Decency and honesty promote efficiency

Our renters of two years gave us their notice recently and along with the usual pangs that one experiences when an investment property is being vacated, we also felt a twinge to see such a good family go.

In the two years that they were occupying our house, we barely had the need to communicate with them and any minor issues were settled deftly, simply over an e-mail. One time when our downstairs room flooded, both sides kept their ends of the responsibility and the problem was solved quickly.

Even as he is moving out the guy has been good enough to show the house to prospects, bear witness to the signing of the lease with the new renter and we instinctively know that when we get the house back from him it will be clean. In return, he knows that he will get back his safety deposit from us in time and we have fully cooperated with him in making recommendations to his new land lord and ensuring that only the serious prospects come to see the house so as not to disturb his family.

Sitting thousands of miles away from each other, such efficient contractual relationships have been possible because both sides have shown basic decency and a willingness to not only honor contractual obligations but also co-operate in the spirit of kindness.

While this maybe a very small example, it shows that when people follow promises they have made and are willing to be reasonable, it saves everyone time and money and makes things much more efficient. Can you even imagine the headache, money and lost work hours it would have cost us if the renter had in anyway not followed his side of the contract? Now expand this example to the obligations between companies, or between Governments and its citizens. Unless each side is willing to be honest there will always be frustrations and losses.

No one knows what the outcome of the KG-6 Basin gas dispute will be and what the whole truth is, but since such a large set up can not exist without prior contracts and understandings, surely someone is choosing to twist the law late in the game to benefit themselves. And in the process is willing to cause waste and loss of such criminal proportions.