Landlords Permitting Tenant Repairs
We all have horror stories pertaining to landlords and tenant disputes. From a legal standpoint, a property owner who rents a dwelling must meet safety regulations and minimal standards of cleanliness and liability. Some of these standards are open to interpretation, certainly, but once they’re met, if you are a landlord, you aren’t going to be particularly interested in remodeling a rented unit unless it will yield more rent or help retain a favored tenant.
As a residential tenant, your lease or rental agreement normally precludes you from doing any alterations to your dwelling, even painting, without the owner’s permission. Often, a casual agreement is reached between a tenant and an owner allowing the tenant to do a prescribed amount of work to a rental unit in lieu of rent if it’s major work or if the owner provides the materials (paint usually). Either way, it can be a bad idea for both parties.
The risk for a tenant from a legal standpoint is that the moment you pick up a paint brush or a saw and hammer in exchange for money or rent, what you have done is to have entered into a contract. What happens if you fall off a ladder or you damage the property? What if you do sub-standard work that isn’t discovered until a later date, possibly after causing some damage or injury?
From the owner’s standpoint, the tenant has created a real mess. Would the tenant be considered an employee because they did the work for money? If so, to keep it legal, taxes and Social Security would have to be taken out, as well as state department of labor costs. If the tenant considers himself to be an independent contractor, then the legal problem of the license and the bond could also come into play.
If you do enter into any agreement to do work for rent or for separate payment, get it in writing. Have a document that spells out the terms of the work and the amount to be paid. Be sure the owner provides any materials up front so you don’t have to spend your cash.
These types of work arrangements are made all the time (often on low-rent properties), but only at the owner’s peril. Large, well-established property owners never allow this kind of work to be done by tenants, which means that, when it comes to remodeling your rental space, you could be out of luck.
From the tenant’s viewpoint, you don’t need to give up your remodeling fantasies completely, however. First, be an exemplary tenant and pay your rent on time and keep the premises clean. Present your case to your landlord by presenting him with drawings of your proposed changes and explain how they’ll improve the space (without increasing your rent, of course). Many owners are reasonable and will try to meet you halfway. Some proposals, such as adding some bookshelves, probably won’t present much potential legal jeopardy if you’re doing it for your own satisfaction without any expectation of payment. Remember, you’re renting. You don’t want to over improve the place and then turn the results of your labor over to the owner and the next tenant.
As a tenant, any work you do on your unit, even if it greatly improves it, can be held against you when you vacate the unit if it was done without the owner’s permission. At the very least, it provides a reason in the mind of a vindictive owner, to withhold your rental deposit.
If you do something major such as adding a deck or widening a doorway between a living room and a dining room, you can really have problems. Your lease is a legal agreement. If you don’t like the terms, change or negotiate them before you sign. Making unilateral remodeling decisions after you move in is an invitation to trouble.
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