Be a Compassionate Landlord

I recently heard this story from a landlord. Just an ordinary Mum and Dad investor, with a 3 br townhouse in the suburbs.

Our tenant was a few weeks behind on her rent, and the agent was chasing them. The tenant was a young single woman who didn’t speak much English. Suspecting that she had lost her job due to the lockdowns, the landlord instructed the agent to make the following offer to the tenant:

Pay half rent, which should be covered by Centrelink rent assist.
Pay it each fortnight
Until you get a new job, then
Go back up to full rent and pay off the accumulated shortfall over 12 or 16 weeks.

Her employment situation was temporary and due to circumstances outside her control, and if the landlord had pushed for eviction she may well have ended up homeless. This way, the tenant got to stay in safe accommodation and the landlord will eventually collect all their rent, albeit over a longer time, but in this case the landlord could carry a short term reduction in cash flow and not have vacancy and re-letting costs.

That’s a win win!