report<\/a>, the median rent in the city has risen by 7 percent from last year, to a record $4,120. With low rental inventory and the coming summer rush of apartment seekers, it\u2019s true that your landlord holds most \u2014\u00a0all? \u2014\u00a0of the cards in this negotiation. But certainly someone has done it before \u2026 right?<\/p>\nWhen it comes to initial negotiations, there are a few things to consider. First, if your landlord owns more than ten units, even if they\u2019re market rate, they can\u2019t raise rent by more than 10 percent, thanks to New York\u2019s Good Cause eviction law. Maybe this is the case?\u00a0But let\u2019s say it\u2019s not: Asking for a longer lease is an obvious option, but you might be more successful, at least according to broker Michael Corley, if you sweeten the deal a little bit. Sure, you might be able to get your landlord to agree to a two-year lease without much haggling. But if you want something even longer, Corley suggests offering to pay a bit more over the asking rent, which could still work out in your favor. For example, if the owner is asking for $3,000, you could offer to pay $3,050 for three years. If the landlord was planning to raise the rent by 5 percent each year, you\u2019d save money \u2014 $3,690 total \u2014 in the end. But more importantly, it would insulate you from a surprise $700 increase over that term. \u201cExperienced landlords welcome these arrangements, since it locks in a higher fixed cash flow on the unit,\u201d especially if you\u2019re a highly qualified tenant, Corley says. (\u201cHighly qualified\u201d here means a good job, payment history, and credit score. And probably not being a loud walker or something.)<\/p>\n
But even a three-year lease runs out eventually. So I asked around to see if anyone had any recent success negotiating a renewal without an increase.\u00a0With a small landlord, it can depend a lot on your relationship. \u201cI had it in my lease renewal one time that they weren\u2019t raising the lease because they love me,\u201d one friend told me. \u201cMy roommates had to sign it.\u201d Another tenant told me they had broken up with their partner and could no longer afford the rent on their apartment, which the landlord was planning to raise by $100, to $4,100. They were planning to move. \u201cThe whole time time, my landlord\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m so sad you\u2019re leaving. You\u2019re the best tenant I ever had.\u2019\u201d They had done a lot of small things over the years for their landlord, who lived in Japan, like finding frugal options for apartment fixes and even showing the apartment to prospective tenants. The landlord had someone lined up to pay the new rent when the tenant found a potential roommate; in the end, the landlord agreed to keep renting to them at the previous rate and even lowered it by $25 because the tenant\u2019s dog had passed away. (This tenant also told their landlord they were planning to move out after one more year, which likely helped with getting the concession.) Another tenant, Lyle, told me that their landlord wanted to increase their under-market rent by $500 after not raising it for years. They asked their landlord over for tea to negotiate in person and only managed to delay the increase \u2014 getting it down to $250 (with another $250 hike in six months) after walking around and showing them all the issues in the apartment. Another tenant paying market rate, the suggestion seemed to go, might not be as lenient as Lyle. \u201cIt was basically about us being good tenants,\u201d Lyle said.<\/p>\n
Being a reliable tenant helps a lot, Corley adds. \u201cIf the tenant has occupied the rental for at least two years, has had a near-perfect payment history, and wants to renew, they have a good deal of leverage.\u201d He recently helped a tenant whose landlord wanted to renew the lease for one year with a 7 percent increase. Corley ended up countering with a two-year lease with no increase in the first year and a 5 percent increase in the second year. The landlord agreed, Corley says, because they didn\u2019t want to lose a good renter\u00a0and \u201cdefinitely weren\u2019t interested in going through a new rental process in today\u2019s fragile economic environment.\u201d (Corley suggests starting out a negotiation with no increase in the first year and a 2.5 percent increase in the second.)<\/p>\n
Still, the future is always a gamble \u2014 in real estate and basically everything else. A few people said they were skating by month to month after their leases expired, since their landlords hadn\u2019t mentioned anything yet. But many more people said they tried to negotiate their renewals to no avail: Their landlords didn\u2019t bat an eye raising their rent by hundreds of dollars and watching their tenant walk if they declined. Brutal, perhaps, but not surprising. Asking for that 3-year lease might be your best bet, and if the landlord won\u2019t play ball at all, you probably have a good indication of whether they would be open to negotiating when your renewal comes up.<\/p>\n
Have a question for the Apartment Department? You can send it to clio.chang@nymag.com.<\/p>\n
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