Raising the rent

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

The lease on our house is up for renewal early next month, and our PM is recommending a $10 pw increase.

I feel awful even thinking about it. Yes, we could definitely use the money, even though it's only $10 a week - and won't even end up being that because of the PM fees. But then I think about the tenants, who haven't given us a whiff of trouble over the last 6 months, and I feel awful.

Thoughts from other landlords? How do you feel about raising the rent?

[PumpkinZulu]

I'm not a landlord, but have they only been tenants for 6 months? As a tenant, I'd feel a bit jibbed having my rent increased so soon. After 12 months,I wouldn't really have an issue. $40 p/m should not be breaking people's banks, and if it is then they're likely living beyond their means and should consider downsizing. Even if I had just been there 6 months, it wouldn't be a super huge deal. It's not a significant increase.

[Rouge]

I'm not sure what it's like where you are but $20 is the average rent raising per year. So for me $10 for 6 months seems about right.

[Miss_Dee]

Also not a landlord, but when we signed our most recent lease, the agent advised us to expect a raise every 6 months. Sure not all owners do, but it's fairly much the norm to raise it $5-$10 every 6 months. I won't be super thrilled if it happens to us, but I'm expecting it to happen so we've planned for it.

[PinkPalace]

it is completely your call.
When we had great tenants we didnt raise it in 2 years - (and that was when rates were on the rise!).we were grateful for tenants who cared for the house.

Our current tenants no so much - we have spent $4000 this year on improvements which we cannot claim for them and we have put up the rent $20 a week over a 12 month term

[*TripleJ*]

our rent went up at our current place after our 6 month lease by $5 a week and i dont know if its going up in june but im pretty sure it isnt coz we had about 3 months notice so not sure maybe at the end of the lease

[~*familyof3*~]

Honestly......i would be quite upset if i had only been there 6 months and it was upped. I would probably also be a little worried that they would continue to up it every 6months too.

Also how does upping the rent work with what a home is valued at when you first choose to rent it out? Just curious is all. Most people when looking do try to stay in their budget,so if the rent gets upped every 6months that must be a little tough.

[vic261]

I have been a landlord for years and always kept the rent as stable with the good tennant. The not so good ones I upped it, but if I found a good one with no hassles I wanted to keep them

[misty]

It's pretty standard to increase rent $5-10 each time the lease is up for renewal. Of course this is only in an increasing market, not a staggnant one. The risk you run with not increasing a little each time, is that when you do try to catch up to the rest of the market the gap may be too big to bridge and you may not be 'allowed' to increase by the amount needed to get it back up to market price.

My sister is my tenant, and although we do rent to her significantly under market value, she is fully aware that the rent will be increasing every 12mths (given the rental market here, she will still be way below market rent even as hers increases).

Having said that, you are the landlord, you can call the shots, if you don't feel comfortable increasing, don't. Or perhaps only increase by half of what the REA suggests.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

So many responses! Thanks everyone

The house is currently let at $270 pw, with the average for the area being $310. On the one hand, ours is a little run-down, but on the other hand, it's on over 1000sqm and we pay for the lawn upkeep, the tenants don't hafta worry about it. I don't know if I'm trying to justify myself or making good points to be honest. I'm probably just overthinking the whole thing.

[Little Chicken]

Upping the rent every 6 months in our old place priced us out within 18 months. Might have stayed there longer if the rent remained reasonable.

[Cranky Kitten]

I think I'd prefer a $15-20pwk increase at 12 months rather than a $10pwk at 6 months as a renter myself, to be honest. With a bit of advance warning that it's on the cards. That said, our R/E advised they'd increase by $20pwk at our lease renewal but haven't actually done it that I know of...maybe they like us?

[~clover~]

$40 p/m should not be breaking people's banks, and if it is then they're likely living beyond their means and should consider downsizing. Even if I had just been there 6 months, it wouldn't be a super huge deal. It's not a significant increase.

Its not to some, but needing a 3 brm home it can be a bit hard to downsize. $10 a week can break the bank in some cases.

Our rent increased from $255 to $265 after 12 months, then they wanted to put it up to $280. They decided to sell instead, but I would've had to move out anway. I couldn't afford that amount.

If you think its reasonable, its within your rights to do it, especially if you could do with the money. If property value around you is increasing & your house is keeping up with that value do it. Make sure all repairs are carried out though... drove me nuts that my LL's were happy to increase my rent, but couldn't put a screen door on the front of my house. Also took 6 months for them to fix my clothes line that sagged to the ground.

[Joeve]

My hubby is the same he doesn't want to raise it and I do! I guess $10 is not much but if the banks drop their interest rates this week the timing might be a bit off

[Rowellen]

As a landlord, I prefer to only raise the rent at the end of a lease. So if it's 6 months or 12 months - that's the tenants choice. We go by RE recommendation. I've also been a renter & had the rent upped on us mid-way through a 12 month lease. We were p'd off & ended up breaking our lease because of it (in part). So if they were only on a 6 month lease then ok but if it's mid way - no increase. It's business, & they will understand.

[Miss.September]

It's been a while since I rented but we only ever saw an increase at the end of 12 months. If they're a good tenant, I'd consider leaving it until then.

Sometimes things aren't as simple as living within means. We moved out of a rental because the rent went up, not unfairly, but we were trying to save for both our wedding and our own house and we weren't prepared to pay any more.

[TeniBear]

Just make sure the tenants think its worth paying that little extra, if you want to keep them. Part of why we're moving now is because the rent went up last year and we've realised the house is nowhere near big or nice enough to justify it. Technically our new house is more expensive per month (I have NO idea how they've worked it out!) but we reckon it's worth paying it.

The first place we lived together was a junky granny flat in someone's backyard, and they started raising the rent every six months by $20! By the time we moved out - the week after Ianto was born - we were paying something like $300p/w for this THING someone shoddily put together out of their garage. We'd been trying for months to get out, but no-one would take us

[PinkPalace]

the worst rent increase we had, was after 12months, they landlords let our lease roll onto periodical and 6 weeks after dd was born raised it by $80 a week. from $370 to $450. (talking 2006 here too). they wanted to sell the place and needed it to have a good rental income to make it appealing.
Needless to say we couldnt afford it after dropping to 1 wage, and moved out - within a week there were new tenants paying $450~!

supply and demand i guess