can I barter with potential tenant for repairs? - Posted by Tonya

Posted by Jack on June 19, 2007 at 19:27:17:

and let me add:
6. This type of tennant will seem to always find stuff that just broke (not his fault of course), and offer to fix it in exchange for rent credit. And things will almost always break just after he lost another job.

  1. When he moves out he will expect that you judge the property based upon the condtion it was when he moved in (not the condiiton you negotiated).

  2. This type of tennant is a full time corner cutter that will probably just stop paying rent one day and move out without giving notice (if your lucky), because he knows that you are not going to waste your time getting a judgment against him because he has no assets.

can I barter with potential tenant for repairs? - Posted by Tonya

Posted by Tonya on June 18, 2007 at 16:56:36:

If I don’t have the money for repairs on my rental property can I create a contract with my potential tenant to do the labor for reduced rent?

Can I barter with potential tenant for repairs? - Posted by Rich-CA

Posted by Rich-CA on June 19, 2007 at 08:52:08:

I would add to dealmaker’s remarks that depending on the type of repair, you can get into trouble (code violations, workman’s comp if injured doing YOUR repairs, and such). At leased with the licensed worker, they should have insurance to cover problems with their work (like faulty plumbing that ends up flooding a room and causing mold damage inside the wall).

Best to figure out how you’re going to pay for the repairs (or do them yourself) and not have an unlicensed and probably unskilled person do these for you. At least if you do them yourself you will learn, when you can afford to hire someone, how to tell the good ones from the not so good.

Home Depot publishes a number of do it yourself guides that are very detailed and make excellent resources for doing your own repairs.

Barter with tenant - Posted by dealmaker

Posted by dealmaker on June 18, 2007 at 19:24:32:

This is a TERRIBLE IDEA, don’t do it.

  1. You’ll be showing a house that is NOT READY to show so you will only attract lower rung tenants.

  2. The tenant will ALWAYS think his work is far superior to any standard that you or anyone else will set.

  3. The tenant will value his work more highly than you or anyone else will.

  4. The tenant will try to take his discount “now” even though he’s so busy at his job that he can’t quite get around to your repairs yet.

  5. If it’s something that’s not going to "cosmetically affect the rentability or showabiilty of the property I probably still would not do it.

Been there, done that, got burned by tenants.

dealmaker