Structuring a live in nanny this way...
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Anonymous
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DS has had an amazing nanny for the Past year. She was living with her boyfriend in his condo but recently dumped him. She's been having trouble finding a decently priced place near us because most of her friends are paired off and she doesn't love the idea of living with a stranger. Recently she expressed interest in moving into the in law apartment attached to our house (it's been vacant since my mom died last year).
Most advice I read about a live in nanny involve paying Her less in exchange for room and board. DH and I were thinking of keeping her pay the same and then drafting a lease agreement and she would pay a small amount each month. Because she had her own anemities, she would be in Charge of her own food etc. Basically we would have two separate roles and two separate contracts. Employer/employer and landlord/tenant. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
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First, are you legally allowed to rent out that part of your house? If you are doing it this way, you may really run into some legal issues from that end.
Second, if you decided you no longer needed her as your nanny, would you want to have her move out as well? What if you needed to fire her for cause? Third, you should read up on rental laws and renters rights in your jurisdiction. You should know what you were getting into from that end. |
Anonymous
| I think its reasonable. I'd ask for $500-600 a month to cover expenses with an agreement to increase it to $850-900 if you no longer need a nanny. |
Anonymous
I think it's too high. I would ask for $400 a month or maybe 15-20 additional babysitting hours (if she was interested in that) |
Anonymous
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You may want to consider the fact that many nannies get free housing just because the employers don't want an absent nanny due to snow conditions. She might opt for one of those jobs.
I never had a cut in compensation because of housing. The drawbacks usually balance out any benefits of living at your worksite. Believe me. |
Anonymous
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Op Here.
Thanks all. A few things It is a fully legal apartment attached to the back of our house. It was designed for my mom after my dad passed so that she could maintain her freedom but also so that she wasn't totally alone. The only thing she would have to share are the laundry machines, but she's able to access them without even having to enter a main part of our house. Since she's the one who approached us about the apartment, I'm not too worried that she'd look elsewhere She's been with us for 3 years so I'm not really worried is ever have to fire her for cause We were thinking of cbarging $300 a month. Part of the appeal for us was that having a separate legal tenant /landlord agreement would cover both parties in case the employment relationship ended. Thanks all. She's off until Wednesday but I think DH and I have a good idea on how to at least open the line of communications about this situation! |
Anonymous
Considering all the details, I think your proposal is a fair one. |
Anonymous
| This is a recipe for disaster. |
Anonymous
This sounds great, and it sounds like you covered all the basics. |
Anonymous
Good that OP has a better head than you do. |
Anonymous
Op here. Could you please explain more? I realize that many nannies don't want to be live ins but she was the one who brought it Up. Plus, the set up allows for pretty good privacy away from us. But yes, please explain more. I'm open To hearing about things I may be missing! |
Anonymous
| I think it sounds like a reasonable agreement. |
Anonymous
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Sounds like a great set up. Think about weather and traffic -- no need to worry about commute issues or snow days. Nanny is right there!
I don't think the laundry is a negative by any means -- plenty of apartments don't have an in-unit washer dryer. Your set up is much better than a communal laundry room where you have to worry about heavy duty machines destroying your clothes. The one thing I would give thought to is guests and how you will handle that. |
Anonymous
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I would think long & hard before doing this.
It could work out if you all discuss the rules/changes involved. Remember, being someone's landlord is a job in itself just like you stated. If you all can agree to the terms in the "Landlord/Tenant" lease agreement, then I think that this is a wonderful thing for you to do for your nanny. Getting to pay a reduced fee in rent is an awesome perk! Good luck. |
Anonymous
What you are missing is that the setup you are contemplating makes you two things with two SEPARATE sets of obligations: landlord and employer. That means that you, as a landlord, will have all liabilities and obligations of a landlord. Do you have a good idea of what these are in your jurisdiction? Do you understand what things and procedures you will have to undertake as a landlord? Do you know if you need a business license as a landlord? Do you know what, if any, inspections are required for this to be a legal rental? Do you know what her rights are as a tenant, especially in the event that your nanny/employer relationship is severed? You are assuming that her tenancy will be concurrent with her employment; this may not be the case. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. In DC, for instance, it is very difficult to terminate the tenancy you no longer want. So the nanny will be able to stay at this apartment, at this ridiculously low rate, for as long as she wishes, and not necessarily for ONLY as long as she wants. You are much better off structuring this as a straightforward live-in nanny agreement because under this scenario you have a lot more rights and they are much more clear-cut. The landlord/tenant relationship is qualitatively and legally different from nanny/employer, and I think, having read this, that you are assuming that the two will merge, while they are in fact completely separate. |