A landlord surprised their struggling tenant with a nice Christmas gift—a rent cut

The ongoing pandemic has been tough on all of us, but particularly those who lost their jobs or had their salaries docked. This meant Christmas may have looked a little different. In addition to being away from family, many of us simply did not have the funds to celebrate in the way that we may have wanted to. This was definitely the experience for one tenant in a rented apartment. Reddit user Chris, who goes by the username Neogalik, took to the website in order to share the only Christmas gift they received in 2020—a letter from their landlord stating that they only had to pay half their usual rent.

The post was uploaded to the subreddit HumansBeingBros, where users share acts of kindness. The user wrote, "[I] didn’t get any Christmas presents this year except [one] from my landlord. Has no idea how much I’m struggling." In the post, Chris uploaded a photo of a Christmas card. It read, "Season's greetings and best wishes for the coming year." In addition to this, their landlord had scribbled a note for them. "Chris, I figured the best Santa gift for you would be taking off half the January rent," the landlord penned. "So just pay $440 at the end of this month."

First of all, this is probably a testament to how a $600 stimulus check would mean absolutely nothing but pennies to most American citizens. However, secondly, this is an example of how landlords can show kindness to their tenants at a time when many are struggling. Moratorium periods can only go so far, and it is time for landowners and others in similar positions of power to act. Our policy is unlikely to budge any time soon, especially as the transition of executive powers is currently underway.

Reddit users in the comments section expressed how much they, along with Chris, appreciated the landlord's gesture of compassion. One user commented, "Sounds like a solid landlord. Peace to you both. I genuinely wish you the best going forward." Another added, "Must be such a relief and blessing. Wishing you better times soon and sorry to hear it was the only present you got but still a wonderful one." Meanwhile, others shared their terrible experiences with their own landlords: "The only thing my landlord ever did for me was not bother to fix anything and make me figure it out myself." Others, still, shared how they were evicted just ahead of Christmas. As we enter 2021, let us hope we can take compassion and empathy with us.