I personally write a short letter thanking them being good tenants. and a $50 gift card. Come to think of it, $50 a year equals only $1 a week as a reward. They pay hundreds of dollars to me every week.
Clearly you don't have many properties.
Some posters in this thread seem to have difficulty differentiating between a reward and fulfilling your contractual obligations.
Landlord receives rent, tenant receives right to occupy. This is not a reward on either side.
Exactly!
Many moons ago (parent's sold ip) we had a son who rented our place to look after his elderly father. Each Easter & Xmas we would provide a hamper from the big chains or we would do it ourselves of around ~$50 and two movie tickets.
He kept the lawn nice and tidy contrary to the rest of the tenants we came across - we never had one we left on friendly terms, all were lukewarm experiences where we both had to compromise and overlook a few things to "move on".
He also pitched in his own money and effort once and removed trees on the boundary so we could put in a new diving fence with our neighbour. We gave him a decent rate - was slightly below market rate but it was priceless, stayed 5 yrs, place looked better than when he entered it, no issues whatsoever.
Yes, there ARE good tenants. This tenant would have been a good tenant regardless!
Sheesh, some of you think that the way they keep their home is a direct response to them getting a $50 gift card? Seriously!
I've got more than a few properties. I have never once given a tenant a gift. It is business, pure & simple. Nothing else! Mind you, I have given the odd gift to a PM when they have had to go above & beyond due to a tardy tenant, but I don't make a habit of it.
Tenants don't decide to trash a house, or clean a house dependant on gifts. They don't think "Oh, this landlord is lovely, he always gives us a present. Let's stay here another year because I just can't bear to get a different Landlord".
A tenant will stay for as long as they want to stay. If you treat them poorly, then it might make them decide to move on, but if you fulfil your contractual obligations as far as a Landlord is concerned, if they like the place, they like the area, and their situation has not changed, they will stay there. It has nothing at all to do with giving them gifts.
Good tenants need to be rewarded - something small as a token of appreciation.
No they don't!
I have a fantastic tenant in one of my properties. He's been renting the house for around 10 years now. He fixes stuff all the time, and he's painted it most years. I don't generally like tenants painting my properties, but he's a painter by trade, so it's always a first class job. We only ever find out when the agent goes for an inspection. He definitely treats the house as his own, and he is a great tenant. He doesn't get a gift! Why not, because he is just fulfilling his side of the contract. I never ASKED for the property to be painted. I never asked for him to fix stuff. He did it because he wanted to.
I have other tenants that treat my IP's well, and stay long term. They don't get gifts either.