There you are, being a good tenant, paying your rent on time, taking good care of your place and what’s this – a rent
increase? What gives?
Here’s Five Reasons Why You Got a Rent Increase.
- What about the property management staff? You go to work and while you’re gone, they go to work too. Cutting the grass, clearing the snow, trimming the bushes, clearing litter, leaves and more. You got an increase last year, shouldn’t they? Where is that going to come from?
- What about the increases in cost to fix stuff? Buy a house and most financial counselors will advise that you budget about 2% of the home’s value for repairs and maintenance – more if it’s older. For an apartment costing $100,000 that’s $2,000. But $2,000 isn’t going to go very far if a furnace or roof needs replacing. What’s more, these costs have been going through the roof. Almost all building materials have increased in cost faster than inflation.
- What about property taxes? Two things are sure – death and taxes. Make that three things: death, taxes and tax increases.
- What about economic activity? Are there new employers in town bringing in more workers and thereby increasing competition for housing?
- Did your property get repositioned? You may not have been paying attention, but maybe the landlord upgraded the landscaping, painted the exterior or replaced the parking lot. Even if none of those upgrades touched the four walls of your apartment, it still cost a lot of money and made your home a more desirable place to live.
Rent increases are a reality of the inflationary world we live in.
