All Forum Posts by: Sean O'Lone

Thanks for everyone's input.  I have decided to keep the current tenant at the same rent for one more year.  Telling her that she has been a great tenant and I have really appreciated having her as a tenant but eventually, I will have to raise the rent based on my costs increasing.  My plan is to use this year to asses the property for what I will want to do to the property assuming she moves out.  This gives her an opportunity to prepare if she really can't pay more and me to prepare money and planning for any maintenance which will have to occur.  I will probably offer to only raise the rent by $50 for her next year or market it for $1800 next year to someone else. 

Once again thanks for everyone's input.  The variety of views are always useful.

I have a townhome which I have had a tenant in for about 6 years.  She is a retired lady on a fixed income and when she got into the house the rent was $1400.  The rents in the area have climbed pretty rapidly over the last few years and market rent is about $1850.  I have been slowly raising the rent on the tenant over the last few years at $50 per year to keep a good tenant knowing I was behind market but didn't want to lose a good tenant by raising it too fast.  

The rent is currently $1550 and the lease is up at the end of July. I talked to my property manager who also agreed market rent is about $1850 based on MLS. They offered the tenant a renewal at $1650 (maybe I got too aggressive this year). This is the first time the tenant has complained about a rent increase and said she could not afford the rent increase because she is on a fixed income.

I am generally willing to accept somewhat below market rent on a house for a good tenant who has been in a house for a long time and shown a good record of being good to the property and paying on time.   My question is at what point is it worth losing a good tenant to get to market rent?