Higher prices for renewing than new move-in?

[Beth Fuller]

I am currently a renter. My lease is up next month, and I rent from a fairly large property managed by Atlantic Property Management. All the prices are spit out by the computer and the on-site manager has no control over these. Our lease renewal offer has our rent going up over $130 a month. So out of curiosity I logged on to see what a new tenant can rent an apartment here for. Prices for moving in are $200 to $300 less than my renewal offer - and about $90 a month less than I currently pay. Building location/view/level has been factored in to this. The manager says she’ll call corporate to see what can be done, but I might have to move to another apartment here to get that price. She also says it makes no sense, and is adamant they want us to stay (we are model renters, rent always on time, etc). She mentioned Fair Housing as one of the reasons they don’t have access to be able to change prices...but how can charging $200-$300 more a month for the same apartment to someone renewing for a THIRD year be fair?

I’m very confused, do any of you have experience with this?