I am going to disagree with everyone else...... No, just kidding, never do that.

"Always keep your tenants and contractors separate." Good advice, that.

well of course in my reverse landlording style.. I have tried this a few times.. NEver works.

I don't have any revelations to add, but you should never offer a discount or trade for rent in any situation. Once you negotiate rent, everything becomes negotiable and you lose any leverage with a tenant that you might have had.

I'm on board with everyone else. Even if the guy were a licensed plumber and offers to install a new water heater, you should always, always, always keep rent and services separate. If your tenant is fully capable of doing the job, hire them like you would any other contractor. They should have insurance, meet your deadline, submit to inspection, etc.

keep your tenants close, keep your contractors closer.

This is a terrible idea. Pretty much any renter that will move into a place that is not rent-ready is going to suck. One reason renters rent is because they don't have to do maintenance or deal with the issues that come with home ownership - so it really makes no sense for a renter to want to move into a place and do a bunch of work that an owner would have to do.

Trade work for Rent?

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Trade work for Rent?

Aubrey H.

Rental Property Investor · IA · Member since 2018 · 35 posts · 26 votes

We have a property that we are looking to do some work on -- we are looking at some drywall work, flooring, and a few other odd jobs. We can do it but, life has gotten in the was and we dont think we will get it done fast enough. We would like to get the property rent out. We are trying to decide if repairs can wait. Someone then approached us that they could do some of the repairs is trade for a discount on rent. Would you or have you traded the labor on the house for rent? Why or why not?

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Thomas S.

Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes

Never agree to trade work for rent. Tenants are 100% unreliable and will usually do a terrible job. They will take advantage, over charge and probably never finish the work. If the guy is a qualified and licenced contractor consider hiring him to do the work but never agree to trade work for rent. Hire him before you rent the unit to him not after. Always keep your tenants and contractors separate.

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Thomas S.
Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
8y
Never agree to trade work for rent. Tenants are 100% unreliable and will usually do a terrible job. They will take advantage, over charge and probably never finish the work. If the guy is a qualified and licenced contractor consider hiring him to do the work but never agree to trade work for rent. Hire him before you rent the unit to him not after. Always keep your tenants and contractors separate.
15 Reply
Dennis M.
Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
8y
@Thomas S. Agreed . Tenants are not reliable and they usually do a very poor job at anything they attempt
2 Reply
Jason D.
Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
@Aubrey Hardman I third this sentiment. Not only will the work likely be of poor quality, but it sets a bad precedent that will probably bite you in the end. Have the work done to your standard and the charge full rent.
2 Reply
Sylvia B.
Rental Property Investor · Douglas County, MO · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
"Always keep your tenants and contractors separate."
Good advice, that.
5 Reply
Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
8y
I'm on board with everyone else. Even if the guy were a licensed plumber and offers to install a new water heater, you should always, always, always keep rent and services separate.
If your tenant is fully capable of doing the job, hire them like you would any other contractor. They should have insurance, meet your deadline, submit to inspection, etc.
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3 Reply
Corby GoadeBusiness Member
Investor · Boise, ID · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
8y
I don't have any revelations to add, but you should never offer a discount or trade for rent in any situation. Once you negotiate rent, everything becomes negotiable and you lose any leverage with a tenant that you might have had.
3 Reply
Mike CumbieBusiness Member
REALTOR® · Brockport, NY · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
I am going to disagree with everyone else...... No, just kidding, never do that.
10 Reply
Jonathan Soto
Lender · Newark, NJ · Member since 2016 · 695 posts · 252 votes
8y
Don't trade work for went, Tenant are non reliable and possibly never picked up a hammer in their life. I rather leave the house vacant for another month and find a reliable tenant once it is ready. They will use this repair to their advantage in the future.
1 Reply
Gordon Starr
Rental Property Investor · Dayton, OH · Member since 2015 · 312 posts · 273 votes
8y
Sooner or later your landlord is going to make you angry. Sooner or later your boss is going to make you angry. If you are both the boss and the landlord, it will be sooner rather than later!
0 Reply
Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
8y
well of course in my reverse landlording style.. I have tried this a few times.. NEver works.
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Blair Poelman
Real Estate Broker · Provo, UT · Member since 2013 · 689 posts · 511 votes
8y
This is a terrible idea.
Pretty much any renter that will move into a place that is not rent-ready is going to suck.
One reason renters rent is because they don't have to do maintenance or deal with the issues that come with home ownership - so it really makes no sense for a renter to want to move into a place and do a bunch of work that an owner would have to do.
2 Reply
Joshua Hively
Columbus, OH · Member since 2018 · 218 posts · 134 votes
8y
I agree with everyone! The other thing to consider is on paper or in multi family properties, this can actually lower the value of the property.
1 Reply
Steve B.
Engineer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
@Aubrey Hardman as others have said, it’s a tempting and logical idea but bad in practice. It violates pure landlord/tenant boundaries and leads tenants to behaviors you don’t want
0 Reply
Matthew Paul
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
8y
Landlord " That drywall looks good nice job "
Tenant " Thanks I figure I dont have to pay rent for 9 months , and you owe me $1200 for supplies"
Landlord " F$%# That BU&^%*#@ "
Dont do it
1 Reply
George V.
Professional · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 29 posts · 4 votes
8y
If I knew the person's work, I might allow it. If he does remodeling for a living.... But it could turn into a hack job real quick. Maybe let them do one job and see how it turns out.
0 Reply
Sam Shueh
Real Estate Agent · Cupertino, CA · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
The trades tenant is too exhausted to do anything for their landlord. On their own time they do not want to be bothered.
Unless they are out of work needing money to get caught up with rent. My experience they are not motivated.

0 Reply
Jill F.
Investor · Akron, OH · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
I have tenants that do work for me but I do not pay for them to work on their own apartments and I do not permit tenants to make unauthorized improvements on their own apartments.
However, when I have vacancies, I have one tenant that can install a toilet or a sink faucet; he occaisionaly runs into a problem and has to call for help but most of my toilet installs cost $10-$20 (I pay $10/hour). I have one girl that does a super job prepping old crufty trim for painting (in 100 year old buildings with 6" oak with many layers of crappy paint). I give her a red devil and an orbital sander and a pack of sandpaper and she gets that baseboard smooth as a babies bottom; it makes a huge difference in the paint job and I could never afford to have professional painters do that. It took a little training and figuring out what to ask for but now I just tell her how much I want to pay for-- ie 2 hours on this trim so do 15 minutes on each wall base and 20 minutes per door trim and do the best that you can. That gets me a pretty nice job for not too much money.
I have another guy that likes to lift. It costs me $20 to get a refrigerator up 3 flights. Call a company and see what you'll pay.
0 Reply
Sean Lambert
Investor · Pacific City, OR · Member since 2016 · 175 posts · 123 votes
8y
Please don't let a tenant do any repairs. Their quality of work won't match your expectations and they are likely not insured to do any work.
0 Reply
John Patterson
Contractor · Canton, GA · Member since 2015 · 111 posts · 81 votes
8y
keep your tenants close, keep your contractors closer.
2 Reply
Account Closed
Rental Property Investor · Beverly, MA · Member since 2018 · 41 posts · 16 votes
8y
Well, looks like we have a consensus.
However, my mom has actually had a guy paying discounted rent for 9 months now in exchange for work on a property. I don’t know how, but she managed to get an awesome guy in there and the arrangement has been working out so far. He’ll buy supplies or get free stuff from jobs, has his own tools/truck from his day job, and we work together on the weekends sometimes.
The house is a strange situation though - half is gutted and awaiting money, permits, and reno, the rest is pretty junky too. My mom lets him customize stuff as he wants, and he can have his band practice in the gutted area of the house. I definitely wouldn’t copy the way she has managed the investment so far, but she does have a tenant who’s paying reduced rent so I just wanted to give a counterpoint that it could work.
A guy who has approached asking about it could work out really well, or terribly.
1 Reply
Gretchen P.
Rental Property Investor · Littleton, CO · Member since 2014 · 150 posts · 114 votes
8y
I agree, I have a great tenant who is an electrician. I occasionally hire him for electrical projects, but not in exchange for rent, it is separate.
0 Reply
Mike McCarthy
Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
@Jill F. I hope I read that wrong. I really hope you don’t send your tenant to sand 100 year old trim. LEAD!!! As a landlord, you need to be aware of RRP procedures and can land yourself in a lot of trouble if there’s lead dust being created. (Not to get off topic). Of course, maybe I read your post incorrectly.
0 Reply
Ian WalshBusiness Member
Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
In my experience, it doesn't work out very well.
0 Reply
Jill F.
Investor · Akron, OH · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
@Mike McCarthy Thank you for your concern Michael, but no lead pain has been found.
0 Reply
Subbie Kaur
SACRAMENTO, CA · Member since 2018 · 144 posts · 76 votes
8y
@Aubrey H.
From my personal experiences, having a tenant do repairs in exchange for discounted rent or even paying them doesn't work out so well. I have dealt with a few situations myself where we actually allowed the tenant to do the repairs for our rental properties. The job was originally supposed to take a few months as promised by the tenants but ended up taking over 6 months. We were paying them for their work, so of course, they decided to take longer than expected to make more money. You will hear a new excuse for why the work hasn't been done, something most people don't want to deal with. You will find yourself in a trap if it doesn't go as planned. I would recommend to just find a professional who will get the job done correctly and in a timely manner. Good luck with this project:)
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