AIBU to refuse a tenant because she bullied my friends?

[RiverWashed]

We are landlords and one of our properties became available for rent recently. When we went to show the house, the applicant was someone I’d been at school with who bullied one of my friends, and a few other girls. I don’t think she recognised me, if she did she didn’t say. She told me that she had applied for 4 houses but missed out and was really desperate for this one to keep her kids at the same school, be close to work etc.

Would you hold grudge and not rent to her? I think I’m going to. I can find another tenant and she was such a nasty bitch. It didn’t stop at school either, it continued at college and she worked with another school friend at a pub til she was mid 20s and was still horrible then. I’ve been thinking back about the bullying she did and thinking I don’t want to rent to her. By mid 20s she should have known better and the bullying was really bad. My friend at school suffered serious mental health issues due to the bullying and it impacted her exams and whole life even now really, although I don’t see her often now as we don’t live close to each other but we keep in touch,

I know it’s petty and we are in our 30s now but AIBU not to rent to her?

Not a chance in hell I would rent to her.

Turning her down (and possibly telling her why)
would be immensely satisfying.

I'd second the views on whether she'd be a good tenant. If she was a bully for so long I would want to know she'd transformed. She could end up being a difficult tenant and that would be my concern

I would definitely not rent to her, no. Apart from anything else, is she was that much of a nasty person then she'll probably be a shit tenant and very difficult to deal with when there is any sort of issue.

I'm Irish. I hold a grudge like it is my job.

Fuck her, bullies are scum bags. She can hang as she dries, maybe she’ll think twice about being an evil cow if there’s consequences

You could just send her a message and 'say

'Thanks for your interest in the house. I don't know whether you realised but remember you very well from school. You are not really the sort of person I am looking for so I'll be giving the house to someone else. Good luck finding somewhere.'

Short, sweet, loaded with meaning.

As a landlady I would not rent to someone I knew to have a persistent character fault of this nature. Why invite trouble into your life?

Edited to correct typos and to add: I'd expect her to resort to bad behaviour if you don't e.g. decorate/ maintain the property to her standard and on her timetable - she didn't outgrow throwing her weight around once she left school.

Be grateful you have the inside track and delete that

Don’t rent to her and don’t give it another thought.

I feel sorry for her kids. It’s not fair they suffer because of their mum’s past.

She's gonna reap just what she sowed.

if she was awful 10 years ago she's quite likely to still be awful.

On balance of probability she won't have changed.

I came face to face with my childhood bully a few weeks ago, it was horrible as I said no to a request and got annihilated. They don't change and I have had weeks of flashbacks of every vile event they ever put me through.

I wouldn’t rent to her. I feel sorry for her dcs. Section 21 is no longer a thing. Don’t drag her back into your life.

If this were me there is no way i could say to my friend that i had rented my house to the bully that had made her life hell.
She is reaping what she sowed.
PP suggestions that she could potentially be trouble have a point too.

She’ll be a trouble maker I suspect .. fuck her and her needs, support your school friend

Are you from the past? Private rents are now so expensive because there is massive undersupply compared to demand. Not being successful on four properties doesn’t mean anything when so many people are bidding on properties. She very well may not have even got to the stage of her credit or references being checked.

You wouldn’t think there ‘must be something wrong with someone’ if they were not successful in their bids to buy four houses, and it’s the same with renting now.

No, definitely don't rent to her however desperate she is, she can't be as desperate as the people she bullied were.
This can be her karma.

No way would I rent to her. She's shown what she's like as a person and it's unlikely she's completely different. You'd kick yourself so much when she became a problem tenant or neighbour.

I feel sorry for her kids too but I hate bullies more.

I wouldn’t. Especially if it continued into adulthood as it just shows long term poor character, so she’ll likely end up causing problems in other ways too.

Karma ..we all get back .. eventually..what we send out in to the world

Just to add - someone applied for a job once and I interviewed them. She didn't know I already knew of her from her appalling treatment of my friend at her old company. I obviously didn't hire her (despite her qualifications and sweet demeanour in the interview) and considered it her karma.

I also think you’d feel some guilt towards your friend if you rented to her. I think you’d feel odd meeting her knowing someone very damaging from her past was living in one of your houses.

I went to school with some utter cunts, there's no way I'd rent a property to them.
Bullying ruins lives well into adult hood so why shouldn't she pay for it now too. Yes, I am bitter 😝