Rent concessions (CA) (apartment complex, breaking a lease, tenant, rental)

[Aldous9]

How very annoying these are. Allow me to explain. A rent concession is when a landlord gives a tenant a lower rent for the first year of the lease on the condition that the tenant always pays on time. Wow, that's cool, and not annoying at all, you say. On the surface its cool. And in theory its cool. But landlords advertise rent at the concession price not at what the actual rent will be. And they don't actually tell you about the rent concession until you read it on the lease. By then you may have paid for a credit check or worse.

Case in point. I checked out a 1br for $1400. Oh this is nice, I said, I'm interested. Great, they said, $40 credit check fee is all we need. Credit is checked and approved. Three days later I arrive to sign lease. I read on page three of the lease that the Monthly rent is $1700 - rent concession = $1400. But after 12 months goes back to $1700 and (and this is important) is not considered a raise in rent. I put the pen down and walk out of the office without saying a word (I did put a WTF? next to the $1700).

So, my friends, how common are these now?

[timtemtym]

Were they asking you to sign a two year lease? If just one year, 1400 is fine and then negotiate 60 days from expiration. That is what I always do!

[Aldous9]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Were they asking you to sign a two year lease? If just one year, 1400 is fine and then negotiate 60 days from expiration. That is what I always do!

No...just one year. And with a rental concession the actual monthly rate is higher than the concession rate. So, for instance you'd go from $1400 to $1700 and the rise to $1700 would not be considered a raise in rent.

I have no problem with it when its made clear from the beginning verbally that the first years lease is a rental concession. But, twice now, I've got to the signing lease point only to find it there in print. It's just a waste of time and money (application fees).

Lesson learned though. I'll ask to see a copy of the lease before filling out an application.

[bpeeps]

Where's that 1400 1br doe? I'm interested.

[kasuga888]

It seems typical in the big corp apartments. The rent does not always go back to the 1700 depending on vacancy level, but i guess you cant bet on that in LA. You can also move in 12 months and factor in the cost and pain of doing so.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by Aldous9

No...just one year. And with a rental concession the actual monthly rate is higher than the concession rate. So, for instance you'd go from $1400 to $1700 and the rise to $1700 would not be considered a raise in rent.

I have no problem with it when its made clear from the beginning verbally that the first years lease is a rental concession. But, twice now, I've got to the signing lease point only to find it there in print. It's just a waste of time and money (application fees).

Lesson learned though. I'll ask to see a copy of the lease before filling out an application.

Yeah but with most apartment complexes you have ZERO idea what your rent will go up to after the lease until 30-60 days before your lease expires.

My rent started at 1270 two years ago and last summer they wanted to raise it to 1350. I negotiated it back down to 1270 and then this year they decided to go for 1450 to renew. I was moving anyways, but my point is you sign a year lease and whatever numbers after that are not of consequence until the lease is ready to expire.

Who knows if 1700 will be market rate in a year for that unit? Maybe the rents in that area will skyrocket. Or maybe they will go down. I negotiated by pulling comparable units from places for rent around mine. Plus they knew i have a stable job and I paid my rent 3 days early every month and had no complaints from other tenants. I used all that to get my rent down. If not, I would have moved.

So i don't know how that situation is any different from any other rental unless you were signing a 2 year lease and agreeing to the 1700 for year 2. I'm a negotiator though... very cheap.

[sageattorney]

These "concessions" serve not only as a workaround to increase your rent after the first year, but they also serve as a means to strong arm you into completing the lease term. These agreements usually state that if you break the lease, you have to repay all the concessions on top of the usual consequences of breaking a lease. Considering that the rent amount was never anything other than what you paid, there really is no concession. It's a scam through and through. If you see these types of clauses in a rental agreement, do not sign, run.

As an attorney, I can tell you these scams are technically legal. But it gets worse.

What normally happens is a tenant will have a discussion with their landlord or property manager to express the desire to break the lease. The apartment manager will say, "oh, yes, I understand. Just give us 60 days' notice and we'll let you out of the lease."

Sounds too good to be true? It is! It's a trap.

Like clockwork, the tenant moves out and the property management company goes after the tenant for the repayment of the concessions.

The tenant will say, "But you said I could get out of the lease if I gave you 60 days' notice."

They'll usually be really smug about reminding the tenant that s/he signed a written contract. In the end, a judge will only care about what's in writing. It will be as though the oral promise to let you out of the lease with 60 days' notice never happened.

Just avoid these types of lease agreements. They are foul.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Your post indicates that you knew $1400 was a good bargain. So maybe at that point you should have asked if it was a first year special and what the terms were.

I don't see it as such a bad thing to know what the rent will be the second year, if you stay. But you maybe should ask about terms because things like paying late cancelling the consession are important to know.

[Electrician4you]

Here’s my take

I don’t do any of these hocus pocus mumbo jumbo wording leases. I have pretty clear cut leases. Rent is due on x day late by y day with z late fee. Here are the rules. Here’s my address and number for questions and problems.


If the $1400 is a good deal who cares what the penalties are. As long as you dont break the lease during your occupancy the rent could be doubled on the concession clause. Hell I could have a $1,000 late fee. If you’re never late with rent it makes no difference.

Truthfully if you mathematically average it out you will be paying 1550 per month for two years

[GraceKrispy]

If I knew the rent was a good rate, I'd probably ask if this was a special concession. It sounds like you've had this experience a few times which would probably make you even more wary. I don't think it's cool to find out that as you're signing the lease, but as others have said, the price wouldn't go up during your year lease so you still have the option to avoid it. Moving is a pita, though.