Well done, Shireen! I love my current landlord, but encountered similar issues with a previous landlord. The former landlord wasn't able to adjust a rental increase downward, so I left because the increase wasn't offset by any improvement in quality.

I just recently renewed my lease again as well (my wife and I decided to pass on buying for another 6-12 months).

The landlord originally sent me a letter requesting a 4% increase for another 12 months but, suggested coming in and they might be able to work out a deal. (I had always paid on time - no complaints)

In the end I actually got a 3.5% decrease to renew. So I took it. We both wanted to work something out and the decrease was what market rate was.

I think the big thing it to be level-headed, present facts, and not be greedy.

The contrarian in me can't help it.

The flip side in this is that regardless of what the "market rate" is or is interpreted to be... the business still has operating costs (and profit too) that need to be recovered through rent.

If the LL is unable to get that $X from you and the nice folks who are your neighbors... who will the LL be getting it from? How would you like to have smokers or noisy dog owners as neighbors again? How welcome would a foreclosure memo from the bank be in your lives?

The lesson (LL's!) is that a modest increase is almost always acceptable to almost all tenants. Tenants, if you haven't had an increase in some time... be prepared for it.

Always happy to hear the contrarian viewpoint, MrRational. In this case, of course, it wasn't a "how dare they raise my rent" situation -- it was the size of the increase that concerned her. But I'm guessing that you're making the point generally.

Thanks, Jamie. Hope this helps other renters.

Just want to share a few more details; the complex is undergoing renovations to upgrade the apartments. Altho' the market rate was quoted as $1375, I was offered, last year, a "special rate" of $1100 to move from the old apartment i had lived in for many years to one of the newly-refurbished units. Other tenants in the old apartments were offered similar deals. (Even at this "special rate," some of my former neighbors could not afford it and left.)

Could it be that their plan was to lure in existing tenants from the older units into the new units, then start increasing the rent by $100 every year till we're paying the "market value?"

Comparing rental rates for apartments with similar features or better in Towson led me to conclude that my current rent of $1100 should be the fair market rate. I'd love to know how the corporations that own apartment complexes determine market rates. How much do they really know about the neighborhood demographics and their potential renters?

I'm happy to hear a success story! We tried to do the same at our current apartment, quoting similar rates, and even specials offered *in* our own complex to new renters, and our management company still didn't budge.

It still ended well, however; we put in our two-months' notice at our old apartment, citing the high prices, and we were able to find another apartment nearby -- using the same data we cited for our current apartment -- and talked them down to a good price.

There's something to be said for doing your homework and just trying to get a better deal.

I think tenants are wise to keep an eye on the market, yet bearing in mind the quality of housing and LLship they expect. I'm not a professional landlord, but I research fair market price at the time of finding a tenant and then leave the rent alone for 2-3 years. Consideration of my rental costs is secondary, since I feel it's my problem to adapt to the market. In the past, I used a managing agent who routinely increased the rent every year -- cause their percentage cut depended on the rent rate.
Only once did I have a real problem finding a tenant at the proposed rent -- two winter's ago. At the time, I got numerous calls from people who weren't really in the income bracket for my property, and felt that even if I were to give them the break they wanted i.e. approx 25% rent discount, they would be struggling to cope with utilities, so I waited and made a $200/m rental concession to the final tenant.
I see some LLs looking to rent at near 20-30% above market (maybe they're up to their neck in mortgage and taxes) and their ads stay on craiglist forever.

Similar experience with my apartment in Mt. Vernon in 2003. When told of a rent increase, I offered to pay 6 months of my rent (in advance) in exchange for no rent increase. I know this isn't always an option, but the landlord took it. And my rent didn't increase for the rest of the time I was there.

i think its cool that she brought it up to change the rent from going up too much, but if everyone did that it would get crazy...i would imagine laws and unions would be created to protect landlords more than already