Anyone ever negotiated on their rent?

I have been living in this place for 7 years now. I am a good tenant, I have never been late on a rent payment in the entire 7 years or any time before that for that matter. I don't damage the property and even do my own repairs/upgrades if it is something I can do. Last year my landlord raised my rent by nearly 10%, at the time I swallowed it and paid up. Now this year he wants another 10% raise starting in September. Meanwhile working here at the university we have not gotten and raises or cost of living increases at all in the last 2 years and it may continue in the near future. I should also mention that there is an article in the paper today about how area apartments are hurting because there is an excess number of units available due to lots of new construction over the past few years when things were good, and now they are also facing the problem of a forced reduction in the amount of new students entering in the fall, due to massive budget cuts.

My question is do I have any negotiating power at all? I have looked at some of the comps and the price they are asking is not unreasonable but I feel I should get a bit of a break for being a good tenant and for them not having to rehab the place over and over all these years as folks come and go. What are your thoughts/ideas?

You might not be able to negotiate the rent down, but see if you can get them to throw some perks your way. They might be willing to repaint or give you a couple accent walls. New carpet might be a bit much. Maybe they can comp you a month of rent?

Have you brought them any extra business through referrals?

You can always talk to them and say that you'll start hunting around if they keep raising the price, and see if you can find a place that treats long-time tenants better.

I don't see anyway it could hurt to talk to them.

My girlfriend's apartment is throwing perks at long time tenants. Her rent is getting lowered, and she gets another accent wall.

If this is an individual house, condo, or any other individually owned place, you might have some negotiating room. Landlords of individual properties tend to negotiate with their tenants. Landlords at apartment complexes expect aquiescence or leaving, because they're reasonably certain they can fill one apartment and it impacts their checking account less.

I'd ask him why he's raising the rent (is he incurring any additional cost personally or is he just being greedy). Always be ready to walk out of a rental, because that's the greatest bargaining power. Also, never inform landlords of your intentions until absolutely necessary, because the less time they have to swap tenants, the more they are willing to do something to keep you there.

Another thing you can do is try and lock in longer term leases (my friend in Ft. Lauderdale agreed to a rent increase if the landlord locked in his rent for 3 years). Yeah, it extends your lease agreement, but if you've been there for 7, you'll probably be there for another 3.

It's likely his mortage payment is going up due to insurance, if he still has a mortgage, so this may or may not be the cause.

I have a rental property, and if the tenant is responsible and takes care of the place, I would certainly listen to what they have to say, and do all I can to keep them as tenants. But, if I have to take a hit in the mortgage department, I have to pass it along. There usually isn't as much profit in them as people think, especially now that property values have stagnated. The real benefit is having someone else pay off your property and having its value increase, but if it goes up for me, it does get passed along.

I'm renting my house in Canada out. My tennant recently gave notice because he couldn't keep up with the payments. I actually offered him a lower rent just to save myself the hassle of finding someone new & potentially letting the place sit empty, but unfortunately, he declined.

Like everyone else is saying, it depends on the type of place you're in. If the landlord is a real person, you have some negotiating clout because s/he really doesn't want an emtpy place. If it's some faceless management company (like the dickholes I'm dealing with here in Germany), you're probably SOL.

J

HIS option is to give you the rent you want or waste how many months with no rental income coming in AND having to paint/recarpet or whatever will need to be done after you living there for 7 years.

Go for it!!

I have a friend who has a house he is renting to two people. One of them is buying a house so the other needs to move out because she cannot afford the full rent. He is scared enough of the current market (lots of rental houses out there now) and the potential for bad renters (the last tenant burned down a garage he keeps in the back yard, loosing about 8 old cars in the process!!) that he went to her and negotiated a pretty significantly lower rent!

I cannot see how it hurts to ask, and unless it is some sort of complex, I cannot imagine then not considering it. I also wonder what would make them raise the rent, seems very strange with the current times.

wish I could renegotiate.

Been here three years, landlord does nothing to the place. I have had to recaulk a couple of windows and fix a roof leak myself. I also had to take care of a serious electrical problem (it would drop a leg whenever the weather got nasty)

This year, we finally get sewer (been using a septic system that kept backing up) and because of that, the rent went up $50 a month.. yes, he paid for the work to hook me up, but I am still paying all the utlities and now I have a new one because of the sewer.

Of course you can negotiate, money is a powerful friend. If you're willing to move if they don't bring the price down, then you have every reason to pressure for it. If they say no and you'll go on paying what the new rate is, then you have no reason to be asking for less in the first place. As the person paying out monthly, you ARE the market. If there's better places out there for the same money (or the same place for less money) then move. If you don't, the landlord has no reason to stop jacking up the prices.

Bryce

My guess is that you've been there so long that they haven't been able to raise the rates like they would have if they had renters swapping every couple of years like is relatively normal (I don't know why, I personally hate moving)

Even though you're a nearly ideal tenant, they are being greedy and likely are trying to pay for the extra costs involved with owning a rental house in that area.

I don't know how receptive they are, but like any business deal, keep the emotions out of it and be prepared to walk or pay.

You do have the argument that if they had changed tenants they likely would have changed the carpet at least twice and painted every time. That said, it is Gainesville and our city does seem to think any businessperson has pools of money for their taking.

We negotiated a zero increase this year. It was right before the market tanked. Told the management lady that we considered our improvements and repairs equal to what the increase would have been.

We have no problem getting out a caulking gun, electrical tools, hammer and saw, whatever needs to be done to keep the place going. Heck, I save the owner a couple hundred dollars a year since I clean the eaves troughs myself (they made the mistake of telling me how much the maintenance guys billed for that service).

Ask, be willing to move (if there is a comparable rental at a similar rate to what you're paying now), and remember, rental trucks do cost money. I doubt that you're at a point in your life where you could move all of your possessions across the country in the back of your car.

Wes, I would definitely give it a shot. Complexes in town all seem to be advertising some sort of incentive for signing up... which to me seems like they are having trouble finding tenants. So many complexes have been constructed in the past few years that I'm not surprised that there's an excess. Speaking of which, the complex on Archer that is just finishing up now... I don't know how they're going to fill that place up.

Anyway, maybe you could find some other places in town with better rates or better facilities,and bring/print out some of their rates. Go to the office, and say, "Look... these are the other places I am looking at. However, I'm not going to move if the rent stays the same."

the g/f and i just had an offer accepted for 100 bucks lower/month than what they had the place listed at. when you're dealing with an individual landlord, you have a lot more room to negotiate

does not matter to me.. been saving to buy. 2009 is the year for me

If you promise not to put Obama signs around, you, Mitchell and I should live in a warehouse!

Actually, that's a pipe dream, I recently signed a lease with a negotiated rent. It was with an individual, though...

The warehouse is only if we can have minibike races.

I still haven't been to you apartment. Are you still at said apartment for the next year?

Oh hell no. I'm moving into the shantiest, rundowniest house in all of Gainesville.

Why? Because between me and the guy we've got 4 RX-7s parked there.

And it's cheap.

And not really that shanty.

Ah, cool. To make the topic a little more off-topic, I'm probably going to be wrenching on the bike next Wednesday afternoon. You up for it (and off work?) I'll drive, of course.

Off at 6.

Hmm... we may be able to work with that. Although, I have a test the next day.

Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled topic.

I can only speak from apartment experience.

Call in to the leasing office and act like a new renter. Find out what deals they are offering. Ask what your neighbors are paying, and what apartments in the area are going for. The leasing department's idea of "market rate" is usually absurd. I was renting a supposedly $875 month apartment for $625 a month. I came into the leasing office, told them I had been there for 2 years, was a good tenant, the kind of person they wanted in their complex, what my neighbors were paying, and what I thought I should pay. They balked at first, so I said no problem, I'll be back tomorrow with my 60-day notice papers and I"m moving out. A few minutes later the manager came out and handed me a revised lease with the payments I wanted.

Unless you're at Walmart, everything is negotiable.

I just want to jump in and comment on the reason why the rent is probably increasing.

It's not about greediness (as has been thrown around this thread a few times). Rents go up to keep up with the market. There's plenty of reasons, but a couple I'll point out.

1. The more a property rents for, the more valuable it is. Simple as that, if you want to sell an investment property, you have to show that it's worth the asking price. It has to cash flow or it's not going to sell.

2. Low rent places are seen as low quality places...so there's a market for pricier places. I'm not saying you're in this position...but think of all the folks who pay more for stuff under the guise of classiness or whatever.

I'd certainly approach the folks. You are a longterm tennant with a perfect history (or at lease I'm lead to believe you are) and there is a lot to be said for that. They may or may not budge...

Clem

We own a few properties and won't negotiate at all.

jib

ps - that was for any of my tenants that might read the board. For you Wes, yes, I'd strongly suggest negotiation, especially if you bring something to the table (some of your own repairs, etc.) or have been there a long time. it's expensive to lose a tenant. Paint, carpet, time without rent all takes money from the bottom line and most landlords (especially private ones) will give a little to keep you there. Depending on where we were with repect to market pricing, I would consider it.

Two things you need to consider before you negotiate; is the rent fair for what you are getting and what are rents in the area doing right now. Here in the Seattle area rents are going up quite fast, so we can get more for our units. We won't blast our rents up fast for a current tenant, but we will jump them for a new one moving in. I just picked up 25% on one unit when the old tenant moved out. OTOH, it will take me a year to recoup the cost of the reburbishment of the unit, even with the big rent increase. This is why we like to keep tenants and are flexible. Once they are in for the second or third year, we start making some money. If we flip tenants every year, it's costing us a boatload.

There are a lot of factors driving landlord pricing. Usually, but not always, greed is not the primary one. Keep in mind though, that the reason landlords exist is to profit from their investment. I have a lot of money tied up in my rentals. Money that takes away from my fun time, i.e., vacations, cars, etc. I will always try to maximize the return on my investment, but as I explained above, that does not always mean charging the highest rent possible. Long term is where it's at, especially for the private landlord. An employee may be looking at impressing his boss, the owner, with large rent increases. Hopefully, your landlord is looking at long term returns and is smart enough to negotiate with a good tenant.

ClemSparks wrote: ...It's not about greediness (as has been thrown around this thread a few times)....

Interesting, but the two reasons you state basically boil down to "we are raising the rents to make it seem like this place is nicer than it is and to make it more valuable to us"

Perhaps you didn't express yourself precisely, but that sound exactly like a bit of greed (aggressive business practice) to me.