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How to Negotiate Your Rent When Re-Leasing an Apartment

SavvySugar
Posted on Jul 22, 2011

How To Negotiate Your LeaseIs your rent going up? Don’t move out! Savvy Sugar explains how to negotiate your lease for a more reasonable price.

As a renter, it’s important to realize that your landlord will probably raise your rent year-to-year due to inflation, rising market value or higher demand. However, you can always try to negotiate your lease, especially after you’ve received notice that your landlord plans to raise prices. No need to panic or immediately make plans to move out. There are a lot of factors in your favor to help persuade your landlord. Try out these tips.

Be a Trustworthy Tenant

If you’ve paid your rent on time, have had no bounced checks and haven’t caused any damage or trouble during your lease, your landlord will probably be more willing to keep you around than take a gamble on a new tenant. Plus, it’s an expense for him to repaint, clean and repair the apartment for a new tenant.

Check Out the Supply and Demand

Chances are if there are several empty apartments in your complex or around your neighborhood, you’ll have more authority to veto the rent increase. Look around to see how many apartments are empty in the complex or in your area. Take note of it, and mention this to your landlord.

For more tips on how to renegotiate your lease, continue reading at Savvy Sugar.

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  • Paul

    Here’s another: Landlords know that females are high maintenance tenants. (They put more tampons and cotton swabs into the toilette, for example.) Therefore landlords should be permitted to charge females more than they do males, just as you would expect to pay more at a full service restaurant than you would at a fast casual restaurant. Unfortunately, inappropriate laws restrict landlords’ freedom to advertise a higher rent for females. Males who understand this situation have leverage which they can apply and which a rational landlord will accomdate.

    • Kgeldis

      This is quite possibly the most ridiculous piece of advice I’ve ever heard. a) Women do neither of those things. It’s called a trash can. b) By that logic (or should I say “illogic”), I assume men poop more, therefore women should have more leverage.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1171219898 Paul Regan

        I manage 130 units, mostly college students. I notice no difference at all between the tenants based on gender. Hopefully the gentleman above does well in what appears to be his profession, plumbing.

    • http://twitter.com/stephwint stephwint

      Interesting perspective. A male could place a cotton swab in a toilet as well. I’ve seen my brother flush a paper towel down the toilet. As someone who works in the housing industry my question is aren’t males more destructive of property? Not a generalization of men being vandals but men are just rougher on the wear and tear of a building. Just one example but at the end of the day you are a terrible landlord if you are blaming females for your plumbing issues. I would love for you to manage a property of all males and see how much “high maintenance” males can be as well. If you want to be a better professional you need to open your mind and not be so critical.

  • Jessidig

    paul, you are an a-hole.

  • Megan

    Paul, at best, that’s statistical discrimination–you MAY have the facts and numbers to back up a characterization of a group, but it doesn’t hold when applying it to the individual. You’re assuming that everyone woman is menstruating, or using tampons, or throwing them in the toilet and not the garbage. I’m uncomfortable negotiating my rent by insisting that I promise to use pads and not tampons..

    Also, if this is the concern, what about single male tenants and the assumption that they’ll be throwing condoms down the toilet? Surely, that’s not good for the pipes either, but that logic seems to be missing here as well.

    Maybe these “inappropriate” laws are a drag for a landlord to work around, but I think most tenants would agree they are pleased with the protections afforded. Using tips like those above to negotiate based on your INDIVIDUAL history as a tenant seems the best way to ensure both rentERs and rentEEs are happy and comfortable.