Raising Rents While Keeping Tenants

[Marie C. SaintVil]

I have a 5 plex I'm closing on in GA. The current rents are below market rents. To get it up to the market, I would have to increase rents by about $500/month on each unit. 1 unit is in poor condition and is MTM so I'd like to give the tenant a non-renewal so I can redo the entire unit and raise the rent to market with the new tenant. However, I'm not sure how I should go about raising rents with the remaining units (1 unit is in great condition, and the other 3 are in ok condition). I would like to retain (if possible) the others so I can continue collecting some rent while I'm making changes to bring them all to market. BTW, all the other unit's leases expire in 3 months and according to the current lease, I have the right to increase rents within the lease period with 60-day notice.

[Nathan Gesner]

I don't make any effort to keep renters that are more than 15% below market rate. If you do, they may end up not being able to afford it and you'll be dealing with late/unpaid rent. Even if they can afford it, they are more likely to complain or cause problems.

I think it's best practice to get them out, turn the unit around, and rent it at market rate.