I’m putting up an ad on Craigslist about a rental unit in my mother’s house. She lives alone and it would be convenient to have someone do things like take out the trash, mow the lawn, shovel the sidewalks and occasionally go to the store for her or change a lightbulb.
Will I run into problems with things like minimum wage laws if we offer a discounted rent in return for the above? This is in Boston, Massachusetts.
I am not looking for legal advice, just a sanity check before I go ahead.
I don’t know the legal issues, but I would recommend that you set out exactly how much work is expected, to save disagreements later. I doubt minimum wage would be an issue, though, since it sounds like we’re only talking about a few hours a month, here, and the rent reduction you’d be offering would probably be more than that. And there shouldn’t (to my knowledge) be any issues with contract law, since (with a few exceptions) two parties can agree to any contract that isn’t for anything illegal and for which both parties receive some consideration, and a rent discount and occasional odd jobs are both valid consideration.
In case it need be said, IANAL.
I think you may to talk to a lawyer anyway.
I, as a tenant, have on occasion negotiated reduce rent in exchange for such services as you mention for a landlord, but not everyone is as conscientious as I and some of my landlords have been.* You might get a tenant who then refuses to hold up his/her end of the bargain.
Currently, I do not get rent reduction. What I do get is money for work performed on behalf of my landlord. So, I track my hours and my landlord pays me for all maintenance tasks at an agree upon rate. Then I pay my normal rent amount. This arrangement works well - if I have time I can do a lot around the place (or even work at his other buildings) and the end result is the same as if I had reduced rent. If I have a regular job and don’t have a lot of time he is free to hire someone else to do the work. You might consider a similar arrangement, so if the tenant does not fulfil his/her end of the bargain your mom gets the rent and will be able to hire other help if needed.
I am not of the opinion that you need a lawyer and a simple contract both parties agree to should work, but I would be very careful in defining the minimum level of effort and schedule to get the discounted rent. Otherwise you may ask the person to do tasks where they could get hurt that cause secondary problems which you may be liable for (e.g. shoveling snow results in back problems). The scheduling is also important because it is one thing if the renter is picking up extra groceries when they are otherwise out doing errands for themselves, but if they have to go out and get groceries as a special trip when they had otherwise made evening plans because your mother didn’t plan ahead, you can expect some friction.
I would try to be as specific as possible to say things like, shoveling of snow if required any time the renter is home, it has stopped snowing, and the drifts are over X inches high. And groceries will be picked up on Tuesdays and will consist of no more than X items. Perhaps even throw in a “no more than two emergency requests will be made in any 30 day period”. Try to anticipate all normal and possible emergency situations that may occur and list them out so everything is up front, and make it clear what the breakpoint is to get the discounted rent, and that if the discounted rent has not been achieved by some point, the renter is given advanced notice so it won’t be a surprise. If you get a good renter, none of this will be an issue, but if the otherwise nice guy/girl suddenly has a major life change, gets a girlfriend/boyfriend etc., you may suddenly see them desperately needing cheaper rent while at the same time being less available to do the required errands.
If you do this, then I agree with **Broomstick **as a practical matter to keep a normal rent and a normal lease/rental agreement. Then pay cash or apply a rent credit for each task only after each task is done with written confirmation in some kind of log to be signed off by both parties with a notation about the value of the rent credit. Each new task is a separate contract.
If anything goes wrong with the jobs getting done to your satisfaction, at least you still have a full valid rental agreement/lease in place and you can stop the tasks without affecting the lease.
If one can believe anything that is said on The Peoples Court, the states in the northeast may have quite specific laws and rules and regulations with regard to landlord tenant relations, renting and the like. Legal advice is advised. Perhaps a paralegal could tell you all you need to know.
I’d be worried about minimum wage laws, unemployment compensation laws, workman’s comp laws, withholding etc etc. I’m sure there is a way to avoid all those problems but better safe now, than with an irate tenat that is suing you later