One tenant's furnace went out and the HVAC guy wasn't able to come until the next day and so I brought a large space heater over for the tenant. She said, "The last landlord wouldn't have done this!"
A lot of tenants don't expect much from a landlord and even a simple gesture can go a long way. I had one tenant ask if she could move a couch into the vacant unit I was rehabbing she had signed a lease for. It was maybe two weeks prior to her move-in date.
I said, "Sure." and she responded, "OMG! I didn't think you'd say yes! Thank you!" I was struck that some tenants are shocked when a landlord does something nice... makes you wonder how bad of an experience they had with a prior landlord.
I put $50 on the tenant's water bill when there was a slow leak in the line.
I just made an apartment partially furnished for a new tenant who has no furniture. Cost, about $600.
I gave another tenant an extra kitchen table and chairs when they had none. No real cost.
I routinely let tenants move in furniture a few days before their lease starts. No real cost.
A lady did not have money for a security deposit. She stopped by after an apartment was structurally finished, but not cleaned to ask if she could rent it. We were just finishing the flooring and trim. I offered to let her rent it without a security deposit if she wanted it in the condition it was and she would have to clean it completely before she moved in. She did and cleaned that apartment better than we would have. It took her 3 days of cleaning it as we finished the apartment across the hall. Rented the one across the hall to her friends. I told her if she left it clean she would get a $250 check because that is what I would pay for cleaning.
My parents had rented a house to a tenant for many years. He was unable to work at a grocery store because the clerks were on strike. The butchers were in a different union and had settled their contract, but they could not cross the strike line or they would be out of the union, and the job. So in their situation they got nothing-no union strike $, no unemployment, no salary. My parents told them that they could pay the rent late, after he got back to work they would set up a payment plan. The strike lasted something like 4 months! But my parents waited, knowing this family would never be able to catch up with his salary without it being a real struggle. So after the strike ended, they set up the schedule that would take a year to catch up. After the tenant paid the extra amount the first month, my parents said they showed their intension to pay it back and forgave the rest of the rent they missed. That cost about 4 months rent, but was well worth it. The tenants rented that house for 39 years and 11 month!
If a unit is fully ready and I already have a tenant lined up, I will allow them to start moving in a few days before the official lease date without any extra cost (assuming I have the security deposit and first month's rent, in full).
Now that I'm thinking about it, I do a lot of freebie gifting!
For example, I have a tenant who is partially living and partially using my rental house as an AirBnB (I knew that ahead of time). The previous tenants had moved out, but only took their clothes. I took the few things I wanted and actually threw out or put on the curb most of the other stuff before I did showings. But I'd kept all the plateware and pots/pans in the cabinets, jic the next tenant might want them. He was SO thrilled I'd done that! All of it was stuff he would have had to buy anyway.
I also had a win-win with a tenant last year. She was moving in, but didn't have any furniture. Coincidentally, an evicted tenant had moved out a few days prior and left their living room set and large tv armoire. We were just going to throw them out/leave them on the curb. But I told the tenant she could have them, if she wanted them, and be responsible for moving them out. We saved them for her for a few days and made arrangements to meet her with brother and dad at that other unit. She wanted the furniture items and was ecstatic to get them for free. We were happy to have someone else take them away!
I had a set of tenants who were in the process of buying a house. They ran into a lot of bumps and their closing kept getting pushed out, even though they had already given me a 30-Day notice they were leaving. Fortunately for them, I was planning to redo the kitchen when they moved out, so I wasn't looking for a new tenant yet anyway. I allowed them to shorten the notice to only 14 days because their closing had become such a moving target.
As it turned out, for their last notice when all the ducks were in a row and they were definitely moving out on X day, they were going to be a few days shy of the two weeks. They asked if I would forgive the prorated rent for those days. I didn't have to and they understood that. However, they'd been fantastic tenants and I agreed to it. It was a loss of about $160, but I've never regretted that decision. In my own heart, I felt it would have been greedy to have insisted on it just because I could. To me, it wasn't a real loss because it only meant I started on my kitchen reno four days earlier.
I will usually allow tenants early access. A couple tenants ago this became a problem as they kept moving the date closer and closer and ended up getting me to agree to let them in 2 weeks early, and a day earlier than we agreed which meant I had to take a day off work and pull an all nighter to have it mostly ready. The pushed again the day of move in and I told them they can take it as is and return clean or they would have to wait which they were fine with, at least until I reminded them they had agreed to clean it on moveout and were upset I took the deposit. Usually thought it works out and I suggest it to them for a few days to a week and they are always thankful. It helps me as well since I tell them they can get access the day the utilities are turned over so saves me on utilities and keeps the house from being vacant.
Quite a few things come to mind, and tenants have always been extremely grateful. It's amplified even more so in lower income neighborhoods as there are a lot of terrible landlords out there. Just being human & treating people like people will go a long ways, always empathizing with tenants.
The biggest one was me helping my tenant get proper permits & licenses (store owner in a commercial retail strip) which I had inherited when I bought the building. Also helped with some basic budgeting, planning, etc. He was not aware of the process to license/permit, did not understand it, and couldn't navigate it solo. After he got hit with a fine, I helped him maneuver through the courts, filling applications, directing to the right people, etc. I took 6 different days off/half days/"fake sick days" to go to court or other places to assist in this process which spanned well over a year. It was literally handholding through the entire (cumbersome) process which the city did not make it any easier to do business in either. This was tough enough for me as it is, so taking that extra step, supporting the tenant, also was a good experience for me.
Of course I had a vested interest to assist, but it was a lot of work. I just like business, businesses, and knew that if he could get it properly set up he could do much better. Tenants are forever grateful for these because it is a lot of time invested, care, etc. in them & their business.