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The conclusion (that a landlord will reward "good" tenants with lower rent) is hopelessly naive. My landlord hit me with rent increase the moment he could (and

by kjksf 15y ago

The conclusion (that a landlord will reward "good" tenants with lower rent) is hopelessly naive. My landlord hit me with rent increase the moment he could (and I consider myself good tenant by the author's definition). And why wouldn't he? First, at least in my case, landlord (person who owns the building and gets the money) is a different person than building manager (which takes all the heat from annoying tenants and, I imagine, is employed by a landlord) and they have full-time maintenance person anyway, so there's no feedback loop. Second, if I decide to move, it'll cost me several thousands bucks and will be a hassle, assuming I'll find a better deal elsewhere, so there's a strong disincentive for tentants, good or bad, to move just to get lower rent. Third, as much as we like to think that we e.g. value peace of mind over money, money is very easy to quantify while peace of mind is not, which is why money usually wins in contests like this. The only reason for a landlord to keep rent low is to maintain low vacancy ratio and that is dictated by the overall market.

Anechoic 15y ago
The conclusion (that a landlord will reward "good" tenants with lower rent) is hopelessly naive. Found the same thing when renting in the Boston area in the early aughts. My roommates and I were good tenants - paid rent on time, were quiet & low key, didn't call the landlord except for real emergencies (we were all mechanical and electrical engineers so we basically took care of stuff that didn't require a licensed professional ourselves), etc. For our trouble we got whacked with 15 percent annual rent increases for three years. Ninety days before our last lease expired, the landlord offered another 10% increase. When we hedged about accepting it for a few days, the landlord decided that he wanted to renovate the place and withdrew the lease offer. We moved out a couple of months later, but lived near the house and we could keep track of what was going on. After 2 or 3 months of painting/cleaning/etc, the house went back on the rental market. It sat empty for more than two years. He finally rented it when he offered a price that was lower than we were paying when he booted us out. Lose, lose. I am glad to see that there are landlords that appreciate good tenants, but certainly not all of them do.
- jamesbkel 15y ago
  Had the exact same situation (Boston, 00's, basically fixed everything that didn't require trained electrician or plumber)... certainly didn't do me any good.

by kjksf 15y ago

Anechoic 15y ago

The conclusion (that a landlord will reward "good" tenants with lower rent) is hopelessly naive. Found the same thing when renting in the Boston area in the early aughts. My roommates and I were good tenants - paid rent on time, were quiet & low key, didn't call the landlord except for real emergencies (we were all mechanical and electrical engineers so we basically took care of stuff that didn't require a licensed professional ourselves), etc. For our trouble we got whacked with 15 percent annual rent increases for three years. Ninety days before our last lease expired, the landlord offered another 10% increase. When we hedged about accepting it for a few days, the landlord decided that he wanted to renovate the place and withdrew the lease offer. We moved out a couple of months later, but lived near the house and we could keep track of what was going on. After 2 or 3 months of painting/cleaning/etc, the house went back on the rental market. It sat empty for more than two years. He finally rented it when he offered a price that was lower than we were paying when he booted us out. Lose, lose. I am glad to see that there are landlords that appreciate good tenants, but certainly not all of them do.

jamesbkel 15y ago
Had the exact same situation (Boston, 00's, basically fixed everything that didn't require trained electrician or plumber)... certainly didn't do me any good.