A Taichung landlord got a suspended prison sentence after offering two tenants money to vote in Taiwan's 2025 legislator recall, a warning shot for anyone treating votes as something to buy.

• The landlord messaged two tenants offering NT$500 each — framed as travel money to go home and vote, and deducted straight from rent if they voted yes.
• Both tenants refused, and one reported him to police on voting day itself.
• The court found the crime stopped at the offer stage, since neither tenant agreed or took the money.
• The sentence: two years, suspended for five, plus a NT$300,000 payment to the public treasury, five legal education sessions, and three years without civil rights.
• Judges cut the penalty below the usual three-year minimum because only two people and small sums were involved, and the motive was personal political conviction.

Outlook: The case can still be appealed, and it sets a marker that even tiny, refused vote-buying offers draw criminal charges in Taiwan.