help with rent negotiations

Justin Meisse

Well, my current apartment lease is up at the end of January and my complex wants to increase it by 13%, which is insane! I'm going to meet with the leasing office on Monday, this is the first time I'm going to fight against a rent increase and since we are a community of people that move around alot I'd appreciate any stories or advice.

My current ammo consist of the fact that there haven't been any complaints against me, we are in a recession and my lease expires in winter, when rents are typically at their lowest.

aesir

I've also gone through this shit. I lived in an apt. complex that increased the rent by around 10 percent every year until we left.

I bitched and moaned at them but got nowhere. Unfortunately, most places apartment complexes are doing pretty well as the housing market collapsed.

Really, it's just going to depend on what type of people, the people in charge are.

(as an argument, I'd bring up that you've been a fantastic tenant who always paid rent on time and never had any complaints lodged against you, assuming this is true. Then go on to say that you plan to leave if the rent is increased. Suggest that not only will they be losing at least a month or more of rent when you move out when they look for a new tenant, but also that their new tenant probably won't be as great as you. They'll probably lose more money if you leave now, then if they don't increase your rent.)

Lamoot

Ask them why are they raising the rent (beside the obvious reason that more money never hurts). Ask them to justify their reason - how is it fair towards you as a good tenant that they're raising the rent? Especially considering the circumstances. You want to know what objective reasons there are, otherwise you'll feel it's unfair (and you should express that).

Quick general tip: you can do a lot with the right wording. For example one can say:

"You're a racist!" VS. "I feel discriminated against."

Everybody has an opinion of themselves they are doing stuff right, if you accuse them of being something negative, they'll close the shell, go into defensive and it'll be hard to negotiate. But it's very hard to reject and deny somebody feels in a particular way. You express your concerns without attacking anyone. In your case it would be:

"You're unfair by raising the rent." VS. "I feel I'm being treated unfairly with the rent going up and no objective reason to justify it."

This and more from:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-Without/dp/0140157352[/ame]

Mark Dygert

I have a feeling you're going to get no where. They hire people to be a front line shield and enforce their dick head policies. That buffer lets them as a company be far removed from any anger and rage you might throw up while they punch you in the nuts.

More than likely they're going to say "but there's nothing I can do about it, corporate is the one forcing the change bla bla bla" and its true, they're just low paid shit shields.

I never found a way around it, I got tired of it and bought a house. With so many places up for dirt cheap and rates so low... it might be an option.

notman

Yeah, I doubt you'll get anywhere, especially if you don't have complaints about the apartment, and how they service things.

Eric Chadwick

Yeah, not much you can do. State law says they can increase the rent as much as they like, as long as they give at least 30 days notice.
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Housing+Information&L3=Tenant+%26+Landlord&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=tenants_rights_and_responsibilities&csid=Eoca

I'll rent you my treehouse for cheap. No heat, but it's mostly dry.

PredatorGSR

I've renegotiated several leases with apartment complexes and was able to keep my current lease price. There's really no other way to say this, you have to have bargaining power in order to be able to negotiate. And that means you have to be willing to move out.

The way I was able to renegotiate the leases at renewal time was to send them a polite letter stating the following:

- I liked the community but had some problems with it (distance from work, etc)
- The rate hike was more than I was willing to pay for a complex with the problems listed
- If an agreement couldn't be reached to keep my rent at a level I was comfortable with, consider this my 60 day notice.

In the 3 times I've done this, twice I was able to keep my promotional rate (760 vs the 920 that was the market rate they were increasing it to), and the 3rd time was able to negotiate it down to something like a $10 increase.

You have to be willing to move out if they call your bluff though. It costs them money to have to find a new tenant, and they risk not getting a tenant right away, so if you are a good tenant, it makes sense for them to keep you even at a lower rate.

In turn, they are betting that the costs and hassles of moving and finding a new place are discouraging enough that you'll accept a rate hike.

Joshua Stubbles

Moving is all you can do, really. My apt complex here in Redmond is fairly reasonable when it comes to yearly hikes. They increase by just under 3% each year, which isn't bad when comparing to some places I've lived in the past.

Justin Meisse

Well, got them from 13% to 7% without any real negotiating yet, almost makes me wonder if they just hit me with a crazy rent hike so I would feel like I negotiated them down. I wonder if I can talk them down to 3%.

evilblah

One thing to check into is to see if other apartment complexes in the neighborhood are rising rent as well. A lot of times managers will raise rent at the same time to stay competitive. That's when it's a problem. On the same token, if only your complex is doing it, it's against the fair housing act... Well crap, I'm not sure where you live so I don't know if you have that. If they are on their own though you are more then able to fight it but like PredatorGSR said, you gotta be willing to move, worse case scenario...

I wish you luck, apartment complexes are horrid places to deal with. Been in them for 12 years now with 14 different complexes under my belt. I feel for you. Just keep your head up!

Grimm_Wrecking

I'd suggest looking at rent.com, apartments.com, etc to find comparable square footage with similar amenities in the area.
Once you have a list of prices (lower obviously) and they aren't complete s-holes.
Let the apartment know that even with them reducing the rent hike 5% for you, you can still move into another apartment complex as nice or nicer than this and pay less money a month.

The last time we renewed our lease I did as much and was like, look I only want a six month lease, you constantly have "x-problems", and I can get this same apt minus a vaulted ceiling for less $ with the term I want in "x-area" area.

The result, they made a special exemption to their 18 month lease policy, my rent was reduced $400 (from the current price not the increase) and we got the new renters discount (all be it figured for 6 months instead of 18, but meh).

Of course in Arizona the job market in general is still really bad, and its hard for apartments to find people that pay their rent on time every time. Right now we're on month to month but they are letting us keep our lease rate, which is supposed to raise $500, because they don't want us to move out.

Of course I've had the exact opposite experience with an apartment complex too, sooo.

notman

Maybe they threw out a large number, knowing that people might try negotiating, yet many others would just pay. So, they were prepared to drop to 7% for those who raise a concern, but screw others who don't

PixelMasher

thats crazy man, as far as i know, up here in canada they can legally only raise your rent 3% each year. mines been going up by that max each year for the past 3 years. that sucks about the rent hike man, greedy swines.

Michael Knubben

We bought a flat just to get around that shit. In the end, it was the cheaper option, and we're very happy to have cut out any landlords or housing corporations. Also, it's money you're not throwing away on rent! If you sell (and there's almost nowhere to go but up, as far as the worth of your property goes), you'll get your money back, and hopefully more.
Also, we have a limit on how much prices can be raised here in the Netherlands, but since it was all-inclusive the landlord just claimed we used more and more gas and electricity each year. Untill we asked for proof, at which point he went 'oh, uhm. But. Oh you guys, I've got like a mortgage to pay and all that, so I need the money'

Quokimbo

Justin_Meisse wrote: »

I wonder if I can talk them down to 3%.

You have to have a Speech skill of 65, or Barter of 50...

Sorry, I have been playing a lot of Fallout New Vegas. :thumbup:

Jesse Moody

Should help speed negotiations up in your favor.

Justin Meisse

I used to sell computers to old people, my barter skill is high