2y ago

How do you negotiate with your apartment rental landlord when they are a huge corporation with 500+ properties?

I've been dealing with this for years now since my apartment complex was bought by new owners(multiple times now). Every time I renew the lease they want to raise the price $100+ ($300+ during covid). I always try to negotiate by saying I've lived there many years with no problems, paid rent on time, etc. Unfortunately I'm only even allowed to speak to the local office manager who is either powerless or pretends to be and doesn't even pretend to be sympathetic.

Meanwhile, they aren't even keeping their end of the deal up. The pool and hot tub have been drained and in disrepair since January.(I'll definitely mention this when negotiating this time).

Lastly, moving is not the answer. Practically every apartment complex around here is owned by one of these horrible companies so there's no escape unless you happen to find something owned by an individual(which has its own problems). I'm also getting a small discount(gets smaller every renewal) for being in an outdated unit so moving would still raise my rate, be a massive hassle, and I'd have to pay a new deposit.

Long term I will buy a house, but how can I save enough when they gouge me at every turn?

25 comments

That's the beauty of these giant mega housing corpsb You don't. You're completely powerless to do any sort of negotiating, you bend over and take whatever offer they give you or you move. It's the American dream in reality.
- It’s the American dream in realty.
  FTFY
- Its just insane there's no laws to help with these situations. They're becoming extremely commonplace.
  
  There are in some places. In red states, legislators are doing their damnedest to prevent municipalities from enacting those laws.

You need a tenant union. There may be tenant unions active in your area which you can contact for advice, or even support. Beware of retaliation though. This is something which needs to be thought about carefully and approached strategically. In this regard, it is no different from unionizing a workplace.
If the corporation is renting 500+ units, that means they are ripping off 500+ working class families / individuals. If those 500+ tenants organize to the degree where they can collectively withhold their rent, they've got the landlords by the balls. Individual action can only go so far.

Short term? You probably have some leverage if the upkeep of the stuff is in your rent contract. Try to report them someplace? Idk.
Long term? Form a tenant union and vote for pro-tenant policies, e.g., rent control policies, owner transparency laws, limitations on the number/length of time empty properties can sit, etc. The only way to fight big power is with more-equal power.
- As far as I can tell in my jurisdiction there is no recourse for reporting them aside from suing for not upkeeping the pool because it isn't something necessary like water, heating/cooling, etc. Suing defeats the purpose because I don't want to move and win or lose I definitely wouldn't be able to stay there after the case.
  A tenant union could be useful long term maybe but it puts a target on your back just like suing does.

Check if your local area has any laws around maximum rent increases per year, and how much notice is required. I once got a decent reduction because the apartment company notified me one day too late.
The local staff likely don't have any power. Generally with the larger companies, all the rent increases are automated and the only people with any power to change it are very high up at the company.

Burning their office down is an option

If they’re following tenancy laws to the T (which most rental corporations do as it’s in their best interests) there’s not much you can do. If the pool/hot tub is in your tenancy agreement you might be able to use that for leverage, but if it isn’t and access is just given as a “perk” then not much you can do there either. People can’t really give you advice without knowing where you live, either.

Are you a member of a tenant union, is that even a thing in your country ? When you're dealing with an individual landlord, a "strongly worded letter" or a "I've been doing my part" is enough to get somewhere. With corporation having a huge team it doesn't work, you need the legal power of a collective.
At this point, the best thing to do is to write down to politician and make-sure they implement some form of "rent control" and other tenant protection laws

Small claims court?
- I don't want to move though. I just want a fair deal.
  
  It depends on your local government, you might be able to take it to a rentalsman or local equivalent. Figure out what your rights as a tenant are. If you have none, then the best you could hope for would be to form a tenants union. That takes time though.

Ya don’t, and when its a housing shortage, you can’t even do better by moving.

Are you in a hcol area op? I know you said moving is not an option but as far as I understand it, in some places the only way you're going to be able to remove a sizeable chunk out of living expenses is being willing to commute.
- It didn't used to be that bad. I moved in at $700/month back in 2015 or so and now its going to be up to about $1500. It used to raise $50 each renewal which was reasonable but then covid absolutely skyrocketed the prices of everything.
  Moving may be the only option long term, but I'm not ready yet so I was wondering if people had techniques for dealing with these companies so that you aren't just instantly dismissed.
  
  Unfortunately they hold all the leverage as it's a big company that controls much of the market. If you move (and they know you probably won't because of the hassle) they probably have a stack of applications for people ready to replace you immediately. Your only leverage is to maximize your savings so that you can buy your own place.

Largely depends on the city and state in which you reside. As far as I am aware, besides discrimination based on race, protection against rent increases is handled different across each state and city.
NYC for example has better tenant rights and prevention of unreasonable rent increases. On the other hand, TX has very basic tenant rights and no regulations on rent increases.

Move

Write bad reviews on Yelp and Google Maps. Name names.
I did this in an apartment I lived in once. The local office manager asked me about it. Maintenance suddenly was doing a better job than they previously had.
- I posted one very detailed negative review on apartments.com I think it was and it was deleted lol... not sure if my complex had a hand in getting it removed or what, but there was no valid reason to delete it.

25 comments