Three Families Knocked on My Gate the Week After the Hurricane. What Should I Charge Them?

A reader writes:

I own two small units behind my house in Westmoreland. I built them over many years with money from farming and a little from my son abroad. They are nothing fancy. Concrete, zinc roof with proper straps, burglar bars, a shared water tank. For years they have rented to teachers, a nurse, a young couple, people like that. I charge what I think is fair for the area and I sleep well.

After the last hurricane, one of the units was empty because the tenant had just moved to Kingston. My roof held. My neighbour’s did not, and neither did half the district’s. Within a week three different families came to my gate asking about the empty unit. A mother with three children whose board house was flattened. A man whose landlord’s building was declared unsafe. A couple both working at the hotel whose flat was flooded to the windows.

I will be honest about what went through my head, because I think it goes through a lot of our heads. Somebody in the district told me, “You could double it now and they would pay, man. That is just business.” And for a day, maybe two, I thought about it. I had repairs of my own to do, my fence was down and my mango tree was on the chicken coop. The money would have helped.

I did not do it. I rented the unit to the mother with the three children at the same rent I charged before, and I told the other two I would ask around for them. I am not writing to be praised. I am writing because I have since heard of rents in some places going up sharply after storms, of people being told to pay months up front, of landlords letting out rooms that are not safe because “beggars can’t be choosers”. I think this is wrong, and I think we should say so, especially those of us in the church.

Let me give my reasons, as a landlord and not as somebody who has never had to find money for a roof.

First, a disaster is when you find out what kind of neighbour you are. It is easy to be fair when there are plenty of places to rent. The test is when somebody has nowhere else to go. My father used to quote Leviticus to us about not ruling over your neighbour harshly. I did not understand it until I had something people needed.

Second, it is bad business in the long run. Those families will remember who helped and who squeezed. So will the district. A landlord who doubles the rent after a hurricane will have tenants who leave the first chance they get. The one who holds steady will have tenants who look after the place and recommend him.

Third, there are costs after a disaster, and I accept that. If my own roof had gone, or if insurance and materials go up, I may have to adjust at the next renewal. That is honest. But there is a difference between passing on real costs fairly over time and jumping the price because people are desperate this week. We all know the difference in our hearts.

Fourth, and this is the one that troubles me most, unsafe rooms. After a storm some people will rent anything, a half-built room with no proper roof, a shed with a light run from the house. I know people do it out of pity sometimes. But a room that will not stand up to the next bad rain is not charity. If you cannot make it safe, do not rent it.

I am not saying every landlord must be a saint or rent at a loss. Some small landlords are just one missed payment from trouble themselves. But I am saying that after a disaster, those of us with a solid roof have been given a chance to be a blessing and not a burden. I would like more of us to take it.

The mother is still in my unit. Her eldest boy helped me rebuild the fence. We did not discuss rent while we were doing it.

— Mr D. Campbell, Westmoreland

Editor’s note

Mr Campbell draws a useful line between passing on genuine costs fairly over time and raising prices simply because demand has spiked and people are desperate. His warning about renting unsafe rooms deserves attention too: kindness that puts a family in danger is not kindness. Landlords facing real increases in insurance, repairs or materials after a disaster may find it helpful to explain changes openly and give reasonable notice. Tenancy rules differ from place to place, so both landlords and tenants should check the rules where they live.

Reader letters may be edited for length and clarity, and names and identifying details are changed.

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