Offering Referral Fee to Tenants in Student Housing

[David London]

Couldn't find much in the forums about this.

I am in the middle of renovating a future student housing rental (in Pennsylvania) and since I have no good photos of the house (drywall is going up at the end of next week) I have trouble attracting new tenants. Was thinking of offering a referral/finders fee to the students who occupy another house I finished renovating over the summer. 

Since they know other students and know the quality of the house I provided them (they already asked to renew till 2023) they could be very helpful in finding new students for the next house...Was wondering if there is anything I should be aware of while doing so:

Is it legal to offer compensation (payment/gift cards/reduced rent) and since we are in tax season is this considered an expense one can deduct? The fee I am thinking of will be about $600-750 for a group that will end up leasing the new house.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.