I agreed to renovate my Landlord’s property for low rent but I can’t afford it

[aeveasdaky1074]

Last year I was struggling to find somewhere to rent and was offered a place with cheap rent with the clause that I had to completely renovate it. The place was completely unliveable at first so I spent a grand I had in savings on fixing the central heating and renovating the lounge and master bedroom so I could actually live there. I’ve been working away at the rest of the house but at the moment money is tight and my landlord is pressing for the work to get done as he intends to sell the house. I currently can’t make any more progress until I can buy more resources and I don’t want to get evicted early for not following up on my promise to him. What can I do?

 

[kevinrobbins]

@aeveasdaky1074 What's your tenancy agreement say? Did you agree how much you would spend for discounted rent? e.g if you are saving £200 a month on rent have you spent 5 months on rennovations? It seems to me like you're getting a bad deal because are you really saving anything if you're rennovating a place you're going to get kicked out of as soon as its done.

 

[mb60867]

@kevinrobbins Also if you're living in a shithole building site the whole time while doing unpaid work, the amount of rent that would be chargeable/is being saved is pretty debateable.

 

[rexreid7777]

@mb60867 I was going to say that at the minimum wage of £11.44, painting the house would work out in labour quite a lot without the materials

 

[melchizedek]

@rexreid7777 My husband is a painter and decorator, he won't even touch a job for under £30 an hour, that's his absolute lowest price.

 

[shelbyalvarez]

@melchizedek £30 an hour for a painter...(assume that excludes paints) wow prices have gone up soo much since I did a full refurbishment. So around £250 a day minimum? Where abouts in the country are you?

 

[sunny7day]

@shelbyalvarez Most tradesmen around my area are charging around £250-300 a day.

 

[mb60867]

@rexreid7777 Sure but I mean the theory is that any discount will eventually add up over time to be equal to or greater than a fair payment for the job. I'm questioning whether the concept of the "discount" is even valid, because it's a barely liveable building site that likely could not be rented out at any price for most of the time during the reno.

 

[zarmos]

@rexreid7777 OP isn't employed though

 

[reallyray79]

@zarmos So what, doesn’t mean their time doesn’t have a value

 

[zarmos]

@reallyray79 It means they aren't legally entitled to minimum wage (and people can continue to throw tantrums and downvote it as much as they like, it doesn't change it).

 

[reallyray79]

@zarmos Under what grounds?

If the landlord pushed to evict them and the tenant claimed they had kept up their end I.e. roughly time and materials add up to the rent saved they will calculate time at a min of minimum wage

Everyone is entitled to minimum wage in cash or equivalent unless it meets certain exemptions I.e. own company, volunteer work (this isn’t volunteer as there is consideration), government scheme etc

 

[stargrl232]

@reallyray79 OP would almost certainly be self-employed/a contractor in this circumstance.

 

[floridaman]

@zarmos That makes no sense? Because someone doesn't currently have a job, they are not legally entitled to minimum wage? If they got a job, it would be at at least minimum, since they are legally entitled to at least that much.. I don't see how this is any different

 

[savedbygrace1999]

@zarmos Are you the landlord?

 

[rkapplied]

@zarmos This is about accurately assigning value to the renovations OP has been doing. Most people only count the materials costs and completely neglect the time they've spent (even when its renovating their own homes).

People bring up NMW in this context, because its the lowest someone can be paid for a job, so when working out how much it's cost them they should be factoring in at least the time spent at NMW. It's why some people can better judge when to pay a pro or DIY, and there's also the time value of money. OP has spent their spare time doing up someone else's house to no benefit, they could've spent that free time doing almost anything else either of personal or professional value that would most likely have benefitted them more than free labour for their landlord.

 

[heartnsoul19]

@zarmos I'd argue this could be construed as disguised employment.

 

[byfaithalone2011]

@kevinrobbins This [sup].[/sup] Also, even if its not in, I think you need to run the numbers. What was the difference between the market rent and what you're paying per month. Multiply by no of months you've lived there, and compare it to what you've spent. If you're miles under, you might have a problem. If you're about right, time to make a decision on staying or going. If you've spent more, sit tight until it levels out.

 

[davidofchrist]

@byfaithalone2011 Factor in the Landlord doesn’t have to pay tax as he’s not getting ‘income’ (that he would then use to pay someone to do renovation work).

By the way - tax deductions (for the landlord) are only allowed on repairs not renovations unless it’s setup as a business.

 

[reallyray79]

@byfaithalone2011 Also factoring in labour time