Maine landlord won’t collect rent during coronavirus pandemic
Nathan Nichols is being claimed as a “hero” for telling his tenants not to pay rent during April.
He acts as a landlord for six properties in South Portland, Maine. Many of his tenants may face financial hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, news station WFTV reported.
“I ask any other landlords out there to take a serious look at your own situation and consider giving your tenants some rent relief as well,” Nichols wrote in a Facebook post.
COVID19 is going to cause serious financial hardship for service and hourly workers around the country. I own a two...
Posted by Nathan Nichols on Friday, March 13, 2020
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All of Nichols’ tenants are service workers and rely on hourly wages to pay their rent. As more restaurants and businesses are temporarily shutting down, these tenants are at risk of being forced to move out.
"One of my units is one family with a small child on a single income that is hourly, and I know that they are under financial stress a lot of the time. It would be a lot more expensive for me to lose a tenant than to give one month's rent off," Nichols told WMTW.
“If more people do this, which is the only reason I posted this in the first place, to hopefully get people to take a hard look at what they can do to keep things working,” he said.
He claims the gesture of not collecting rent isn’t necessarily heroic.
“I am literally just not taking some money that people were giving me,” Nichols said.
Nichols said small acts of generosity can go a long way in uncertain times.
