Liability
as a landlord, what possible trouble can arise by providing a new tenant with paint and letting them paint the interior of the house when or before they move in ? can i be sued if they were to get hurt while painting, or pretending they were injured while painting, or making some other small repair at the lanlords request ?
jerry
Hey,
Are you asking them to paint or did they ask you if they could paint?
Asking them to do repairs create a situation where they could possibly sue I think. Them askin to paint puts it in another realm. But just to be sure draw up a little document
I'm new to REI, and this is more of a question then an answer.
Half of my duplex whent vacant, and somebody contacted me saying they heard it was empty from the neighbor and was interested in leasing it. I explained to them that it had not been cleaned up yet but would show it to them in its current condintion if they wanted.
They were very interested in renting from me but were not able to come up with the security deposit. They also wanted the unit sooner then I was going to have it painted and cleaned up.
They offerd to clean and paint for me in exchange for the security deposit and an immediate move in. The deposit was only $200.
I gave them two reciepts. One showing they paid me the security deposit, and the other showing I paid them to paint and clean.
The security deposit was only $200 so I got a bargain on getting it painted.
Would you have allowed the same thing?
Yes, dumdido i would have did the same thing as you. and yes i did ask the tenant to paint. and i believe that most of the replys i received are saying its ok to negotiate painting and small repairs with your tenant as long as you put it in writing ?
jerry
Standard advice as an experienced landlord...
1. Never let them move in without paying a deposit. You have nothing if there are problems when they move out (or fail to pay the rent).
2. If they do work for you, they are now your employees and you better have all the worker's comp and liability coverage needed. If they drive to the paint store, hit a little old lady because they were drunk, you get sued as the employer with the cash.
There are lots of times when nothing negative will happen. You can also limit the liability through insurance, a company structure etc. Some of the above might invalidate the insurance coverage.
So, cutting corners can create much bigger problems then just having the person wait to move in. If you do hire them see if you can ring fence it by making sure they are an independent contractor, have the needed licenses, etc.
John
[addsig]