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.

Some posters assumed that if they didn"t want to leave it was because their rent was cheap and they couldn"t get the same sized house elsewhere for that price, but as it turns out they can actually get a bigger house for the same price, from the same landlord! (no need to beg to the council or go into the local bail hostel - Wooh Hoo!) Where the tenant seems to be getting their underwear twisted is over some logistical nonsense about a bus route or something,maybe they also want the landlord to remove all the yellow smarties from the pack like that rock band in the 80"s when they listed their backstage demands?

Well if you have no idea, why are you coming at me? I work in housing. I see people get rehoused. I don’t see people being turfed out into the streets. My point is, the OP has not done anything wrong here. So much virtue signalling from clueless people.

I think it’s a disgusting thing to do.

The first poster that first mentioned it decided that because this family were struggling to find something else, it shows that they havent been paying market rent for all these years and therefore are struggling to find something similar with similar rent because they have been paying cheap rent

I have no idea of the logic of that thinking.

Exactly. Just because a private landlord owns more than one property, that does NOT mean that there are enough homes for everyone! And who wants a private let property anyway, when they can get turfed out this easily?!

More social housing is needed, with lifetime tenancies! And all private landlords should be made to sell ALL their properties to the local authority, so they can add them to their housing stock, (except the property they live in.) And they should be bought off them for the price they paid. They will have made a killing in overpriced rents, so they get no more than what they paid for it.

No-one should own more than one property, and no-one should have to live in insecure private let, where the landlord thinks nothing of throwing out the tenants purely for their own convenience (or the convenience of their family.)

My comment about being baffled was directed to the person I was quoting. They added a narrative that was baffling to me. I don’t understand why certain posters create stories quoting on nothing the person has actually said.

Just like you did. It’s not hard to keep up with the conversation.

Actual wow.

I think this was a silly thing to do if they were otherwise good tenants op. Your neice will stay for a year, maybe two, maybe not and then God knows who you'll get in. Your tenants may have purchased the house from you when you eventually decided to sell and secured themselves a permanent home.

I personally think to make a child homeless in order to make sure your neice didn't have to have the usual student experience everyone else does is a pretty awful thing to do. I know autism can make certain things more difficult but having supported lots of autistic young people through the uni experience in my job it's usually quite doable with the right preparation and support in place as nothing is ever 'perfect' and a big part of support is building resilience and skills to manage chance and imperfection. Not easy by any means, but not impossible either. Your neice by the sounds of things has had other options.

Ultimately op it's your house and your investment so you can do whatever you want with it. I'm just unsure as to the purpose of coming on here to post about it when you seem to recognise most people won't agree with you, you are very firm in your decision and yeah it all feels a bit like you're stirring a pot.

Foolish decision OP. The current tenants are likely to keep the house in a much better state than students. I assume it wouldn’t just have been your niece living there.

Many of us put our families first, but this is a stretch.

What is your culture?

Ah right. Well I'll opt out of responding to you again if that's OK. #clueless. Your experience of working in housing doesn't trump other people's real life experience elsewhere in the UK. I used to work in a town around 16 miles from my home - around 71 per cent of owner occupiers purchased under right to buy. As I said previously many young people including pregnant young women waited up to two years for housing and they were in homeless units - because there literally were not enough council or housing association homes to go round

And the only reason I got a council house in my area just over 30 years ago was because I took a flat in a hard to let area that no one wanted to live in. There have been around 400 homes built since then

There are not enough council homes to go around in many areas in the Uk - that's why there's a housing crisis. There are still people rough sleeping in the nearest city to me. The biggest homeless night shelter is having to turn people away on a daily basis

has your niece already settled into uni life?

You don"t want to hear the truth, as has been said anyone can join the council housing list, I have known single people who used to "bid" for bigger council houses online that they fancied the look of but would never in a million years be offered because they were already housed in suitable one bed accommodation. Do you remember all the fuss about the "bedroom tax" (Bad Tories, Boo Hiss!) I saw an article on a woman in her mid fifties, living alone, children now in their 30"s in their own homes wailing because she would have to give up a three bed council house! And "local activist" numpties were piling in to defend her! That is how messed up we have become, people think the state owes them everything and they don"t have to contribute anything.

Except for the Renter’s Reform Act which would
make it much harder for the op to do what she is planning to do now.

Read my posts and you won’t assume wrong.

What is my culture? Really? Do you want to know where I’m really from?

I am quite shocked at the personal insults targeted at the OP. It’s awful for the family, but it’s a business and she isn’t obligated to house the tenants forever. Some comments here cross a line.

If your brother was benefiting from this for his family his behaviour would be very different and he would not consider the tenants circumstances. You are protecting a more vulnerable family nember in your actions and actually losing money/ income to your detriment as houses have costs when not rented ( insurance and council tax). You havent done anything morally wrong.

If money isnt an issue you could easily have helped her financially to fine a place she liked and kept the well paying tenants.
I dont agree with what you did but I see your side too. Good tenants that pay on time and cause no trouble are a god send and you may not ever get another. Also plans for when she finshes uni. As shes autistic she may never move out and you'll be subsidising her for her whole life.

Just some thoughts

Probably time for the OP to shut this one down? The OP has two houses, the niece is being offered the one nearest Uni, the tenants are being offered another house (for the same price although it is bigger) near to where their kids will soon go to school, the only sticking point is that the tenants are being asked to move to the new house and they are being babies about it!

I am honestly gobsmacked at the vitriol and nastiness from people who do not understand how our housing system works.

First, if you buy a house with or without a mortgage it belongs to you. It is your property. If you agree with a third party (individual or family) that they may have access to the house to live in under contract, both parties to the contract have the right to withdraw from the contract at any time. The ownership of the house does not transfer to them and they have no legal or moral right to occupy the house if the owner withdraws from the contract. Terms may specify notice periods (under the Renter's Rights' Act this will be 2 months for renters, 4 months for landlords). I assume that the OP has issued a 21 before the 1 May deadline so that she does not have to meet the new conditions, including longer notice and restriction on some of the other terms, including the fact that you have to have a reason to evict someone from your own property.

The council no longer builds houses and the supply is dwindling. The current government is pushing private landlords out of the market, meaning individual LLs who then sell up to large corporations who can absorb all the fees and taxes being levied. The scarcity of housing means that people who own houses might want to reserve them for their own family members, as anyone who loves their families would do in the same circumstances.

OP, you have acted within your rights and have done nothing wrong morally or legally. I would ignore all the nonsense on here, plus your brother. It is not your fault that the council is not building houses; it is not your fault there is a massive undersupply of affordable housing. I hope you can remove your tenants to the satisfaction of everyone and that your niece has a lovely time at university. What a lovely auntie she has. Good for you both.

It’s crap for the tenants, but thats what happens in private rents 🤷🏻‍♀️ I say that as someone who also rents. You’ve followed the law and I don’t think you have to justify your reasons to anyone.

OP you seem to want corroboration and not advice. The decision has been made, so any amount of empathy for the poor family having their lives uprooted won’t go far given the stress and cost of moving. It’s their home not just your house. Imagine just for a minute if someone was to kick you out of your home and you had nowhere to go? Fact they have family near and it’s one of the defining homes of the children (their memories) make it even more sad. Know I’m wasting my time though but do feel incredibly sorry for the family as their world be shattered and bet they’re heartbroken. But at least your niece will have 18 months of a family home to herself. 👏

It isn"t a business in the normal sense of the word, the OP is doing their niece AND the tenant a big favour, I nominate the OP for Landlord of The Year!

At the moment in Glasgow which is the nearest big city to me there are between 9-11000 people in insecure accommodation. Sofa surfing. In unsuitable accommodation. In B and Bs and in homeless shelters. People don't need to be rough sleeping to be categorised as homeless

@neverbeenskiing In the tenants’ position, though, I would accept the other house rather than risk being put into temporary accommodation. Unless finding another private rental isn’t particularly hard in their area and/or council properties are available.

You’ll opt out of responding, but give me your life story? Make that make sense.

By that argument, your life experience doesn’t trump my experiences or the experiences of others though does it?

If there are not enough council houses, let’s stop vilifying private landlords.