28 December 2023 , 15:53
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A landlord has been highly praised after she gifted one month of free rent to her tenant for the holidays - and been described as “better than Santa Claus”.
Britni Ricard is the CEO of COTA Skin Care, her own cosmetics company which she opened up in 2019. Last year Ms Ricard made her first investment into property and became a landlord when buying an apartment building in New Orleans with 10 units - many of which were inhabited by single women with their children.
Ms Ricard was reminded of the struggles in her own household when growing up in public housing, particularly with the Christmas time squeeze when bills are up and the festive season is consuming much of the monthly budget. "Gifting my tenants with FREE RENT is something [I've] always wanted to do," Ms Ricard says in a caption on TikTok.
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It was emotional in the room as Ricard announced she would be making rent free for a month (CBS News)
Ricard started her cosmetics company, of which she is the CEO, in 2019 (CBS News)“I do a lot of give-backs, I do a lot of community service, so I feel like if I'm gonna give back, I want to give to people who give to me," she said to her tenants who she had brought all together. When she announced she was gifting them a free month’s rent jaws dropped in the room and it was hugs all round from the grateful residents. She followed up by telling her residents that she wants to set up a seminar where she speaks about homeownership to help her residents move on from their flats and eventually manage to get their own places.
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Speaking to CBS News, Ms Ricard said that during her childhood Christmas time was difficult. "My mom was a single woman raising three children alone, and watching her continuously struggle as a child and wanting to figure out, 'How can I help?'" she explained.
One of the tenants, single mum Kedesha Dunn, lives in her flat with her two boys. She said that thanks to Ms Ricard’s generous gift, they could celebrate more at Christmas and worry a little less about financial pressures. "Now I, you know, I don't have to go try to take out a loan or something like ask my family for money," she said. "Like, I can do it now. Like, I can do it. I'm an emotional person. I start to cry. 'Cause I'm just like, that is so sweet. She's uh, better than Santa Claus at this point. ... Like a guardian angel."
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The video of her announcement went viral on TikTok with over 472,000 likes and gained widespread praise from commenters. “The money you lost, you’ll get it back tenfold! I love this!” read one comment.
“Where the apartments at. I’m about to move there” said another, while a fourth chimed “She's so amazing, the fact she's not gatekeeping and wants them to be homeowners is top tier.”