Deciding to raise rent

[John Tarricone]

Hi everyone-

I am a new landlord working on building my portfolio. I closed on my first duplex a few months ago and I’m currently house hacking.

I live in New York and was rushed to fill the apartment before winter, so I dropped the rent to 1500.

When the lease is up in May, I would like to increase the rent to 1700.

With that said I have a 2 part question:

1- what are some best practices for telling tenants that their rent will be increasing 200 at renewal?

2- what upgrades do you all recommend for increasing rent?

Thank you in advance!

John T.

[Cameron Tope]

@John Tarricone I agree with @Andrew B. - check the local and state laws to find out your requirements for notice and rent increase limits. 

We send all our tenants notice 90 days in advance of their rent renewal with an explanation that taxes, insurance and overall inflation raises prices every year. Sometimes it's a $5/mo increase and sometimes its $50 but we never go over $200/mo increase. Usually tenants won't move for $5-$50/mo increase but they will definitely move for $200/mo. 

If you want to increase rent from $1500 to $1700 do it over the course of a couple years, especially if the current tenants are long term tenant material. A turnover with vacancy will most likely cost you a lot more than $200/mo. 

Keep good tenants happy and in the property. 

Best of luck!