Rental increases

By law, it is allowed to increase the rental by 20% every year. But when a landlord does that, the tenant would surely reach a point that he couldn't afford it anymore so more likely the tenant would leave. As per our experience, the increase is moderate at 10% and not every year but every 2 years. At least we felt that the landlord somehow cared for their tenants. Salaries here do not increase every year so landlords should understand that an increase in rent is a big blow to the finances of the tenant.

 

Inflation or an upgrade/renovation to the apartments/rental property should be what justifies raises in the rent. But simply raising the rent because you are expected to [each year] would most obviously force your tenants to leave. When the earnings of their tenants aren't raised in response to soaring inflation then it would be fair for all parties if the landlord didn't raise the rent.

 

Wow those #'s seem high! I have NEVER had my rent increased.
A friend of mine gets his raised by a half of a percent a year.
I could not imagine paying 20% more year over year, I would certainly find a new place to live!

 

Landlords have to keep it real, I mean, if they just raise and raise they will never get tenants. Finally, if the tenant is good it's in the landlord best interest to maintain him, so that passes by a fair rent.

 

While there's a maximum a landlord can increase the annual rent amount, they'll find that doing that is just going to lose them tenants. People are already struggling to make ends meet, so a 20% increase in rent wouldn't be manageable.

People will expect a small increase, possibly in line with inflation, or if some improvements have been done on the property, but the increase should really be discussed with the tenant to check affordability.

 

I have lived in my apartment since 2009 and I have only had one increase in rent and that was 2 years ago. It increased by 5%. The company I work for doesn't hand out raises very often. I might get a raise every 4-5 years so with the cost of everything else going up its nice to have my rent staying the same. I have a really good landlord who cares about his tenants and wants to keep any of the long-term ones that he has. When new people move in he renovates the apartments and they pay the increased rent.

 

A 20% increase would be unmanageable for most people so I'm surprised to hear it constitutes a legal limit. I understand that rents have to occasionally rise in line with inflation but at the same time, it doesn't make sense to force reliable and trustworthy tenants out over this.

 

I think using the annual inflation rate for the country / region is a good indication of how much you should raise the rent. But if you have a great tenant then I wouldn't worry about it, having your apartment safe and getting the rent on time every month is more important than a small increase in rent.

 

That is exactly how my landlord feels. If he raises the rent he would lose many of his long term tenants who he knows pay every month and who will be there as long as the rent is affordable. There is an elderly gentlemen who lives across the hall from me and the last time the rent when up he mentioned to the landlord that he was on a fixed income and couldn't afford the increase., that he would have to move to a more affordable place. He had lived in this building for probably close to 10 years. After hearing that the landlord choose to not raise his rent and keep him there instead. Not all landlords are like that. I consider myself very lucky to be living in one of his buildings.

 

We also had experienced living for 5 years in a rented house without any increase until we left (when we had acquired our own house). However, the landlord is a family friend of my husband's so I guess that is the reason. But for our part, we make minor repairs, spending money and not asking the landlord to pay for it although we usually report such repairs before we do it. Like the roof, we had replaced several galvanized sheet that involved big money and the landlord was offering to deduct half of the expenses from our rent but we declined.