Rent Increase/Property Manager

[John Milius]

At the beginning of the month I reached out to my management company to see if they had a renewal plan for our current tenants (They are set to renew/move out at the start of May). I received a response the next day that they had already sent them a renewal offer of:

12 Months @ $1599 - which is no increase in rent

18 Months @ $1599

or Month to Month @ $1629.

I followed up and mentioned that I wanted to increase rent about $50 (~3%) minimum. If they were to move out I'd then like to increase rent a considerably amount more since the market rent in this area has grown.

I sent a follow up on the 7th to no response and today received a response as well as a signed renewal agreement that included no rental increase for 12 months.

My question is this: Is it still possible to increase the rent now that they have signed a renewal agreement and should I still try to do so? Also, how do you deal with the management company who ignored my requests until it was to late? They have been starting to lack in the response time area lately but otherwise have made this a hands off passive income property.