Landlord stuns former tenant with incredibly generous gesture

Landlords don’t always get the best publicity, but one has become an internet icon thanks to their incredible generosity.

The unidentified homeowner stunned one of their former tenants by sending him a four-figure cheque in the post.

The recipient, Chris Robarge, shared the heartwarming story on Facebook, explaining that his former landlord had asked him to send his new address.

He explained that the person had rented him a space in his house after he got divorced, and that he “paid a completely fair amount of money”.

“[I] really enjoyed my time there, and like all rental situations, I figured that was that,” Robarge said.

However, that wasn’t the end of the story, he revealed that he’d received a cheque for $2,500 (around £1,800), along with a letter from his ex-landlord.

In the note, they said they were selling their house and had decided to pay “every tenant they ever had for what we contributed to the profit they made from selling [it].”

“I have been sitting with this for more than a day and I am still completely beyond an actual way to describe what this act means to me,” Robarge wrote.

“All that I can say is that there are people who talk about their values and there are people who actually live them, and the reason I wanted to share this is that I want to encourage us all to actually live our values. Do it off the clock, do it when no one is watching, do it always.”

His post was met with delight from fellow social media users, racking up more than 10,000 likes.

“Gives us a bit of humanity back,” wrote one admirer, while another said it was “probably the best thing I’ve read all year”.

Responding to the outpouring, Robarge issued an update detailing what he planned to do with the money.

“I am keeping $500 to put towards some major work my car needs [and] I am giving away the rest of the money,” he said.

“I want this good deed to reach as far as possible.”

He explained that he’d already given $500 to anti-prison and LGBTQ+ charity Black and Pink Massachusetts, and to a food poverty initiative.

He said he would also be making a donation to Black history learning institute OurStory Edutainment, and would hand out some money out in the streets “to people who need it”.

Robarge concluded his post: “If you can’t do what my former landlord did, let this inspire you to give whatever you can spare to someone or someplace that needs it.”