Living rent free but renovating as payment

[MyPeppyTurtle]

My sons have a holiday apartment in Greece. They are thinking of renting it out (free of charge) as long as the person living there renovates it. What should they include in the contract, should they pay for tiles, etc, or should the "renter" pay. The person is being given the option to start paying rent after a year or buy the place.

This sounds like a potential nightmare. Have they asked a solicitor in Greece?

surely the cost of renovating it would be more than what the rent would be? Sounds like a disaster in the making!

Do they already know someone they trust who would be up for this?

What degree of renovation? Is it just decoration or is it plumbing and electrics?

A full time job renovating would surely be worth more than the cost of rent even without the cost of tiles.

But I have seen lots of Facebook posts seeking and advertising places to live in return for work. On van life sorts of pages.

Would the renovated have to run everything past them?

How would they know that renovations are being done to Greek regulations ?

This sounds like a bonkers idea.

How on earth would they ensure that the tenant renovates to a good standard? They could be living there for free and doing bugger all, or perhaps worse, doing stuff badly.

They might be better off offering some of their more handy mates a free “working holiday” for a couple of weeks and getting it to a decent enough standard to sell.

Needs something in writing water tight. I personally would go for reduced rent rather than no rent, and give time scales for say each room, obviously depending on whether the renter has any specific trade ie electrician or plumber etc. I don’t know the legalities of doing this in Greece so they need proper legal advice.

What a strange concept and potential nightmare

This sounds like a disaster in the making. What sort of renovations? Who is to be the arbiter of whether the work is done to a good enough standard? You mention tiles - why not just get a tiler who’s experienced? (And even experienced tilers can do a rubbish job, as I know to my cost!) If someone chooses to take you up on this, how will they be able to afford to buy the house? Most people would rather pay rent than enter into some open-ended contract for never-ending “renovations”. I assume this potential renovator will also have a job, so won’t have that much time for work on the house - and it’s always easy to see a job done when you’re not doing it. The thing about builders and workmen is that they do the job all day, every day, not just a few hours here or there, and as they’ve done it before, they’re also a lot quicker. I wouldn’t be willing to let some amateur do a bodge job on my house. OP, I think you’re asking (and expecting) an awful lot.

This is a really bad idea. Inevitably the cost of labour involved will be more than the rent and the tenant will feel grumpy and resentful so stop doing any work. Then your son will get annoyed. Just do some basic work to get it fit for people. Rent it out for a year, save for renovations and get them done properly.

This sounds like your sons are trying to exploit free labour. How would you possibly agree what volume of work needs to be done in exchange?

It goes without saying most people earn more than they pay in rent, and will want to live in property that isn’t undergoing renovations.

Why don’t they support the local community and pay? They will recoup their spending in property value and/or income when the property is rented.

Also, it would be better for the person renovating if they did a shit job or nothing because then they could buy the house cheaper at the end of the year.
Could the renter maybe own a percentage of the property so that it is in their interests to do a good job and have a budget for the whole reno for materials and then their rent is just labour?

Sorry but what mad idea is this? How will the owners supervise any renovation to their standard? What person if genuine would spend money time renovating for a bed for the night. If the holiday home is in such a state that needs renovating would a person be able to stay their does it have water/ electric? If they own it yes rope people into help renovate it but don’t pretend it’s a free board and lodgings. This is highly cheeky of them free Labour indeed.

OP I suspect a lot of your answers come from people who are also landlords and they know what they are talking about. Is the property a bit of a white elephant that is not generating enough rental income to “ wash its face “‘ ? To make it work you’d need a tenant who is 1) a really good handyman 2) clued up on Greek building and rental regulations 3) honest 4) happy to walk away after investing all that time money and effort. It’s true, it’s potentially a minefield.

Oh dear lord.

What would be the benefit for your children doing it this way, as opposed to just doing the place up and then renting it out? Is it in a really bad condition? I can imagine how much headache it would be to agree timeline, budget and quality of finish, and deal with the issues when the said budget, timeline and / or quality of finish doesn't match with what was agreed. It takes a lot to arrange a house reno project remotely.

And what is up with the renter getting the option to buy the place or start paying rent after a year?

If the tenant buys, then what was the benefit for your children letting the tenant live there rent free for a year? They'd be better off if they had just sold now and invested the money.

Why would the tenant want to start paying rent after a year? Couldn't they just slack off for a year living rent free, and then move on? Or want reduced rent since it was them who made it liveable?

I really don't understand why your kids want to complicated their lives like this. Just renovate and rent, or just rent, or sell!

A lawsuit ready to happen.

We already live in Greece, so that's not such an issue, and all paperwork will be drawn up by a lawyer.

Thank you for this.

The plumbing and electrics have recently been done. So basically the renovation is cosmetic.