Timeline for Apartment lease renewal - is this rate increase normal?
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| Apr 5, 2015 at 3:07 | comment | added | Steve Jessop | @phyrfox: good point, but in this case the questioner says there are units on offer for prices similar to what he's paying before the rise. So if it's just about the market, then this landlord is directly in competition with someone who can afford to let a unit in the same building for a lower price. Not good news for the landlord who can't, maybe should sell to the one who can ;-) | |
| Apr 3, 2015 at 16:27 | comment | added | phyrfox | Of course, you're free to try and keep your rent down, but if the landlord has economic pressure, they may have no choice but to not renew the lease and hope that others will come along to fill the void. Units that remain empty too long usually result in the entire building becoming a parking lot when nobody can justify owning and operating an apartment building there any more. | |
| Apr 3, 2015 at 16:24 | comment | added | phyrfox | Actually, the lease is what keeps the rent down to begin with. For example, if you negotiate a five year lease, then you're stuck with that price for five years, even if the price of every other unit goes up, because it's a contract. The landlord can only negotiate on renewal. Note that your landlord is operating a business. If he can't pay utilities, taxes, and fees, he will have the property repossessed and auctioned off, possibly causing all tenants to be evicted if the new owner chooses. Empty units might mean other tenants have to share the cost. | |
| Apr 3, 2015 at 7:48 | history | edited | Deborah Speece | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 3, 2015 at 2:23 | comment | added | Steve Jessop | I agree that the empty units in the complex ought to be a killer negotiating point, that is they ought to impose price discipline on your landlord. You have a very plausible BATNA: spend an afternoon moving down the hall to an identical unit and get a new lease with perhaps even a new first free month. If he thinks you'll pay 5.8% more forever to avoid that, once you've pointed out you're aware of it as an option, then either he reckons you've redecorated exactly how you like it and won't really go ahead, or else he needs to explain right now why he thinks you're better off staying ;-) | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 18:47 | review | First posts | |||
| Apr 2, 2015 at 19:44 | |||||
| Apr 2, 2015 at 18:47 | history | answered | Deborah Speece | CC BY-SA 3.0 |