Just found out this morning that long term tenants are moving soon. I had the letter regarding rent increase ready to post this morning, and phoned them as a courtesy to say we needed to increase the rent. They said they are in the process of buying.
Instead of increasing from $365 to $430 we will now be asking $460 from next lot of tenants.
This is one of the biggest problems with long term tenants, at least for many of us, self-managers and some agents I believe. The longer they stay, the harder it is to keep rents up to market levels. Each time we have increased the rent, they have stayed, but with this rise we were about to ask for, I would not have been surprised if they moved on, so we were prepared to have it empty for perhaps a week while we spruced it up, but now at least we will be getting market rates again.
This tenancy actually started below market simply because the house had been empty for several weeks while we had a new kitchen and driveway installed, so to lease it quickly, we knocked $20 per week off ($320 down to $300 in 2003). We have been playing catch up ever since, increasing slightly each new lease, but over the past year or so, with rents rocketing up, even with increases, we were still sitting too far below market.
I was hesitant to increase it to $430 but fingers crossed, we will now get $460 and the flow of extra funds will be very nice indeed.
Funny thing is, I had spent quite a bit of time getting the wording just right. Now the letter is in the bin
Wylie
Instead of increasing from $365 to $430 we will now be asking $460 from next lot of tenants.
This is one of the biggest problems with long term tenants, at least for many of us, self-managers and some agents I believe. The longer they stay, the harder it is to keep rents up to market levels. Each time we have increased the rent, they have stayed, but with this rise we were about to ask for, I would not have been surprised if they moved on, so we were prepared to have it empty for perhaps a week while we spruced it up, but now at least we will be getting market rates again.
This tenancy actually started below market simply because the house had been empty for several weeks while we had a new kitchen and driveway installed, so to lease it quickly, we knocked $20 per week off ($320 down to $300 in 2003). We have been playing catch up ever since, increasing slightly each new lease, but over the past year or so, with rents rocketing up, even with increases, we were still sitting too far below market.
I was hesitant to increase it to $430 but fingers crossed, we will now get $460 and the flow of extra funds will be very nice indeed.
Funny thing is, I had spent quite a bit of time getting the wording just right. Now the letter is in the bin
Wylie
