Making your tenants do work in exchange for covid-19 discount

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Dogby, 29th Jul, 2020.

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  1. Dogby

    Dogby Well-Known Member

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    My tenants have declared financial hardship (lost regular work) due to covid-19 and have requested a rental discount, which I granted.

    Now there is an issue with a wall which will need to be stripped back and repainted. If I provide the tools and paint, am I within my rights to ask that they do the stripping and repainting up to a reasonable number of hours to match the discount ?

    Thoughts please.
     
  2. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I would say you have no rights to ask this at all.

    Even if you could, what if they make a very bad job of it?
     
  3. Dogby

    Dogby Well-Known Member

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    Anyone can paint a wall. The paint job is not that great at the moment
     
  4. Dogby

    Dogby Well-Known Member

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    Interested to know why you think I don't have the right to make a deal in exchange for ongoing rental discount. Its the sort of deal landlords do all the time in non-covid times. When asking for a discount, the tenants offered to do jobs
     
  5. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    Theres this small thing called legislation... pesky as it is
     
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  6. neK

    neK Well-Known Member

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    You can hire them to do a job, pay them, then they pay normal rent.
     
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  7. Marg4000

    Marg4000 Well-Known Member

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    No, you can’t. Nor should you.

    Imagine, if you did so, and your tenant was injured in the process (tripped over the tin of paint). Your insurance won’t cover you, not for the injury, nor for rectifying any damage (caused by the spilt paint).
     
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  8. Curious2019

    Curious2019 Well-Known Member

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    I don’t think this is reasonable to ask them to work for free to maintain your property. You could ask but don’t be offended/surprised if they say no. You have no ability to force them to do this either.

    The rental discount is a completely seperate issue.

    Perhaps you could offer to pay them a market rate for the painting and they can use that towards their next rental payment.

    wouldn’t you rather they spend their free time looking for work so they can pay rent rather than doing a ****** paint job on a wall?
     
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  9. Dogby

    Dogby Well-Known Member

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    Thanks all for your input. I will take onboard what you have said
     
  10. jared7825

    jared7825 Well-Known Member

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    The reduced rent has already been granted and has nothing do with anything but their losss of income and hardship you now can’t request that they “work” it off

    It’s a bad idea. Liability for injury would be the big issue, even if you hired them as someone suggested then liability insurance is still an issue

    You own the property it’s your responsibility to maintain it
     
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  11. strongy1986

    strongy1986 Well-Known Member

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    Just like anyone can paint the cornice, the archs, the skirts , the carpet and the soles of their shoes
     
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  12. Ravi Gupta

    Ravi Gupta Active Member

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    Australia is one of most litigated countries in the world. No matter how reasonable it sounds (rent reduction in exchange of tenants doing paint job), you are almost certainly going to lose if anything unexpected happens.
    I wouldn't risk it.
     
  13. Gen-Y

    Gen-Y Well-Known Member

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    Sounds dodgy - is that your nickname? :D
     
  14. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    Ever heard of the word servitude?
     
  15. The Gambler

    The Gambler Well-Known Member

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    It's a good bad idea! In theory it sounds like a decent situation. They can't pay their rent, you are forced to keep them on, they do some painting to save you money. It gives them something productive to do at a time when they'll be mentally struggling. It's often said that painting is actually a good activity that can act like meditation on the brain. Feeling useful should never be underestimated. And it will benefit both parties.

    It makes sense until reality bites. As others have said, if something were to go wrong, it could go horribly wrong. And there are so many variables that a not so good to very bad outcome is more likely than an okay to great outcome.
     
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  16. SeafordSunshine

    SeafordSunshine Well-Known Member

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    I did this a long time ago, and found that the end result looked awful!

    Later on ,I put in a clause in the written agreement that said 'in a tradesmanlike manner.'
    Not sure if I would go down that track now though, particularly if the tenants weren't on board.
    I hope this helps
     
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  17. Tom Rivera

    Tom Rivera Property Manager Business Member

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    Making sure you have that in there is SO important- "must be completed to a professional standard". The amount of times tenants have tried to do their own repairs (usually at exit) and it looks worse than if *I* tried it (I'm terrible at fixing things).....!
     
  18. Ted Varrick

    Ted Varrick Well-Known Member

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    From the replies to your post, it looks like the Too Hard Basket is the best destination.
     
  19. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    I don't think I've laughed so hard in ages. :eek:
     
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  20. Tom Rivera

    Tom Rivera Property Manager Business Member

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    You should see my painting. I can't cut in to save my life.... and the tape is so hard to apply! It either sticks so hard it tears paint OR it keeps coming off AHHHRG.