My lease is up for renewal in the not so distant future. My landlord recently contacted me to say they want to increase my rent by 2%. Which is not itself much, but the rent was already pretty high. I am seeing comparable places for over 25% less than what I am pay now. (Maybe not quite as nice, but close and so much cheaper and other good reasons like closer to work.).
When my landlord first broached the topic with me of raise rent, they suggested maybe an increase of 4%, because a realestate agent had said that it was worth that. THey said they were not sure about it and asked what I thought. I said then that I would not be keen on that idea and that the rent was already on the higher side of what we were looking to pay.
My landlord is emailing me asking why i haven't replied to there latest email that said 2%.
I am wondering if I should reply saying that in full honesty we are considering out options and there are other places that are over 25% cheaper. Not that we have decided to move for sure yet. Or if I should just keep quite until I at least have another place lined up (maybe even until another lease is signed?)
Pros of telling landlord
- I might get a offer of a rent reduction. This seems unlikely since they wanted to increase it, and it would need to be a big decrease; to be something lower than I am paying now.
- Avoid the landlord giving us a bad reference because of being annoyed. Not sure if that is a thing in the UK.
Cons of saying:
- Landlord might take offense at it and make our lives harder in various ways
- Might burn the bridge, if we decide we do want to stay afterall, and might not be offered option to renew.