Gifting tenants? Either during Xmas etc

Hi all,

Just wanted to see if this is normal or am I being to generous.
Every Xmas I gift my tenants. Usually a couple hundred dollars in fuel cards or eftpos cash cards. One of the tenants lives a couple of streets away so I bring over a case of beer to them also.
I only have two tenants to gift each year (so far) and I know many of you on PC will go broke gifting your tenants due to the amount of tenants you have.


The way I see it, treat this like a business and the tenants are your customers. Treat the tenants right and respect them because at the end of the day a little goes a long way.

 

Mine get a $50 eftpos gift card.

Except for one tenant I have had for 15 years, she gets a $100 card

 

I see it as my Property Manager is my “employee” or “contractor” so any gifting I might make will go to him/her. Tenants are my PM’s customers so he/she can reward them or not.

I suppose if I was self-managing (and I’m not) it might be different.

 

My brother in-law gives $150 hampers to his 2 Tennents.
If they do the right thing by you I don't see why not it's a personal choose.
I don't see anything in the residential act to say either way

 

I used to think maybe a gift would be a nice gesture,
but call me cynical but a tenant who is willing and will to screw you over will behave the same gift or no gift

so no for me

 

As an aside, any gift valued at over $60 given to any strata agent in nsw must be reported.
So you get a bottle of Silver Patron Tequila and legally we have to send out 20,000 letters advising our clients that we have received a gift.

 

find a shop that has it for $59.95

 

No, never. Tenants pay for a service, Lessor/Agent doesn't owe them anything. Has anyone ever asked the question do tenants gift their Lessor/Agent? haha

 

I don't/wouldn't. I was meant to get a gift card for my troubles when the hot water system broke in the apartment we were renting about one week before we were due to vacate. Still waiting for that gift card since 2013

 

I organise for a welcome hamper to kick off the new tenancy. If it helps the tenant decide to stay on another year with a landlord who responds to repair requests and doesnt hike rent unrealistically, great. If not, its a small expense for a goodwill gesture.

 

My gift to the tenant is that they get to live in a nice house for about a third of the cost it would be if they owned it themselves. They have few worries about maintenance, the properties are safe, they don't worry about council & water rates or land tax.

I do nice things for good property managers though.

 

Personal choice. I have a few Landlords that offer gifts and some tenants really appreciate it, some don't. I think it's a nice gesture and in the right situation can foster a positive relationship between all parties.

 

I give them a nice house or unit to live in and be able call it their home. The properties are in good condition when they start the tenancy and it's up to them to look after the day to day living / cleaning.

We respond to all repair request based on a priority basis (or priority) and we do all our own repairs except in the USA.

We also leave them in peace. We don't inspect regularly mainly because we check things when we go a do repairs. With this method we are the ones doing the inspection not some 20+ year old from the RE who has no clue and concerns themselves with the dust level and things that we aren't going to attend to such as a chip of paint on the door frame or a nick in the gyprock. I guess they have to put something in their report.

In fact the tenants tend to give us Xmas presents. Things like home baked cakes or cheap box of chocolates etc, but this is mainly because we go on site and we also occupy one of our 1br units as an office. This unit is one of the 15 units in the block so they know who we are.