Increasing Your Rental Prices? All the Dos and Don’ts to Keep in Mind

If you’re thinking of increasing your rent prices, you’re likely to be wary of tenants who won’t be pleased about it.

It’s important for a landlord to be aware of precisely what you can and can’t do when increasing the prices on your rental properties.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind to keep tenants happy without being a pushover too.

Do: Understand the Value of your Property

By understanding the value of your property, you can justify raising the rent, which is always helpful when informing your tenants of the increase.

If you do this, you can compare your rental costs to those of the rental properties in the area—ie. your competition.

By checking real estate websites, you can assess the prices out there and the values of the properties and keep them as references in case of any queries.

It’s also a helpful tool in deciphering how much you should or can bump the rent up. It will help know so you can be sure you’re not being unfair to your tenants and so you can raise the rent to the best amount for you.

Do: Justify the Rent Increase

A way to justify the increase in rent is to add improvements to your property.

Fresh paint, improvements to the bathroom and a few new flourishes outside will help with curbside appeal and a more enticing space to live inside.

If you have tenants already living in the property, these improvements will help placate them. They will be getting fresh improvements, so the fact that they have to pay more seems fair.

Take a look at features such as countertops in the kitchens, light fittings, any damage to the walls from hanging pictures, updating boilers or other appliances, and checking the quality of the doors, their handles and hinges.

Is there a security system on-site? Adding this is a longterm asset and will justify a rental increase.

Another way of justifying a rent increase is by ensuring your services as a landlord remains worth the extra money by providing a diligent, efficient service.

Don’t: Enforce Rent Increase Uncaringly

Be tactful and sympathetic about the rental increase.

If you have faithful tenants who are staying put, announce the news carefully with a friendly informative letter or email.

If it’s not up for negotiation, don’t enforce this aggressively. Explain carefully why you have made this decision and why it will benefit them in the long run. List any improvements you are making to the property so they’re fully aware of the reasons for the rental increase. 

Ready to Increase Rent Prices?

These basic dos and don’ts when increasing rent prices should prepare you and make life easier for you when informing your tenants or any prospective tenants looking to rent from you.

For more tips on managing properties, be sure to check out the rest of our blog.

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