Renewing lease for a single family house

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Runemaster

We're currently renting and heard our landlord is looking to raise our rent this summer, so we're moving out. We love the house, but have had several issues (some of which he's never corrected) that have caused us a fair amount of stress (had to get the Austin Tenant's Council involved at one point).

From our POV, we don't care what the average market value is, when we've been mistreated and ignored over some substantial issues. So, just for feedback purposes, remember if you're not treating your tenants well, and you decide to raise the rent, expect them to move on to greener pastures.

On the flipside, if the landlord held up his end of the contract 100%, we'd be perfectly okay with a $50 increase.

Your thinking is reasonable and rational, but remember:

a) Your next landlord may be worse.
b) Your next home may have worse issues.
c) Your next home may cost more than your renewal deal.
d) Moving itself is expensive when you properly factor in all the time and costs.

Sometimes it's best to dance with the devil you know. But not if your landlord/tenant relationship is beyond repair.

I always ask new tenant prospects why they are moving. It amazes me how many answers fall into the broad category of "our landlord sucks". Landlords can't please everyone, but it's not that hard to take good care of a rental home and treat tenants cordially and with respect.

Steve

[intmd8r]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Your thinking is reasonable and rational, but remember:

a) Your next landlord may be worse.
b) Your next home may have worse issues.
c) Your next home may cost more than your renewal deal.
d) Moving itself is expensive when you properly factor in all the time and costs.

Sometimes it's best to dance with the devil you know. But not if your landlord/tenant relationship is beyond repair.

I always ask new tenant prospects why they are moving. It amazes me how many answers fall into the broad category of "our landlord sucks". Landlords can't please everyone, but it's not that hard to take good care of a rental home and treat tenants cordially and with respect.

Steve

Agree with all these things 100%. But, for the record, we're moving to build a home and will NOT continue renting. We were actually on the fence about it (we owned for 10 years in Phoenix, but have rented since we got here almost 2 years ago), but the fact of a 10% rent increase is that we're just throwing too much money away on rent and it's time to get back into home ownership.

Honestly, if we actually believed the property management company/landlord would fix things when they needed fixing (we pay WAY too much in rent for them to NOT be fixed promptly, IMO and we've never once paid rent late), we may have considered staying, as we like the area and love the house.