"Their pleas for a smaller, phased-in rent hike were rejected. “We couldn’t believe it. All my friends have just said that it’s not right,” Haug said. So now,

"Their pleas for a smaller, phased-in rent hike were rejected. “We couldn’t believe it. All my friends have just said that it’s not right,” Haug said. So now, they’re getting ready to move out." Would they have preferred he had raised the rent slowly over the last five years, thereby resulting in more money paid to him overall?