When the time comes to raise rent due to various reasons, landlords must send a rent increase notice to cover expenses or remain profitable. However, it can be difficult to navigate how to legally increase rent and inform tenants. If you’re searching for a sample Rent Increase Notice to create your letter, you’re in the right place. We provide an editable documents tool to help you streamline the process.
Simply choose the appropriate template, fill out our easy questionnaire with your information, review and edit the letter, then download it. The entire process can be completed in just three simple steps to obtain your rent increase notice. Start creating it now!
Table of Contents
What is a notice to increase rent?
A rent increase notice is a formal letter written by the landlord to inform tenants of an upcoming increase in rent. After receiving the notice, tenants have the option to accept, negotiate or reject it, and potentially send a notice to vacate. It’s important for landlords to know and comply with the state’s notice period requirements before sending the rent increase notice.
💡 Note
We can only use this letter to raise the rent if the existing lease agreement allows or for a 🔗month-to-month rental agreement.
When should the landlord send a notice of rent increase?
As we mentioned, there are many reasons can affect to increase the rent. Here we compile a list of common reasons in general for your reference:
- Increase in state and local property taxes. Check out this article to see 🔗 how state and local property taxes work.
- Increase utility bills and maintenance.
- Increase the rate of home insurance. Here are 🔗 factors that impact the cost of homeowner insurance.
- Rising inflation. Check the chart of inflation rates provided by 🔗 The World Bank in the U.S.
- Increase in the living cost.
- A rent increase due to renovating the unit increases the market value.
💡 Recommended tips
It is always highly suggested to be straightforward to tell the causality for raising your tenants’ rent. Given understandable reasons will be more likely accepted by the good tenants.
When can the landlord nOT increase the rent?
On the contrary, there are also some circumstances where the landlord can not raise the rent. It can be considered a contract violation if the landlord does one of the following:
- When the🔗 lease agreement has not expired or not yet the end month of the monthly rental contract.
- The landlord did not follow state and house local laws to give the proper notice period.
- The landlord tries to remove the tenant by increasing the rent.
- The landlord raises the rent amount over the local laws on rent control or rent stabilization.
- The owner retaliates against the tenant’s requests for repairs at the unit or reports a housing code breach.
- The landlord is racist against the tenant’s gender, nationality, or religion.
Even if the matters come from the tenant, the landlords can better solve the problems by following legal processes than handle them by increasing the rent to recover.
How to legally increase rent and get an acceptance?
Define the new rent
After figuring out the reasons for increasing rent, it’s crucial to evaluate the housing market in the area where the property is located. To do this, we suggest using the following method:
- 🔗Zillow platform – You can check the price directly on the map for your comparison.
- 🔗Rentometer tool – An excellent tool where you can measure the new increased renting by entering the property’s location and further requesting information to ensure the new rent can be competitive.
💡 For tenants
This article from Realtor.com will help you understand 🔗 Rent Increase Laws if you have received a rent increase notice from your landlord. Most landlords play fair however there are still some greedy landlords want to take advantage as much as they could.
Review the current lease or rental contract
It’s always a good idea to review the terms and conditions of your rental contracts to ensure you’re able to increase rent in an appropriate manner. This includes checking when the lease expires and how much notice is required to make changes to the agreement, among other important details.
Check the state notice period where the premises located
While checking the law to increase the rent, you may wonder: “How many days notice for rent increase?” To answer this question, we created a table of the notice periods of each state below for your concern. Though the most common period of notice is 30 days, some states require different conditions:
💡 Note
For further information on state law, check out this link from🔗 Nolo.com, a reliable website for legal helps.
How to Write the Rent Increase letter
A simple notice to increase rent letter will include the following fundamental details in order:
- Tenant’s information: full name of the person currently renting the unit.
- Landlord: full name of the owner’s property
- Current Date: the Date this letter is written
- Premises: the full address of the rental property
- Current rent: the rent amount the tenant has been paying the landlord
- New Rent: the increased amount of rent the landlords require
- Effective Date: when the renter must commence paying the new amount of rent.
- Mention consequences for nonpayment
Remember that you can save time and use our editable documents tool to simplify the process. Simply select the appropriate template, fill in your information using our easy-to-use questionnaire, review and make any necessary revisions, and then download the final letter. The entire process is just three (3) simple steps. Start creating your notice now!
How To Formally deliver this notice?
After completing the letter, it’s essential to send it via certified mail with a return receipt. Also, keep the receipt as a record. This ensures that the tenant officially receives the notice and is aware of the rent increase.
Additionally, emailing a copy of the letter can be an excellent way to keep in touch with your tenants. If you live close to the property or in the same building, you can also deliver the notice in person and verbally explain the increase.
After receiving the notice, the tenant will then decide whether to accept the new rent amount, negotiate, or move out.
Rent increase notice Editable templates
Simple Rent Increase Notice
This template is a short rent increase notice outlining common reasons for increasing the price. To personalize it, simply fill out our easy-to-use questionnaire with your information. Once complete, you can review and make any necessary revisions before sending it out to your tenants.
Rent increase Notice Customized Template
With this template, you can clearly outline your reasons for the rent increase and set a deadline for your tenant’s response. Additionally, If the tenant does not agree to the increase, you can also specify the date of the expiration of the month-to-month rental contract in accordance with your state’s notice requirements.
Sample Rent Increase Notice
