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.

@SunnyDaysAndCoolNights if your niece hadn’t asked for your help until next week what would you have done?

Is no-one in your other property?

I think I am also getting triggered, but not for the same reasons, LOL.

Absurd. No one has said these tenants should be given a free property

😂😂😂

Asylum seekers are part of immigration.

In the year to June 2025 there was net immigration of 204,000 people. In the year to Sept 2025 there were 141,290 new build dwelling completions.

As the Americans are wont to say, "you do the math".

The city I live in has actually been at the forefront of building new houses. The local plan includes constructing over 1,000 homes per year up until 2044 with 30% of the units to be affordable housing.

But a large part of that growth is due to immigration. In the 2021 Census, around 28% of the inhabitants of this city had been born abroad and immigrated to this country. More than one out of every four people in the city was an immigrant in 2021.

Among younger age groups, this percentage is much higher. Currently, around 40% of secondary school pupils speak English as a second language.

Immigration is still happening.

I don’t understand the responses to this thread at all….surely all private renters know they don’t have a right to stay in someone else’s property indefinitely? I really don’t understand the hate you’ve got here OP (and I private rented for about a decade, including when I had DC).

I agree with you, if it were benefitting your brother’s own DC, I doubt he’d have a problem with it. I think he’s projecting based on his own bad experiences as a renter, fears of what could potentially happen to him, and perhaps some jealousy.

Of course you have empathy for your tenants, but you have followed the right legal processes. Ultimately you have more empathy for your niece than people you have a business relationship with, and I think if posters here also weren’t projecting themselves, the majority of them woulld probably agree with that sentiment.

Yes, it’s a horrible situation for a your tenants, but I don’t think the blame for the UK’s housing crisis lays at your feet, but rather the policy decisions made by successive governments over many years to sell off council houses, allow house prices to rise and wages to stagnate, not build enough new homes, etc etc.

Of course. Everyone with a different opinion is "projecting".

Horrendous thing to do. I was given a section 21 completely put of the blue at end jan for the house I rented with my son for the last 12 years. Because they wanted to sell, which is a better reason than yours. The emotional, financial, physical stress of the last 3 months has been almost too much to bear and it was only with the kindness of friends I was able to afford to move.

Your niece isn't homeless or incapable of finding some student digs but you are potentially putting a family into unrecoverable hardship and most definitely putting them through enormous stress.

yeah that is a shit thing to do.

Mmm...I think we are using different calculators...or something

https://thenegotiator.co.uk/news/land-new-homes/new-build-property-sales-drop-to-lowest-in-over-15-years/

No, they are offering the family a bigger better house nearby for the same (cheap?) rent.

There's definitely some projection going on from a small handful of posters, and it's not the ones supporting the tenants who the OP is kicking out.

Yes, loads of people missed your update, but obviously putting that at the start wouldn"t have generated a totally classic out of control thread just bursting with absolute nonsense!

Apparently all the one bedroom flats in the whole city have mold so that's not possible. And that's why op is being ripped apart on this thread, because it's just not believable that there isn't a single suitable property

No they are not. The Op has never said that. They've said that the niece is getting it below market rent

@SunnyDaysAndCoolNights you asked if yabu. Over 4/5 of people say you are... 87% so far....
Read the room!!! Yes, yabu. You've just upended a family's life. Home is where the heart is. Location, location, location etc etc.
Your niece is in need, yes. You did what you did. But it was unreasonable to evict the tenants, with children, from their home - to house a student for 21 months - a student who could easily carry on living with you or you contribute to rent them their own house in the area.

This is an emotive topic and it's short-sighted to see it purely as a business transaction. This is 4 people's lives that you've just unsettled, with barely any warning.

I own my home outright. I am not a landlord. Of my DC who are in rental and not at Uni, one is in LA secure housing due to his disability, one is ready to buy but holding off as they may move area and another will be ready to buy next year.

So I have no horse in this race, no issues to project.

And I think that she has been foolish from a business POV and shitty from a moral one.

OP, sorry to ask again. have you paid your mortgage off yet?

Because they are kicking out long standing tenants before they accumulated more rights to give the property to a family member at a cheaper price

The bits about us selling the house after our niece moves out and why she won’t trash the house were posted very soon after my OP. People should read all my posts or they end up looking really stupid spouting their nastiness. They can’t help but be nasty, yet claim I’m the bad one. 👍

Mumsnet has already posted on the thread.

On which property?

You are the bad one. Look at what almost 90% of voters have said. This must go down as a mumsnet classic....because you are just not seeing that overwhelmingly yabu. 😫

The one you are renting out currently.