Landords/management companies - what decides a rent increase amount?

[BostonMike7]

When I rented out my condo, condo fee increases and tax increases were the main driver's of bumping rent. Sometimes these would be $100/month in increases when you also factor in utility cost increases and such.

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by cymru3

Hubby has been with the same management company since he moved up here in 2008, albeit in different apartments. I moved in with him in 2014. In September we moved to a new apartment and we have been dreading the renewal letter due this month as we know that there is always a rent increase. We were expecting the usual ~$100 increase. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that it is only going up by $35 a month, especially as it's a good sized apartment in a central area. I'm by no means looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I guess I'm just curious what factors go into deciding how much to increase rent by? I'm wondering if it's because hubby's been with them so long and has always paid rent on time but they're such a big company that he's not so sure that they'd notice that.

I think it will vary very much by owner/landlord. Some will try and squeeze every penny if and when they can and some will be more amenable to trying to keep good tenants. I fall into the second category.

For example, in one of my apartments I have not increased rent the last two years. They always pay the rent on time, have never caused any problems, keep the place in better condition than if I lived there etc. etc. I keep the apartments well maintained and address any repair issues immediately....quid pro quo.

This quiet life is worth a lot more to me than trying to max. my return. Also, Mass is very pro tenants if things go bad so when you have good ones it makes sense to keep them. When tenants move out, I re-price at just below market to give me a good pool of applicants so I can be picky...although not really an issue as there is far more demand than supply at the moment .

Then again, this is not my primary business/source of income and my carrying costs are very low so there is less financial pressure on me.