If one of your tenants worked in a trade that you would normally hire out,....would you hire your own tenant to do work for you?

I have a tenant who is trying to create a painting business and he wants clients in the property management business. Two months ago, he called me looking for referrals and I gave him some.

James,

My referrals were other LL's who I have respect for. My question here involves whether it is a good idea to have an additional 'business relationship' with any tenant,..other than collecting rent once a month. I am trying to think if this could back fire on me and I lose a good tenant over it?

I have but only if they are really good tenants who I've had a long term relationship with.

I have hired one to do occasional lawn service when needed (he has a business) and another who is a licensed electrician. The electrician mostly does smaller jobs for me after work so more convenient for me and the tenants.

Never once in 21 years.

No. For the same reason I don't rent to family & friends.

30 years ago, maybe I'd have done it. Many people can't keep their heads on straight about relationships. You give an inch, they take a mile. Hire them for one job, then a month later they just want to work off their rent.

When their rent is late they think you should cut them slack "because I did such a good job for you and didn't charge you as much as I would normally charge a regular person." Suddenly, they will start calling in "favors" from 6 months ago that you never knew about or discussed at the time. But the tenant will be keeping score in his/her mind...even if the score is bogus!

I had a painter / spackler that I hired for jobs in other units. I paid him by the job, no trade for rent. Like any one I hire, I tell them what needs to be done, discuss how it should be done (their ideas vs mine) and make sure it is done as agreed. You could say when they are on my contractor time they are like any other contractor and not my tenant. He is not longer my tenant, but my friend still calls him for work.

Another tenant was a roofer, I hired him once, but he could command prices that I was not willing to pay, so I did not hire him again. One person I know got a quoted from him (independent of me) and mentioned his high price. But plenty of people paid him that.

I vote no also, for reasons already stated.

And Roy, why would you refer someone to fellow landlords whose work you are not familiar with? Maybe he just SAYS he's a good painter. If he screws up on another LL's job, they may blame you.

I've hired someone referred by another local landlord who did a crappy job. It stings worse because I thought I had done well to get a referral, and put trust in their word. Now there is less trust.

Meanwhile, back at the Royal rentals.

(Gotta nice ring to it)

Fascia boards are (normally) painted before installation.

A Handyman who cant paint exterior Fascia boards ?

Mind boggling.

I've tried it twice. Both times ended badly. The first guy oversold his experience-- he asked my handyguy questions about tiling that he should have known the answer to. I thought it was fortunate because I only used him for grunt labor... but he also had no brains. He ended up falling off a roof I had specifically told him not to worry about (scraping/painting-- just the low stuff) and nearly impaled himself on a post. He was cutting a tree branch which he was standing on. He was carrying a toilet to the street for DH-- and didn't empty it of water first. Those things, happening in quick succession. I decided to back off feeding him odd jobs-- but it was too late, I had already lost control. I was worried about his cracked ribs, hospital visits, and liability, so I didn't feel in a good spot to pressure him about the unauthorized pit. I drove past to give him a three-day notice for unpaid rent.. but he had a bunch of friends moving in a bookshelf from a truck, it looked like, and I didn't want to embarrass him in front of friends and coworkers. Later that night, he was doing a midnight move-out by candlelight, because he hadn't paid the electric company either. He got one load out, knocked over a taper, and burned down the house. We stood together in the parking lot across the street and watched it burn. It would have been $60k to salvage it-- we sold it for the price of the lot to a retired handyguy. That was 2012? 2013?

A few years pass. I've sworn off mixing tenants and business-- money only flows one way, right? I get a hand who has tremendous work ethic. I've got a little $350/mo garage apartment I don't appreciate. He's tired of living on his sister's couch-- he had just come back from out-of-state and hadn't pinned down his own place. He was going crazy with her kids, etc. So I went against my better judgment. It was just that crummy little place, right? But I flat-out told him I'd had bad experiences in the past. I don't mind losing a tenant, but I hate to lose a good hand. "Yeah, yeah..."

You know how it turned out, of course. I was more diligent in making sure money flowed one way, but he had no equal diligence in making sure it came back to me. I wasn't about to get into "labor for rent" games-- I just wanted my $350, on or before the 1st. But he always had a story as to why he wasn't paying rent-- some guy owes him $2k for a job and isn't paying; he was in the hospital and needed to buy emergency meds for his heart; etc. It turned out, he had a prescription drug problem he'd kept hidden from me and my other handyguy, who has a good nose for such things. He dropped him; I dropped him; I lost both a tenant and a handyguy, as I'd predicted. That was 2016, and I haven't been tempted to try again.

YMMV.

I have hired them some over the years and use them as day labor and sometimes it seemed like it was going OK but in the end I look back and it was not worth it.

You should ask this question on a painter's question board, this person is just starting a painting business at your expense right? Who will have to fix the leopard floor? Roy that's who unless you work with this person, remember the applicant question - can you work with me? Now you can!

I hire tenants to be tenants, hire pros for roofing, electric, most plumbing, all HVAC, and I’m the handyma’am.

I have tried this several times. If it's a tenant with "housing" skills such as a handyman or tradesman, it has worked against me 8 out of 10 times. But when it was a tenant who owns a business in a related field, it was great having a "professional" do work on their rental using high standards.

Examples:

Tenant, head of household renting a 4 bedroom home. He was a custom painter who worked for landlords. He always did great work.

A tenant who rented a room out in my rental home to a divorced guy needing work. He was an electrical engineer who did day jobs for his income. He needed work and always jumped right to it and got the job done ASAP.

An accountant who rented one of my high end apartments. Just got married again and could answer any tax question in great detail. When I had to go up against the IRS, when they found out he was coming to my hearing and sided with my issues, the IRS said, "Oh if Mel said I had filed my return correctly, then there's no need to continue my audit, case closed".

I've seen how tenants paint. So no, I wouldn't hire a tenant to paint.

Never hire unskilled or unqualified tenants to do work. Don't exchange their labor for reduced rent.

Workman’s comp should be considered. This point was really hammered home for me when I slipped with a utility blade, got my finger pretty good. I had given our health insurance information to the intake/ billing clerk, but she was all amped up about ‘’class that she just took,’ and this is REALLY a workman’s comp claim’ very insistent. Took a bit for me, and the nurse who wanted to get to the business of cleaning the finger, quite a bit of insistence that, ‘No, this isn’t My landlord’s responsibility, I AM the landlord. It goes on MY health insurance.’

So, even if the tenant wouldn’t do that to you, if they have no health insurance the hospital wants to get paid or, even if they have health insurance, if there is some excited billing person there, it may well come back to you. And NOT as a property insurance claim, but workman’s comp.

I looked into workman’s comp insurance once, thinking I’d hire the neighbor kid who seemed pretty decent, had an interest in learning. Yikes! WC is expensive! Also, making false/ exaggerated claims is big business in my area. Lots of lawyers, advertising on tv all day long.

Adele, you are fine. Jeff has tried to explain the difference between problems/ issues/ concerns to many of us, or, at least to me. My wee little brain just refuses to comprehend. And, I would have used the word ‘issues’ where you did as well.

Busy[WI] it made me also smile

The answers to this question are getting convoluted a bit.

It is never wise to hire any unlicensed/uninsured workers to work on your rental property.

Any tenants I've had do work on my properties are all licensed (if required) and insured.

Personally I've not had any issues. And I'm upfront and clear. I don't want them to be afraid to say no, or "I don't have time" because they feel obligated to me. Clear communication prevents misunderstandings.

Okay, Okay,..it seems the consensus here is to not hire your tenants,...I will take your advice and not call my tenant who is trying to build a client base. Deanna's reply was convincing enough.

My hubby tried to hire tenants who had money troubles several times and it never worked out. I am glad hubby gradually lost his compassion.