Reduced rent in exchange for labor?

[Jases Brown]

We just purchased a house that needs renovation. Mostly cosmetic. While showing another house of ours, one of the couples expressed interest in seeing this one that we are about to start working on. Once they saw it the idea came up of them living there and doing the cosmetic work in exchange for paying less rent. We paid 60,000 for the house and we’re going to ask 850 a month after renovations. This deal would put the rent at 700 a month with them completing any cosmetic work they wanted to. Essentially we would be renting the house to them as is. Any painting or flooring work they chose to do would be on their dime at their discretion. Have any of you had an arrangement like this and if so what advice would you have before entering into an agreement like this?

[Marci Stein]

Not a good idea . What if they don’t get to any of the work because something came up , or whatever. Then you’re renting to them  at a lower rent . 

Or , if you have a deadline by which they need to do the work and it’s not complete , what will you do - evict them?