Reducing rent for managing the yard?

[Marty Bauer]

Recently purchased an out of state duplex and one tenant pays on time but is paying under market by $100/mo. 

We are coming up on his lease renewal and he offered to maintain the yard (cut grass, clear snow, trim bushes, etc) in exchange for keeping rent at the same rate he has currently. 

The yard maintenance would otherwise be $80/mo to hire it out. 
I'd be down a net $20/mo but keeping a tenant that pays on time and otherwise keeps the unit clean and treats the property as their own.

Have you swapped rent for yard maintenance before? If so - have you had good/bad experience with it? What holes should I be looking out for? 

Thanks!

[Mike Dorneman]

@Marty Bauer One thing you might want to consider would be your lose off the maintenance write off from a tax perspective. If reduce rent as compensation, you can’t write that off, you’ll show less cash flow (which will decrease the amount you can leverage on Thao property from a banks perspective if you wanted to purchase another property). Personally, I’d keep rent the same, and mail the tenant a check each month. It creates a double benefit for you, and doesn’t cost you any additional money.