Wise to do business with your tenants?

[Andrew Briggs]

Hi, I'm a newbie landlord.  I bought 2 tenant occupied units that need some work.  I have a few contractors that I would like to establish a working relationship with and had them do some bids for the roof and a fence.  Bids look pretty good.

The snafu...  Both of my tenants work for roofing/fencing companies.  They have both offered their services and have asked me to consider them.

My intuition says NOT to mix business with tenants.  Plus, for the long term, I really want to establish good rapport with the contractors I've worked with in the past.

The curve ball...  One of the tenants gave me an ultimatum saying if I don't use his father's roofing business to do the repairs I'll have to find a new tenant.  I responded essentially saying I'm not going to play favorites choosing you over the other tenant for this work...  I also said I have the freedom to chose whoever I want to do the repairs.  He seemed to back down for now...

Tips, advice, wisdom?  Any would be greatly appreciated.

Andy