Buy Your Tenant Something Nice This Christmas

I’m a firm believer in treating good tenants like they’re good tenants, otherwise what’s the point of them being a good tenant?

I’ve spoken about this before; i’ve mentioned how precious good tenants are; this is just an emphasise on that point. Tenants shouldn’t be taken for granted. Trust me, I know, because i’ve had some right fuckers for tenants before and they’ve truly made me appreciate those tenants that stand on the other side of the spectrum.

It is incredibly easy to end up with tenants that:

• don’t pay rent on time
• don’t pay rent. period
• don’t report important maintenance problems e.g leaks
• don’t treat your property like a home e.g keeps the place messy, eats off the carpet

Have you ever stopped to think about how lucky you are to have tenants that don’t do any of the above? Well, you should.

I’ve spoken to a few other landlords about this, and they think it’s unnecessary and somewhat unprofessional to buy a tenant a Christmas present, regardless of how good they are. I, of course, completely disagree.

The general arguments opposing my beliefs are:

• a landlord and tenant relationship should be strictly platonic, and by buying a present you go that little but too far.
• the money will be wasted. If your tenant is good, they won’t stop being good if you don’t buy them a Christmas present.

I do agree, that a truly good tenant will remain a good tenant even if you don’t buy them a present. But that’s besides the point. The point is that it’s nice to make them realise you are aware of their decency and you do appreciate them paying the rent on time and treating your property like a home.

People should get rewarded for good deeds. If my tenant is acting as a good tenant, I see no reason why I shouldn’t show a little appreciation, even if it is just once a year. If I work my ass off during my full-time job, it would go a long way if my boss noticed and consequently rewarded me. I think tenants deserve the same kind of recognition.

You don’t have to spend a fortune, a little something will go along way. I have a really good relationship with 2 of my tenants. We talk on regular occassions and I never have a problem with rental payments. They treat my property like a home and they’ve even spent their own money on making the places look nicer.

I purchased a bottle of Moet for each of my 2 appreciated tenants. They cost £30 each. Is that expensive? Not at all considering what they’ve done for me. I see it as an investment. Employees are valuable assets to a company, and that’s exactly what tenants should be to landlords. Invest in people.

What are the potential benefits of showing appreciation to your tenant?

• your tenant will continue to treat your property like a home
• it will improve your relationship with your tenant, which is never a bad thing
• you’ve given your tenant more incentive to continue renting from you
• your tenant will respect you that little bit more
• your tenant will be made aware of the fact you recognize how lucky you are to have them

So my advice is, reward your good tenants this Christmas with something a little nice. If you decide to splash out on your tenants, I’d love to hear what you’ve got them, no matter how big or small. If you’re unfortunate enough to have the bottom of the barrel, useless, knobs as tenants, then you can similarly send them what they deserve, a bag’o’shit:

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Attention! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed so you're notified of all new blog entries.

What To Do Next?

Leave A Comment On This Article Send Article To Friend Email Me (the admin)

Printable Version Suscribe To My RSS Feed Digg it