Negotiating rent (on a renewal) (apartments, leases, rental, inspection)

[rrah]

My D has twice negotiated the yearly price increase on her apartment. It's also run by a large corporation with multiple locations. She simply asked about it and pointed out the currently advertised rates. I think the complex wanted to raise the rent about $700-800/year. She negotiated 1/2 of that. She also pointed out that she could move to a newer apartment complex elsewhere for the higher price they wanted (and she probably named the names of those complexes).

[beera]

That's the plan for my husband and myself if the property we live on tries to increase the rent. I will point out that when the apartment next to us was vacant it took them months to rent it, and that for what we are getting, we could move to another apartment for cheaper and probably get a garage as well. I don't want to move, but I will if I have to. And if they let me I'd like to do something like sign a 2 year lease so I don't have to worry about rent increases all the time!

[Ultrarunner]

There are two different philosophies on property management.

One is you alway increase the rent so the only question will be not if the rent is going up... but how much.

This is the way most firms operate because their business depends on maximizing the return to the owners

The other school of thought which is more prevalent with Mom and Pop owners is to minimize vacancies by keeping good tenants...

I've been on both sides and now that I only manage my property and that of friends and family... I am very much in the latter.

I tell new tenants up front that I am looking for a long term tenant and as long as they pay their rent on time, take care of the property and don't cause problems for me or the neighbors we are going to get along fine... this also means the rent will not go up just because it is lease renewal time.

One of my rental neighbors was getting out of the business... he asked me how I was able to keep long term tenants when his were always moving... told him they know they have a good deal and would have to pay more elsewhere... also helps that most of my rentals are single family homes...

[emm74]

I have negotiated rent increases and found it was easier with a corporate owned rather than an individual who owned a small apartment building. He had already spent that money in his mind and wasn't willing to give it up. The company said fine, not a problem given my history of on time payments and no issues. I think they would have given a break to most people but most people don't ask. And they also gave me back every penny of my deposit when I moved out, along with a brief note thanking me for leaving it in such good condition. I thought I had done the bare minimum in terms of sweeping floors and wiping counters, but I guess a lot of people don't even do that!

Good luck and please update once you talk to them!

[STT Resident]

Conversely I've only dealt with family-owned properties. My last was a commercial property and my rent was not only reduced two years into it (there came about a rather complicated situation) but was never raised either back up to the original amount or additionally in the 12 years I was there. Likewise in my current residential place my rent hasn't been raised in over 2 years and I don't expect it to be. Come to think of it in decades of renting I don't recall ever having my rent raised and there was another place I was in for 10 years!

A friend of mine hasn't had his rent raised sine he moved into a family owned property nine years ago. I'm with Ultrarunner here - good tenants are so worth hanging onto!

[emm74]

Originally Posted by STT Resident

Conversely I've only dealt with family-owned properties. My last was a commercial property and my rent was not only reduced two years into it (there came about a rather complicated situation) but was never raised either back up to the original amount or additionally in the 12 years I was there. Likewise in my current residential place my rent hasn't been raised in over 2 years and I don't expect it to be. Come to think of it in decades of renting I don't recall ever having my rent raised and there was another place I was in for 10 years!

A friend of mine hasn't had his rent raised sine he moved into a family owned property nine years ago. I'm with Ultrarunner here - good tenants are so worth hanging onto!

This is a slightly different scenario - I've also lived in individually owned rentals where they didn't raise the rent very often. But the question was about negotiating when you've already received notice of an increase. If you don't get an increase, there is nothing to negotiate.

So my response was yes, I absolutely think you can negotiate an increase in a corporate owned rental, with a little anecdote thrown in there about an attempted negotiation with an individual owner which didn't work.

[Ultrarunner]

When I first started and the rent increases went out... it was customary to not raise the rent if the lease was renewed.

If it went month to month, this was not case.

[Electrician4you]

I don't raise the rent on my tenants unless I really really have to. And I don't really have to. I really only raise the rent on move out. By the time they move I just simply bring the rent close to going rate. I still stay slightly below going rate anyway. Like everyone said moving out costs money. If the tenant pays on time is not a troublemaker and I don't get complaints I let them be.Sure I still do my inspections and respond to repairs but that's my job and responsibility. That $50-$60 rent raise can potentially cost me 3-4x in a lost month of rent income. What do you think I'm gonna do? Once they move out, they move out and that rent is lost anyway and since I never show the place until it's vacated and back to move in ready condition at that point its more acceptable because they are vacating.

You can simply present to them the loss of income in one month, on top of the cost of advertising and screening potential tenants and paying someone to do that by far will cost more on the initial acquisition of new tenant than $60 a month in revenue by keeping you there. I remember a business class I took once the instructor said the cost of acquiring a new client vs keeping a existing one. He gave some incredible numbers.

[DaniellaG]

I did this once and I pointed out how I always paid rent on time and was never a problem tenant. The manager had to ask who ever handles the rent increases and if I recall they did not end up raising it or if they did it was a very small amount.

[MJ7]

Put yourself in the mind frame and physical capacity (as in, find another person/place to rent) and make the renter an ultimatum. If they don't bite, happily move out. This will be in your favor of course if you cause the landlord no issues and pay your rent on time.