Tenant Offer: Paint Job

[Gustavo Lopez]

First off, I would like to say that I enjoy joining this site, reading all these fascinating point of views is awesome in my book. This is my first post since I have been a little shy to make the first step but here it goes. My property manager contacted me in regards to my tenant wanting to paint the inside of the house, shutters and patio as well as pressure wash the house instead of paying one months rent. Rent comes out to $1600 and mortgage payment is $1092 with property management fee being $150. I am cash flowing $358. The house is about 2200 sq. Ft. and last time I pressure washed it was about $100. The house hasn't been painted since I bought it in 2013. My concerns are how often should I have the house painted, especially since I have a tenant locked in til November 2018 and should I sacrifice the one months rent? I asked for more info such as if I am responsible for the property management fee for that month and a description of the paint? Any advice would be great and I appreciate y'all reading my post. -Gus

[Andrew B.]

In almost all situations it is considered a bad idea to give rent credit in exchange for work done. this muddles your numbers and makes it difficult to properly account for revenue and expenses. the solution is to have tenant pay rent, then issue a check for work done.

also an issue is the idea of liability when having a tenant work on your home. if tenant is injured you can be liable, and the general rule of thumb is to only allow licensed and insured contractors to work on your home, even if they happen to be the tenant.

my personal opinion, I would not allow tenant to do any of it. hire a handyman or contractor to do it. less risk.

if inside of house was fine when tenant signed lease, and a long time has not passed, then it should be fine going forward. house was rented as is.

if outside needs to be pressure washed and painted, then get it done, since your curb appeal effects the whole neighborhood.

that's just my .02 cents though