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swebs33 t1_j8xuuo1 wrote

I have renewed my lease twice since moving to my current apartment and have had success lowering the proposed increase. Leverage points are: availability levels in your building, asking rents for availabilities in the building (monitor this closely and take screenshots as rates fluctuate), rates for similar age/quality buildings nearby and threaten to move (again, take screenshots). You are an established tenant so the landlord should want to keep you and not have to turn over your unit (by monitoring availability in your building you can tell if leasing is slow). Open the conversation with them saying you have enjoyed living in the building and want to renew, you were expecting an increase but not as high as the proposal (maybe propose a counteroffer but lowball it to just pad where you're okay ending up), and are hoping you can come to a reasonable agreement. Good luck!

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Direct_Ad18 t1_j8xwxp8 wrote

Do you live in a walk up? The strategy works for a individual landlord or small entity because they are dealing with this kind of stuff themselves, but it's less successful for high-rise buildings with property management companies. Turnover is expected and they have funds and workers available to do this kind of stuff so it's less of a financial hit to them. They honestly don't even care and they know how much of a hassle moving will be for the tenant. Threatening to move doesn't phase them. They have more resources than you. With an individual landlord, it's a different story.

OP can try this, but it's not likely to work, or if it does it will get reduced by a laughable amount.

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swebs33 t1_j8xxb7p wrote

I live in an amenity building owned by a large developer.

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Embarrassed_Ferret50 OP t1_j8xxuuf wrote

Thank you for this! I definitely was planning to lead with the positives about how much we like living in the building, that we’re reliable tenants.

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Direct_Ad18 t1_j8xxnrh wrote

Interesting, then your landlord is nicer than most others downtown!

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aTribeCalledLemur t1_j96atmd wrote

I live in large amenity building in Harrison and just dealt with renewal. I was able to get them to come down some on the renewal offer. Not a ton, but I'm glad I did try.

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