I have been renting out rooms for several years in my home. I have 2 tenants now who have been here 8 years. I have never raised the rent. I think it is time to raise it because the worth of the dollar today is 26% less than 8 years ago. Is that a good way to do it ? Opinions Pls. TY

Do it in writing and remind them your taxes, insurance and cost of general repairs have increased. Give 30 days notice if that’s what you’re state requires for your increase amount.

Do it in writing and remind them your taxes, insurance and cost of general repairs have increased. Give 30 days notice if that’s what you’re state requires for your increase amount.

Though they might balk a bit because you haven't raised rents, they certainly should understand this year. I got a nice note from my insurance company saying how they held off raising rates as long as they could, but they were going to have to now. I agree with putting rent increase in writing, even though they ate under the same roof. ( and always make a copy for your files. )

Markx2,

This is a great example of why every LL should raise rents, at least a little, EVERY year.

I'm with Scott. NOT raising rents makes it doubly hard when you MUST raise rents.

A 26% increase on a small rent is minimal. Don't mention %, just set the new rent amount.

You can show them your ins, util, and prop tax bills to justify the increase.

Show them local sleeping room prices.

I suspect these are very low income people so an increase might not even be possible...But where else can they go?

In home renters is almost unheard of these days.

Another good way to present it to look for a comparable room for rent and then tell them what the market rate is for what they are getting. Assuming that after your increase they will be paying just slightly below what the market rate is then they are still getting a deal. If they move out that is what they are going to be paying elsewhere.

But most importantly, you do not owe them an explanation. Nor is it a negotiation. Decide what you are going to charge, give them at least the required notification for your state (many states are 30 days), put it in writing and give it to them. If you want to explain why you certainly can but you don't have to.

For the future, it is often better to do a yearly increase. It's easier on tenants to swallow a small increase than a large one which will likely take some financial juggling on their part to accommodate.

Dear Tenant: Starting May 1st, the new rent will be $XXX. If this doesn't work for you, I'll need your written notice to end the lease on April 30th delivered to me no later than 5 PM on the 1st of April. If we don't receive anything by then, we will assume you accept this rent increase.

Thanks,

The Management

Keep It Silly Simple. There's no need to go into the spiel about increasing costs. Anyone who has been paying attention knows that inflation has been going nuts lately and you won't need to explain it to them. The people who haven't been paying attention won't understand what you're trying to say, so once again... no need to explain anything to them.

They can either afford it and are willing to pay, or they can't and they aren't. Either way, you just need an answer, so keep the question simple: "Are you staying and paying or not?"

if they have any issues with a 50% rent raise ask them for the names of their friends that have had no rent bumps in 8 years. i recently had a tenant vibe me when she got a raise after 4 years. she and her roomy are disabled vets and he got badly blown up twice in iraq so i was nicer for him for obvious reasons. when she called me an a/hole, i told her to GTFOut.