How to Negotiate a Tenant Renewal Lease

Your lease is up and its time to negotiate a renewal. This time you want your lease to have a few more favorable conditions for you, the tenant. Here are a couple of tips on how to negotiate your renewal lists lease

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 

   Do your homework. Find out how much other apartments of similar size and number of rooms is going for. If you find that your apartment is going for a premium rent, then you have room for negotiation. However, if you find that your apartment rent is lower than most, count your blessings and enjoy your low rent.

2. Extend the term of your lease. Most landlords prefer to keep good tenants for an extended period time. It costs the landlord in time, money and effort to find new tenants. If you're willing to commit to a long-term lease your landlord may be willing to offer you a lower rent.

3. Offer to take care of the grounds. If you live in an apartment that has grass that needs cutting or sidewalk that need shoveling, offer to take care of those services for a reduced rent.

4. Take good care of the apartment. One of the best ways to get your landlord to negotiate a better rent is to show him the wonderful care you give to the apartment and that you pay your rent on time every month.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are famous for paying your rent late, you might not be in a bargaining position to negotiate favorable terms for your upcoming lease.

Resources

• Tenant Leases

[sneedc]

on 12/27/2008 Though we tried desperately to appease our Landlord, he was completely unreasonable and a major hassle. So we opted out of our 2 yr lease just prior, and bought our own. I still drive by his house and cringe. Thanks for this helpful article for renewing leases.