Raise one rent, raise all of them to prevent false claims of discrimination?

[Troy L.]

Hi, I have  four sfr properties that I rent out for my personal income as well as a business investment.  They are all on a month to month agreement and have all been there a year or more. One of the properties is a three bedroom with no garage that the tenants pay on time but require more of my time than the others .

The properties  rent is more under market than the others as well but I raised their rent a year ago and I plan on raising it about three percent again this year according to state law.  My question is I haven't raised my two bedroom rents at all because they are close to market value in my area.  The tenants in the 3 bedroom rental aren't in a protected class but I do not want to get in any kind of legal bind.  It is not retaliatory in nature also.

Is it legal to raise rents on one property and not all of them?  

[Chris Seveney]

@Troy L.

Yes absolutely can raise rent on only one property and not all.

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Troy L.:

Hi, I have  four sfr properties that I rent out for my personal income as well as a business investment.  They are all on a month to month agreement and have all been there a year or more. One of the properties is a three bedroom with no garage that the tenants pay on time but require more of my time than the others .

The properties  rent is more under market than the others as well but I raised their rent a year ago and I plan on raising it about three percent again this year according to state law.  My question is I haven't raised my two bedroom rents at all because they are close to market value in my area.  The tenants in the 3 bedroom rental aren't in a protected class but I do not want to get in any kind of legal bind.  It is not retaliatory in nature also.

Is it legal to raise rents on one property and not all of them?  

 Absolutely. In fact I have a no PITA policy, which means if you violate it you are probably getting a rent increase at next renewal opportunity, which might be next month if you are on M2M. If you are going to aggravate me, I'm going to get paid for it or you're going to move. 

About 4 or 5 years ago I had some students who were in violation of this policy. The kids were OK but the mother, who was really the payer, was a major hassle. I had already decided when their lease was up they were getting a hefty increase, which encouraged her to move on after a few months of M2M. 

[Alecia Loveless]

@Troy L. I just bought a 6 unit property that the rents are well under market on. I am raising one rent at a time because I do not want a ton of vacancies.

In this instance the tenant questioned the other 5 and determined their rent was the only increase.

I had to explain that I planned to raise them all and that theirs was just the starting point.

There should be no legal issue with you just raising one rent. I would think the only possible issue would be if you raised it above local or state allowed amount, or perhaps if you raised it a bunch above market. Likely just raising it above market rent would be considered stupid, not illegal because then you’d have a vacancy.

[Nathan Gesner]

Raising the rent to market rate is not discrimination.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @JD Martin:

Quote from @Troy L.:

Hi, I have  four sfr properties that I rent out for my personal income as well as a business investment.  They are all on a month to month agreement and have all been there a year or more. One of the properties is a three bedroom with no garage that the tenants pay on time but require more of my time than the others .

The properties  rent is more under market than the others as well but I raised their rent a year ago and I plan on raising it about three percent again this year according to state law.  My question is I haven't raised my two bedroom rents at all because they are close to market value in my area.  The tenants in the 3 bedroom rental aren't in a protected class but I do not want to get in any kind of legal bind.  It is not retaliatory in nature also.

Is it legal to raise rents on one property and not all of them?  

 Absolutely. In fact I have a no PITA policy, which means if you violate it you are probably getting a rent increase at next renewal opportunity, which might be next month if you are on M2M. If you are going to aggravate me, I'm going to get paid for it or you're going to move. 

About 4 or 5 years ago I had some students who were in violation of this policy. The kids were OK but the mother, who was really the payer, was a major hassle. I had already decided when their lease was up they were getting a hefty increase, which encouraged her to move on after a few months of M2M. 

I found simply raising rent to the max allowed is better than an eviction they move with out all the fuss  :)

[Joseph Hammel]

No reason they could claim discrimination for a rent increase. Just keep the amount within any local rules and give proper notice. The reason for the rent is none of their business. If they think it's too much then tell them they should shop around for somewhere else.

[Jake Knight]

Raising rent should be based on market rates in your market, there is no need to be consistent unless you want to be.  If I have one property at or around market, I would choose to keep in the same or raise it a little. If I have a property well below market, I would offer a more agressive rate to try to bring it up to market asap.

[Carini Rochester]

"three percent again this year according to state law."

This doesn't sound right to me. Are you sure there is a state law that says this? There certainly is not a state law like that in NY. Market rents have been going up a lot faster than 3%. You'll never catch up to market rents at 3% per year.