I’ve been dealing with this for years now since my apartment complex was bought by new owners(multiple times now). Every time I renew the lease they want to raise the price $100+ ($300+ during covid). I always try to negotiate by saying I’ve lived there many years with no problems, paid rent on time, etc. Unfortunately I’m only even allowed to speak to the local office manager who is either powerless or pretends to be and doesn’t even pretend to be sympathetic.
Meanwhile, they aren’t even keeping their end of the deal up. The pool and hot tub have been drained and in disrepair since January.(I’ll definitely mention this when negotiating this time).
Lastly, moving is not the answer. Practically every apartment complex around here is owned by one of these horrible companies so there’s no escape unless you happen to find something owned by an individual(which has its own problems). I’m also getting a small discount(gets smaller every renewal) for being in an outdated unit so moving would still raise my rate, be a massive hassle, and I’d have to pay a new deposit.
Long term I will buy a house, but how can I save enough when they gouge me at every turn?
Write bad reviews on Yelp and Google Maps. Name names.
I did this in an apartment I lived in once. The local office manager asked me about it. Maintenance suddenly was doing a better job than they previously had.
I posted one very detailed negative review on apartments.com I think it was and it was deleted lol… not sure if my complex had a hand in getting it removed or what, but there was no valid reason to delete it.
Largely depends on the city and state in which you reside. As far as I am aware, besides discrimination based on race, protection against rent increases is handled different across each state and city.
NYC for example has better tenant rights and prevention of unreasonable rent increases. On the other hand, TX has very basic tenant rights and no regulations on rent increases.
Are you a member of a tenant union, is that even a thing in your country ? When you’re dealing with an individual landlord, a “strongly worded letter” or a “I’ve been doing my part” is enough to get somewhere. With corporation having a huge team it doesn’t work, you need the legal power of a collective.
At this point, the best thing to do is to write down to politician and make-sure they implement some form of “rent control” and other tenant protection laws
Check if your local area has any laws around maximum rent increases per year, and how much notice is required. I once got a decent reduction because the apartment company notified me one day too late.
The local staff likely don’t have any power. Generally with the larger companies, all the rent increases are automated and the only people with any power to change it are very high up at the company.
Ya don’t, and when its a housing shortage, you can’t even do better by moving.
