The holiday gift I gave my landlord helped me avoid a rent increase
- My gift seemed to impress the owner and he later sent a lease renewal at the same rent
- But giving a landlord a gift is unusual and not necessary in corporate-owned buildings
Who gets their landlord a Christmas present? Isn’t thousands of dollars in rent each month enough?
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This year, I had something on my holiday shopping list that would make many New York City renters balk: a gift for my landlord.
In addition to searching for a book for my parents and a poster for my partner, I scoured NYC for a present that would endear myself to the owner of my Brooklyn building—a tall man I’ll call Robert. While the search wasn’t easy, that purchase may have helped me avoid a rent increase.
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Getting to know my landlord
I should start by saying that I didn't give gifts to previous landlords and it is not appropriate in every situation. Case in point: My last NYC landlord spoke to me only twice: when she (illegally) tried to charge me for an extra month of rent at lease signing, and again when I moved out. My landlord before her—a mysterious LLC—forced me out when it raised my rent by almost 20 percent. Living in NYC, I was used to having to cajole building owners into performing basic repairs—or respond to my questions.
I moved to my most recent apartment two years ago, and expected to learn nothing about my new landlord other than where to send my rent check. But Robert was different. A polite, chatty guy, Robert gave me his cell phone number, promptly responded to questions, and made repairs as soon as I requested them. He lived in the area and checked in every two months, but never lingered during a visit.
In other words, he did his job. In NYC, where bad landlords abound, it felt like a miracle.
My great gift debate
Six months into our lease, my roommate and I had found ourselves in the uncomfortable position of gushing about our landlord to our friends. (Uncomfortable because 20-something Brooklynites aren’t usually fans of landlords.) When the 2023 holiday season rolled around, she proposed that we get Robert a small gift.
I recoiled at first—after all, who gets their landlord a Christmas present? Isn’t thousands of dollars in rent each month enough? Does he deserve a gift for performing his job—behavior that should really be considered the bare minimum?
But I quickly realized I was asking the wrong questions—at least for the moment. Instead, I asked myself: Will this gift help us stay in this apartment in the long run?
The answer was yes. Robert was surprised and impressed by our gesture: a small box of treats from a local bakery. A few months later, he sent us a renewal lease at the same rent. For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have to worry about how I would afford a rent hike.
A new holiday tradition
Unfortunately, Robert is the rare exception to my experience renting. If you live in a building owned by a large owner—say, a private equity company—it's impossible to have a personal relationship with your landlord. (Nobody needs to mail Blackstone a present; they have enough money.) And if your landlord is failing to provide a safe and habitable environment, baked goods won’t change that.
But with a local like Robert, my roommate and I had the chance to build a relationship that would help all of us for years to come. And this past December, Robert returned the favor. He got us a small bottle of wine for the holidays, before we had even given him our gift.
That bottle of wine proved something to me: Robert values our amicable landlord-tenant dynamic as much as we do. While there’s no way to know for sure if he didn’t raise our rent because of our gifts, it’s certainly helped to keep us in his good graces. Hopefully, it’ll help keep us in this apartment too.
