We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Free Accommodation for caretaking
MillieMoodle
Posts: 32 Forumite
Hello,
Before we go down a path I was curious to get some opinions on if this would be an attractive option for someone (probably best if it were a couple).
We have a place in Central Portugal. We aren't able to move there quite yet and don't feel that its location and standard (it is rustic) are necessarily at the level of 'Holiday Accommodation' so attempting to book people there and charge them could be challenging. Just being honest. However, we have a place in a beautiful country with about 2 1/2 acres that has grape vines, olive trees, fruit trees and even a pool. The house has a bread oven and kitchen and such but it is small and as I said rustic. It is a short walk (250 meters) to the village with lots of shops, banks, and such. So a good life can be had with access to most of what you need and a lovely place to reflect and enjoy.
So while it isn't holiday central, it is something to offer right? We're not in a position, at least for a year, to really consider upgrading the place. So what we'd want to have is basically a caretaker who can keep it at least to the standard it is in (so making sure things are watered, kept clean, minor repairs) and possibly someone who would be a handyman kind of person who could do some work (not major building work but maybe painting and minor types of updates to the house). I think it would be ideal to someone who might be quite handy at home and possibly wants to take 7-8 months next year to write a book or something like that, have a chance to explore, in a wonderful location but keep costs down. Utilities and food would be there own to resolve (though the location is very inexpensive so won't be breaking the bank to keep yourself). There would be no tenants to manage - just the property and themselves of course.
I think it could be something that works for someone who is artistic and handy or someone who wants a break from the world of work for a bit but also handy. I am sure some on here might squabble with how much work is needed and if the pay off of free rent is really a benefit to the person doing it. It's a valid question but I hope you can also look at it from the owner's perspective as well and say what would your private, rural home in Portugal be worth? So all I am asking is look at it from the person who might be interested but also look at it from if you had this property, would you give it away to have someone stay just to water some plants (you could get a friendly neighbour to do that occasionally)? It has to be a balance that works for everyone and each party feels they are benefiting from it. It might be good for a couple, as the place could accommodate them comfortably but the work could be split.
Anyway, I'd like to get some feedback on if this sounds like heaven or hell or maybe purgatory? If it seems viable, what would a good balance be between caretaker and owner? Any thoughts at all would be good!
kind regards,
MillieMoodle
Before we go down a path I was curious to get some opinions on if this would be an attractive option for someone (probably best if it were a couple).
We have a place in Central Portugal. We aren't able to move there quite yet and don't feel that its location and standard (it is rustic) are necessarily at the level of 'Holiday Accommodation' so attempting to book people there and charge them could be challenging. Just being honest. However, we have a place in a beautiful country with about 2 1/2 acres that has grape vines, olive trees, fruit trees and even a pool. The house has a bread oven and kitchen and such but it is small and as I said rustic. It is a short walk (250 meters) to the village with lots of shops, banks, and such. So a good life can be had with access to most of what you need and a lovely place to reflect and enjoy.
So while it isn't holiday central, it is something to offer right? We're not in a position, at least for a year, to really consider upgrading the place. So what we'd want to have is basically a caretaker who can keep it at least to the standard it is in (so making sure things are watered, kept clean, minor repairs) and possibly someone who would be a handyman kind of person who could do some work (not major building work but maybe painting and minor types of updates to the house). I think it would be ideal to someone who might be quite handy at home and possibly wants to take 7-8 months next year to write a book or something like that, have a chance to explore, in a wonderful location but keep costs down. Utilities and food would be there own to resolve (though the location is very inexpensive so won't be breaking the bank to keep yourself). There would be no tenants to manage - just the property and themselves of course.
I think it could be something that works for someone who is artistic and handy or someone who wants a break from the world of work for a bit but also handy. I am sure some on here might squabble with how much work is needed and if the pay off of free rent is really a benefit to the person doing it. It's a valid question but I hope you can also look at it from the owner's perspective as well and say what would your private, rural home in Portugal be worth? So all I am asking is look at it from the person who might be interested but also look at it from if you had this property, would you give it away to have someone stay just to water some plants (you could get a friendly neighbour to do that occasionally)? It has to be a balance that works for everyone and each party feels they are benefiting from it. It might be good for a couple, as the place could accommodate them comfortably but the work could be split.
Anyway, I'd like to get some feedback on if this sounds like heaven or hell or maybe purgatory? If it seems viable, what would a good balance be between caretaker and owner? Any thoughts at all would be good!
kind regards,
MillieMoodle
0
Comments
-
do you know whether tenancy laws in Portugal would give (or rather wouldn't give) such a person security of tenure0
-
Hello,
I am not sure if I fully understand the question but I guess I understand it to be that you can't remove someone from their place of work without good reason? I guess the things I would argue back on that would be that there would be a contract of a specific time period that would be agreed to beforehand and it would not be long term only 7-8 months next year until we could shift our priorities around here to be able to change our living/financial situation. Like people who would be retiring and have a home in another country a little beforehand, can't move yet full time but found a great home a year ahead.
It may be that the person doing this would not be a Portuguese native, it could be a Brit wanting a break for a bit to write a book or something like that. There is a college in the village as well so it could be a mature student who would be studying and needing accommodation close by.
So again not sure if I fully understand the question and implications correctly but if I have, then I've tried to clarify that this is short term, agreed to by both parties, and may not even be a native.
Let me know if I've lost the plot!0 -
No this isn't about his "place of work", it's about his home.
In the UK if you "rented" somewhere to someone (to whom you aren't "connected") on the basis of zero rent, but an obligation to "tidy up and do repairs as required", this would probably be sufficient to form the basis of an enforceable rental agreement.
I would be very surprised if the rule wasn't the same in most countries. (BICBW)
So this brings us to Security of Tenure. In the UK, for an undocumented tenancy, this is 6 months, so as you want someone for 8 months this isn't too big a risk.
But what is the rule in Portugal? I have no idea, though the UK has the most lax tenancy laws in the whole of W Europe, so it wouldn't surprise me if (in any given EU country) it wasn't considerably longer, possible as long as life (or even longer).
And if that is the case, you are going to have to be very careful not to form such a tenancy. And this isn't going to be as simple as getting T to sign a scrappy contract that you drew up yourself.
And just relying upon the integrity of the person involved would be a nuts thing to do (YMMV).
Having said that, this is the sort of thing that might be of interest to me (yes really). Tell me more. (and you can rely on my integrity
HTH
tim0 -
ha ha! There's much to go through on this deal - we've got a place but it still needs to be completed. We're hoping it completes for 2014 - I didn't mention this all in the post as it seemed to complicate things beyond the original question so it's not an immediate need but I do want to have some ideas in place on how to get from point A to point B. I know we can't move there quite yet but I don't want it to go to rack and ruin in the meantime and thought there could be a way to find something that would be mutually beneficial to us as well as someone who's looking for a break in a warm, peaceful sunny location. As I said, because I'd consider it rustic I am not sure that it would be an attractive holiday option - people who take holiday want to use their limited time to have as much fun as they can in a nice setting for as little as possible and we'd still need a property manager - so we'd be operating at a loss! So I don't see that as a viable option and if the mutually beneficial contract of caretaker/free accommodation isn't workable, I'll need to go back to the drawing board a bit to think this through a bit and come up with a new brilliant idea!0
-
You could sign up to one of the services like trustedhousesitters.com maybe?0
-
ok - I will check that out! Thanks!0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.4K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.8K Spending & Discounts
- 244.4K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.1K Life & Family
- 257.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards