Renting a house owned by a family member?

[Patrick Crehan]

So this summer my girlfriend and I are planning on moving in with each other. Her aunt owns the house that we are looking at and planning on renting. My question to you all is how should we go about it? What are some good strategies, advantages/disadvantages of living in a rental property owned by a family member. Pros? Cons? The people renting it now are paying around $800; could we maybe negotiate a similar rent with agreement upon self maintenance once the current renters vacate? Also what are your guys thoughts on rent to own/lease options or mortgaging in the future? The house is very affordable. Any tips, tricks or ideas would be awesome. Thanks

[JD Martin]

Originally posted by @Patrick Crehan:

So this summer my girlfriend and I are planning on moving in with each other. Her aunt owns the house that we are looking at and planning on renting. My question to you all is how should we go about it? What are some good strategies, advantages/disadvantages of living in a rental property owned by a family member. Pros? Cons? The people renting it now are paying around $800; could we maybe negotiate a similar rent with agreement upon self maintenance once the current renters vacate? Also what are your guys thoughts on rent to own/lease options or mortgaging in the future? The house is very affordable. Any tips, tricks or ideas would be awesome. Thanks

 Sign separate leases with the aunt, each of you renting it per room with access to common space, so that when you guys break up and you move out the aunt doesn't have to be faced with either evicting her niece or having to accept the niece not paying anything to stay there. Then if/when you leave, the aunt can tell the niece she can either move out and she'll rent again to someone else, or get/accept a new roommate to sign a lease.