Tax question for rental

[John Morgan]

I have a couple tenants in dIfferent propertIes who pay me rent in cash. I’ve had them do work on the properties for free rent without any documentation. Is this a problem? I also pay them to do work on my other rentals for credit off their rent. They are handymen/construction workers and have been a life saver dealing with just about any maIntenance problem that comes up. But my bookkeeping is a little weak. I assume I can just claim less rent collected from them, but not able to write off their labor for the work? Also if I pay someone over $600 for work, do I need a 1099 on them if I claim their work as a tax write off?