Trust a tenant to make repairs?

[Alysha Pederson]

Hey BP, 

What is the general consensus on allowing your tenant to do work on your property? 

I have a prospecting tenant who is a handyman by trade. I have not gotten to know him or his work yet, but he is already asking if I would be interested allowing him to partially finish my basement by providing labor if he moves in (he wants an office space and spare room for his family.) 

He is also expressing "you will have no maintenance worries while we are renting from you since I would do all that, you would just cover materials." 

Naturally having a handyman in the home sounds wonderful, but my gut is telling me no. Am I wrong for having this gut feeling? My gut tells me I don't know this man, the quality of his work, etc. Over time with any tenant, I could allow repairs on a case by case basis and slowly build trust, but how many of you let your tenants do repairs and how many prefer your own handyman? Who knows, maybe this guy will become my trusted handyman. 

Match made in heaven or conflict of interest?

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Alysha Pederson:

Hey BP, 

What is the general consensus on allowing your tenant to do work on your property? 

I have a prospecting tenant who is a handyman by trade. I have not gotten to know him or his work yet, but he is already asking if I would be interested allowing him to partially finish my basement by providing labor if he moves in (he wants an office space and spare room for his family.) 

He is also expressing "you will have no maintenance worries while we are renting from you since I would do all that, you would just cover materials." 

Naturally having a handyman in the home sounds wonderful, but my gut is telling me no. Am I wrong for having this gut feeling? My gut tells me I don't know this man, the quality of his work, etc. Over time with any tenant, I could allow repairs on a case by case basis and slowly build trust, but how many of you let your tenants do repairs and how many prefer your own handyman? Who knows, maybe this guy will become my trusted handyman. 

Match made in heaven or conflict of interest?

 Trust your gut. If you want improvements or repairs done, hire a licensed, insured professional. If you start allowing your Tenant to do maintenance, they may do a poor job or you may have a hard time saying no to them later on. It's not worth the headache.