I’ve seen several news stories lately about rising apartment vacancies, especially in the big cities. Usually cast as the renters saying “I pay a premium rate for all the perks that a Big City offers, and they don’t exist any more. All the restaurants and theaters and clubs and bars and whatever are closed. And my job lets me work from home, so why shouldn’t I move to a suburb or even Outer Nowhere and save a ton on rent?”
I was wondering if anyone here has experience (first or second hand) of people using that argument to try to negotiate a lower rent when renewing a lease. Something like, “we’ve been good tenants, and our jobs are steady and secure, so we’d have no trouble continuing to be good tenants. But given the circumstances, we feel the old rent is too much for how things are now. We won’t sign a new lease unless you cut the rent by $XXX per month.”
If so, what was the result?
Also would be interested in hearing it from the landlord side, if anyone has experienced that. Assume they have indeed been ‘good’ tenants, as in, always paid rent on time, did not do extra damage to the property, other tenants don’t complain about them, they never call you except for ordinary and necessary stuff (like the water heater isn’t working, or such.)
Would you prefer to try to hold onto a good tenant, even if you’re getting less per month vs. hoping to find a new ‘good’ tenant at the old rate?
I haven’t been a landlord in a little over a year but I was for over 15 years before that. It would depend on what the market is doing. If market price is going up or staying flat then “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass” if it’s going down then I’d be happy to keep a good tenant for less even less than market if I don’t know how far down the market is heading.
Instead of making that argument, look at what apartments are going for of similar size and location in the area. That’s the current market, and that’s what you should be basing your adjusted rent amount upon.
It’s not us, it’s a young relative. She’s in Boston, which is not the cheapest of towns, and her lease runs to October 1st and she’s starting to stew over what to do. A case of ‘on the one hand, but on the other hand’ indecision. She’d really like to stay in Boston, but knows she can get a nicer apartment if she ‘settles’ for a suburb. Or maybe even afford her own house, if she’s willing to go quite a bit further out. But then, if she could stay put for another year or two, but at a nice rent cut, and save the extra… but how long before we actually start recovering from Covid?
What to do, what to do?
I was mainly wondering if her idea of getting the rent lowered enough to really matter to her was likely.
At least a year.
It is possible that a vaccine might be available in January or February. But it will take months to vaccinate 100 million people–so that’s March or April. And it may take another month or two for people to get back in to the swing of their old habits, and start going out to crowded places.
And then it will take many more months before bankrupt businesses sign on the dotted line for new loans, negotiate new leases, hire new employees and start to re-open. Your favorite pub and restaurant won’t be back in business before next summer.
Big chain restaurants with deep pockets may be earlier.
A quick search for “Boston rent trends” suggests that rentals in the city have taken a hit, with year over year rents down 5-6%. It is worth contacting the landlord directly and as soon as possible. I’m a landlord in a market that is not showing a decline, and with a month left in the lease I’d already be reaching out to my tenants to find out their plans.
Ask the landlord, “if we sign for another year, can we do it at $2800 instead of $2900?” and see what they say. It’s a business deal, not a judgement of the landlord’s value as a person. The worst that can happen is the landlord says no, refuses to renew the lease, and makes your relative fight to get the deposit back. In which case the landlord is an idiot you don’t want to rent from anyway.
Good to have a number to base things on! I’ll pass it along right away.
I think the worst from my relative’s POV is that a refusal by the landlord would be the final push into moving elsewhere – inertia, the hassles of moving are a big factor in her not wanting to move. Her husband is already leaning that way, she is more reluctant. Once ‘forced’ to move, it’s more likely that they’ll move out to the suburbs than to another in-city location, leading to the loss of neighbor friends, likely changing doctors/dentists/etc, basically the loss of the comfortable ‘same old, same old.’
Well, their decision to make, and as you point out, it’s one they can’t dally over too long.
