Interesting question. I’ll give you my perspective as a landlord who raised the rent about 10% in March of 2005.

I raised it because the rent wasn’t enough to cover my costs. I was about 300/month short and expected rents to increase and cover me after 2 years. I just assumed a 10% increase each year. This happened about the same time I stumbled upon Piggington. Interesting thing is, the renters complained about it, which surprised me. I put two and two together (OK, Rich put 2 and 2 together for me) and sold. The house closed in August.

If your landlord has owned the property for years and years and years and they haven’t raised the rent in a couple of years, chances are it is fairly justifiable and they are just being dilligent to ensure they get the most out of their property.

If they are new owners, however, they may be raising the rent based on what they need to make to cover their mortgage, without knowing their rental market.

Important for you to know. Knowledge is power in this case. I would suggest spending a day shopping for a new rental, even if you don’t plan on moving, to get an idea of the market. If you are getting a fair deal, just pay the man. If not, show them some comparible places and suggest they are a little off base, but don’t be surprised if they decide to sell once you do.

Seems like there was an article posted long ago on how rents can increase as a housing bubble deflates. This makes sense to me as more and more landlords NEED to charge a little more rent to help cover those ARMs.

If you have to move, look for a landlord who has owned a place for many years. Their payments and property tax will be lower and they won’t be forced to raise rents in the future. They may also value stable renters rather than those paying a premium price.

HA – 324 words, excluding this line.

In reality, rental rates for SFRs aren’t set by the owners’ costs. They’re set by the supply of, and demand for rental housing.

How much is your rent? How big is the place? The bigger it is, the closer you get to $1/sq-ft, especially in PQ. I’ve been looking recently, and just found a place in Sorrento Valley. It came out to $1.30/sq-ft for a 1610sq-ft townhouse. Right now, there’s a 1650sq-ft house in Mira Mesa, it’s going for $1950. The house is pretty new. So bottom line is, do your research and compare. If it turns out you’re paying more than fair market, then you can just move, else just accept the 8% incrase.

that sounds awfully like this place we looked at right next to CSUSM. 2200 sqft, was trying to rent for $2200 for 4 months (guy bought it as an investment in 12/05). finally lowered it to $2000 and found a renter in 4/06.

If it’s as bad as you say it is, I think you can find much better place for around that price and around that area. For 1850, you can probably find either newer, < 10yrs, houses with about 1400sq-ft.

As a landlord, I can tell you that the rent increase is negotiatable. If you do not like the 8% increase, tell them. If they are smart, they will counter offer by reducing the increase to 4%.

From the landlord perspective, it does not pay to lose a good tenant. It takes at least a month to get a new tenant in, that’s one month or 8.3% (1/12) without rental income. Addition of any amount is better than substraction of 8.3%!

So my advise is to talk to your landlord and I am sure you will both find a comfortable solution.

BTW, it is renter’s market right now 🙂

This is contrary to my observation. My neighbour’s house had a drop of $200 in rents from last year.

I think the confusion comes from the fact that Carmel Valley has lots of newer, bigger development. When they are on the market, they tends to fetch more $$ and the market looks like going up. For the same house, the rent is even or lower than last year.