work-trade tenant now expects money

[monkeyflower]

This one is strange. I own my own home. I put an ad on cragslist asking for a renter who wanted to trade work for a room. He did a fair amount of work, but did a lot of expensive damage in the process. After 3 months I gave him 30 days notice to leave telling him that I had no more work for him. He has moved out, but is now sending me a bill. Should I respond to him? I never said that he was going to get paid, and his damages far outweigh his improvements.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

If he sues you over this bill, how is he going to show that you two had a contract where he was to get paid a certain amount for his work?

Gail