Landlord Splits Profits With Former Tenants After Selling House

A landlord has been praised online after he flogged his home and shared the profits with his former tenants who helped him pay off the mortgage.

Chris Robarge, who lives in Massachusetts in the US, shared a letter he received from his former landlord as well as a $2,500 (£1,800) cheque.

The former tenant decided not to reveal the landlord's identity but shared a photo of the note he received in which he explained he was 'glad to share' the cash.

Facebook/Chris Robarge

The letter read: "As you may know I recently sold the house. As a tenant of the property, some of the rent you paid each month contributed to paying off the principal of my mortgage.

"I firmly believe that the capitalist tradition of retaining that money after the sale of a property is exploitative and antithetical to a just society.

"I tried to keep the rent equivalent to the monthly expenses of keeping the house (mortgage principal, mortgage interest, taxes, insurances, utilities, improvements).

"While the mortgage principal, especially in the first years of a mortgage, is a small fraction of those overall expenses, I wanted to return to you that portion of the rent you paid.

"I calculated the amount of principal you paid each month you lived there, split it by who was living in the house at the time, and added 40 percent (the increase in value of the home from when I bought it).

Facebook/Chris Robarge

"While it's not much, it's yours! It was a great house and I'm glad that I was able to share it with you."

Sharing the letter on Facebook, Chris said: "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.

"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."

And it isn't just Chris who was left bowled over by the gesture - his post has since gone viral with social media users claiming they were left in tears after reading his story.

Facebook/Chris Robarge

One person said: "WOW that's unheard of! What a beautiful, and real, gesture."

Another wrote: "Great to know good people still living in this world."

Chris has since said he will give the cash to a good cause.

Topics: Inspirational, US News

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19