rent increases what is fair?

prospecthightsbordergal

Since my little ground floor apt is on the border of PH and PS Im writing here...its a brownstone bldg, SMALL one bedroom with garden..my lease was just renewed and its been raised 75 dollars! I know its not rent stabilized but what is the going rate of increases? tx!

prospecthightsbordergal

sorry thats 75 dollars a month increase..should have been more specific

elgoats

i would think usually $25 increases would be what usually happens around there...

nykittyny

Unfortunately, its not really a matter of fairness. the landlord can choose to try and raise your rent any amount he wishes. Its up to you if you want to pay the new price, or move. Take a look at advertisements for rentals of 1BRs in your area, and that should give you an idea of the going rate. There is no set percentage or dollar amount that is typical for a rent increase in free market apartments.

Have you tried speaking to your landlord and negotiating? Maybe he/she would settle for a $40 or $50 increase?

woodendesigner

A raise of $75 is not so bad. Then again it depends on what your rent is. My girlfriend moved in with me a couple years ago and my landlady which had been pretty kind with my rent in the past jacked it $400. It's the only rental in the building and she is able to charge what she wants. I'm still at the lower end of market rate and having a second person in the house still saves me money every month so I stayed.

armchair_warrior

what is fair is what they think they can get away with or what you think you can pay for. if you don't think its fair move or talk to them about not raising it.

modsquad2.0

You should negotiate. What you have on your side is a record of being a good tenant. Nothing turns an owner in residence into a quakebuttock then having to rent to a stranger.

swngnmonk

Ok, your landlord raised your rent $75/mo. What was your rent previously? How long was the old lease?

Were you paying $1500/mo for the last 2 years? Because then you're describing a 5% raise on a new 2 year lease - rent-stabilized apartments see bigger raises than that.

$75/mo means nothing without some sense of what you were paying before.

whynot_31

First follow Modsquad's advice, afterward the fair price occurs where Armchair and NYkitty describe: At point PeQe

whyfi

modsquad2.0 said:

You should negotiate. What you have on your side is a record of being a good tenant. Nothing turns an owner in residence into a quakebuttock then having to rent to a stranger.

Yup - if you were in their position, do you think that you would rather concede $25 per month for the next year or would you rather miss out on 1 or 2 months of rent while preparing the space/finding a new, unproven tenant?

swngnmonk

WhyFi said:

Yup - if you were in their position, do you think that you would rather concede $25 per month for the next year or would you rather miss out on 1 or 2 months of rent while preparing the space/finding a new, unproven tenant?

On the flip side:

Would you rather pay the $75/mo ($900/year) additional rent, or would you prefer to spend the next few weeks looking for apartments, packing up, moving, and getting situated in a new location?

This assumes, of course, no broker fee.

meganlibrarian

swngnmonk said:

Ok, your landlord raised your rent $75/mo. What was your rent previously? How long was the old lease?

Were you paying $1500/mo for the last 2 years? Because then you're describing a 5% raise on a new 2 year lease - rent-stabilized apartments see bigger raises than that.

$75/mo means nothing without some sense of what you were paying before.

This, exactly. I used to live in a $1K/mo apartment and had the rent raised $100. 10% increase, but a cheap rent so I paid it. 7 years later, I lived in a $2,200/mo apartment and had a $100 proposed increase. Less than 5% increase, but I declined as it was already way too much money. It's a matter of relativity.

whyfi

swngnmonk said:

On the flip side:

Would you rather pay the $75/mo ($900/year) additional rent, or would you prefer to spend the next few weeks looking for apartments, packing up, moving, and getting situated in a new location?

This assumes, of course, no broker fee.

Exactly - this is why a compromise should be sought.

whynot_31

Here's some logic prospecthightsbordergal (PHBG) could use on her landlord:

For the heck of it, let's assume PHBG used to pay $1300 in rent, and now is being told she must pay $1375.

If she was to say, "nope, that is too much of an increase" and the landlord incurred only one month of it being vacant as a result of her leaving, it would literally take the landlord eighteen (18) months to recoup this loss!

$1375 / $75 = 18.333

...discreetly pointing out this fact to the landlord may serve PHBG's interests.

rockergirl77

I'll trade you apartments - my rent has gone up $400 in less than a year.