Rent Increases During a Pandemic

[Joe Windsor]

My wife and I are coming up on our 1 year of owning our first rental property (Duplex that we live in one side and have updated it, have tenants on the other side and have done minimal updates). We remember of the 4 years in our apartment even without any updates for some reason rent always seemed to increase. We just wanted to get a lay of the land especially during the pandemic are landlords still increasing rent this year or giving tenants a break from that?!

[Nathan Gesner]

Yes, you can raise rents if the market supports it. My lease has a built-in 3% rent increase every year which keeps it close to market rate. If the market grows, I stay pretty close. If it slows, I can waive the increase or reduce it.