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NYC Landlord Waives Rent For Hundreds Of Tenants: 'Don't Worry About Paying Me'

Updated September 6, 2021

There is a lot of bad news out there right now, not to mention all of the terrifying rumors being started by trolls and then spread by well-meaning, but scared, people.

What's kind of nice to see, though, is how so many smaller, heartwarming stories are beginning to force their way through the cloud of suck. It's like we're all collectively deciding to share the good stuff in hopes of balancing out the bad.

And I am here for it.

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For example, aside from the virus itself, economic anxiety is crazy high right now.

No matter how much aid governments and organizations plan to give, it's basically impossible to ensure that everyone has what they need and when they need it.

As April 1, 2020 rolled around this past week, renters began to sweat, and not just because this entire year has felt like a poorly thought-out April Fools prank.

With a record number of people in need of financial aid, even the fastest moving bureaucracy was going to struggle to hit that April rent target.

Unsplash | Nick Pampoukidis

So people have looked to landlords for answers.

In some cases that means a grace period until government cheques arrive, in others it means allowing payment in smaller instalments.

Some people have pushed to just have all rent payments stopped during this crisis.

But that isn't financially feasible for many smaller building owners who may need that rent money to keep their own lights on. Every tenant and their landlord is going to have a different situation to deal with.

But one Brooklyn landlord is leading by example, showing that building owners who can afford to lighten their tenants' loads, should.

NBC News

Mario Salerno owns 80 units for 200 tenants spread across Williamsburg and Greenpoint. On March 30, he posted notices stating that all April rent payments were being waived.

"STAY SAFE, HELP YOUR NEIGHBORS & WASH YOUR HANDS!!!" the signs said.

Salerno owns a local gas station and told the tenants to call him there if they have questions.

"I want everybody to be healthy, he told NBC News. "That’s the whole thing."

"For me, it was more important for people’s health and worrying about who could put food on whose table. I say don’t worry about paying me, worry about your neighbor and worry about your family."

h/t NBC News

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