With the country almost in lockdown, an amazing act of kindness from a landlord who is not collecting rent in April and advising others to also do so, is warming hearts all over the country.
Nathan Nichols owns two units in Portland, Maine, and both are occupied by hourly workers. One of the apartments is home to a couple with a young child.
“My sister is in the service industry and she was getting stressed out about the income she was going to lose,” Nichols said. “I knew my renters were feeling the same way. I wanted to ease a little bit of that. I know how damaging it can be for a kid to live through this kind of stress.”
In a post that has gone viral on Facebook with more than 23,000 shares, Nichols urged other landlords to “take a serious look” at their own situation and consider giving “some rent relief.”
The computer programmer has received lots of messages from strangers who are out of work because of the coronavirus.
“Everyone’s on edge right now,” Nichols revealed. “A lot of people are like ‘Can I be your tenant?’ They’re just a few paychecks away from big trouble. Some have reached out asking if I have more apartments to spare.”
People have praised Nichols with several Facebook commenters calling him a “hero.”
“So many people (including myself) were told that our jobs have shut down for 2 weeks maybe even longer and right now we have no money – it’s scary. So this simple act of kindness is truly amazing. God bless you!” wrote one person.
“Thank you for being so generous. We can all learn from you,” added another.
Nichols’ tenants also appreciated their landlord’s kindness, one of them sent him a text recently saying, “I realize you’re taking a hit for us, and that means so much.”
