@woodhill
Felt really sorry for the relatives of blonde Anne, where would aunt go. Lister isn't chucking out her own relatives in the same way
It is a bit too rushy
I think you've completely misunderstood that storyline. No-one is getting chucked out of their home. Ann Walker's aunt lives in her own house. Crows Nest, that Anne Lister is pressuring Ann Walker to sell was Ann's own house that she lived in alone (well, as alone as one can be with with a bunch of live-in servants). Crow's Nest is empty right now, apart from maintenance servants, who have to be paid to keep the house running while no-one lives in it. Anne Lister wants Ann Walker to sell it or at least lease it, so they can have income from it, instead of outgoings towards it.
The elderly aunt is a well off and financially secure in her own home. She is not in any way reliant on Ann Walker. However Ann's extended family were all very keen for her to marry a man of their choosing, a cousin or nephew who they would have liked to see benefit from her fortune. Or to have their families inherit from her if she died unmarried.
Anne Lister was 100% a fortune hunter. Her own financial independence meant she was free from having to marry as the vast, vast majority of her peers had to. But she was determined to find not just another woman to live her life with but one of equal social standing and with her own independent fortune to supplement her own and allow her to make the renovations and business investments she wanted. She would have most likely found it easier to find a lower class woman to officially hire as a ladies maid or a gentlewoman of no means to take on as a travelling companion. But she wanted to make a good, advantageous marriage as a man in her position easily would have.
Lister probably wouldn't have ever married Walker in today's world with today's freedom and different attitudes to love, finance and women's rights. But in their world, they were a good match. Yes, Lister benefitted financially from Walker's money and took advantage of that. But she also genuinely cared for her well-being. Respected her, gave her access to freedoms she would not otherwise have had. Gave her sexual and affectionate joy she was not likely to have found in a marriage to a man, especially if Walker was also exclusively attracted to women. Took real care of her in her depressive manic episodes. The odds are her family or a husband would have institutionalised her much faster without Lister protecting her. So while it's not a love story for the ages, Lister certainly isn't any sort of bad guy in their relationship.