Ontario Landlords Association
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Ontario Landlord Question – My Tenants are Awesome, Should I Send Them a Gift Card or Other Christmas Present?

December 14th, 2012

An Ontario Landlord Asks: “Should I Give My Great Tenants Christmas Presents To Say Thank You?”

It’s a landlord question that comes up every December.

The landlord has great tenants who pay on time and respect the rental property.  They have never been late with rent and the rental unit looks better than ever…these tenants treat the property with care.

With so many bad tenants out there, the landlord feels grateful and wants to show his or her appreciation.

What better way than sending the tenants some nice gifts and presents for Christmas?

The question is especially popular this year because of a popular recent news story. A Los Angeles landlord who owns large buildings sent a special Christmas message to his tenants. In his message he told his tenants they would be receiving $70 their normal December rent.
Why the rent discount of $70? The landlord said he was doing this so all his tenants could have extra money to buy gifts for others during the holiday season.

It’s come up again on the Ontario Landlord Forums this December, 2012.

Here’s the question from the new landlord:

Hello everyone, very excited to find this organization and to share my experiences and question and answers with others.

I have my first set of tenants. One group has been with us since August 1 and the basement tenants have been with us since October 1.

(1) Do other landlords also give gift cards to tenants for a Christmas gift?

(2) What type of gift cards are best? Milestones? Bestbuy? Others?

(3) If not gift cards, what do you give?

Happy Holidays!!

So What Is The Right Answer? Should You Give Christmas Gifts to Your Best Tenants?

The answer is more complicated than you might first think.

You are turning a purely business relationship into something more personal. So before wrapping up that gift, consider the following:

1. What if you eventually have to evict these tenants? If there are personal feelings involved things can easily turn very nasty.

2. We live in a multicultural society, especially Toronto and the GTA. What if your tenants don’t celebrate Christmas?

3. What if your tenants don’t realize your true intentions and view the gift as you ‘showing off your wealth’ or ‘looking down on them’?

4. Your tenants are already happy with the property and how you run your rental business, so why rock the boat?

5. What if one tenant feels slighted because they feel you gave a better gift to another? There have been examples of tenants having problems with other tenants.

These are just some of the things you need to think about.

 

To Discuss This Go to the Ontario Landlords Forum and Find Out What Other Landlords Think About Giving Gifts to Tenants.

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