much more even before you consider having to sort it out and find another tenant after and not know of they can be trusted until too late.

The thing to do would be to leave things as they were and say no, and push back to try help find her somewhere. She wasn't homeless, she was being snobby.

I’ve read OP’s replies but not all comments.

Has it been explained to your niece that this is happening? I imagine she would feel enormous guilt. She has looked at the rental market. She will know what the family with two children are facing.

As you are calling it a city, I find it hard to believe there is literally nowhere at all suitable for your niece to live. This seems hyperbolic.

I think it’s really horrible to evict decent long-term tenants in favour of a teenager who sounds spoilt. I also think it’s a bit stupid to rent to family. Are you really going to go down the legal route if/when she doesn’t pay her rent or refuses to move out?
Finding halls/share houses a bit grubby and noisy is part of the uni experience. Part of growing up is learning to get along. If niece genuinely can’t cope, she needs to talk to whatever disability accommodation team they have, or go home to her parents, not have a whole house handed to her because she’s different and special.

The OP is having a hard time here and ultimately it is her property and she can choose to do whatever she wants with it.
I know from family members who have been landlords that the new rules regarding renters is stacked heavily against the landlords who will face more even more red tape and hoops to jump through when they try to remove tenants or sell their property. Landlords were also going to have to pay more annual fees to councils which for some landlords who only have one property means the losses far outweigh the gains for them.
It's time the councils got back on with building more affordable homes to rent rather than relying on private landlords to fill the gaps where they are failing.

While I do get wanting to help your niece out, it really doesn't sit well with me that you've turfed out a family who have been good tenants for you. That's a whole heap of pain for them, especially with kids settled in schools, etc. Far more upheaval for them to look elsewhere than a single young person.

As an ex landlord, I wouldn't have dreamed of serving notice on good tenants in this circumstance. And frankly I'm surprised your niece couldn't find anything else suitable, even if that meant upping her budget.

I'm not surprised your brother has called you out on it, tbh.

The neice doesn't know the family have two kids

As far as I can see you run the let as a business. I think people are being too emotional about it. There should be no emotion in business.

IF you had to sell the house to pay debts then I doubt people would be quite so unkind.