The Landlord Lens - What Most Landlords Get Wrong About Raising Rent!

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

Raising rent doesn’t have to mean losing great tenants. In this video, we share proven strategies for increasing rent while keeping reliable renters happy. Learn how to time your rent increase, communicate it clearly, and add value so tenants stay. Whether you’re a first-time landlord or a seasoned property manager, these tips will help you boost rental income without risking turnover.

This video is not for the landlord going like this in the corner. Hmm, how do I raise more rent? This video is actually for the landlord who says, eh, my tenant's been good. I'm not going to raise the rent year after year after year. Or maybe you're a brand new landlord. You're thinking about getting into being a landlord, and you just want to understand how to do it.

What are some best practices? Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Landlord Lens. I am joined by Seamus Nally, a brand new guest, who we've never had on the show before. John, thank you for the warm welcome. Super happy to be here making my debut. Awesome.

Sweet. Today we're talking about a question that is asked pretty often, should I raise the rent for the DIY landlords that are typically watching this? I love the inflection there, John. It is definitely a good question regardless of how goofy you made it sound.

You're probably sitting there like I am thinking, well, my expenses are up, right? Those expenses being my insurance, taxes. and I haven't increased rent, and therefore my cash flow is just down, right? In fact, you might be getting really close to that break-even point, which is not a line that you really want to flirt with in real estate. And I've talked to our users who have more than flirted with that line.

They were well under it because they hadn't raised the rent in five, six years, despite the fact that market rent was up in such a way that if they'd raised it over the preceding years, they would have actually been cash flowing. Not much, but they would have been actually in cash flowing. And so I think it's important to point out this video is not for the landlord going like this in the corner. Hmm, how do I raise more rent? This video is actually for the landlord who says,

eh, my tenant's been good. I'm not going to raise the rent year after year after year, right? That landlord is the one who is, I don't know, doing favors to others in such a way that they're screwing themselves. Or maybe you're a brand new landlord. You're thinking about getting into being a landlord and talking money, right? rent is one of the most intimidating parts of it, right? And you just want to understand how to do it. What are some best practices? So, yeah, when we think about how to raise the rent,

a couple of suggestions that we tell all of our DIY landlords. The first is make sure when you're creating that lease agreement, you have flexibility to raise the rent. Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah. And that you're aware of what rent increased notices are in your area, right? In some areas, it's a 30-day notice, there's 60-day notice, there's 120-day notice. There's 180-day notice, too, in Washington. Yeah, isn't that crazy six months? Yeah, imagine timing the market like that. To increase rent is really hard.

But that's like step one, right? Know what you can actually do. Also, look at your local laws to understand if there are any rent caps. Now, well, rent caps get a lot of buzz out there, and I think there's reasons for landlords to be skeptical of them. in most cases the caps are much higher than 5%. Yeah. In which case, I think you're fine.

Because if you're good and diligent about increasing the rent on a relatively routine basis, you shouldn't have to increase rent over 5%. Right. Yeah. So it's unlikely you live in a place where raising rent to market, if you've been raising it is more than 2, 3% up, right? Exactly. And so as you're thinking about it, I do think it's important to say we're not trying to increase

rent to punish tenants. Yeah. Right. You're really raising rent to just keep up with the local market, right, as a landlord, and to make sure that your investment is worth it, right? There's a lot of responsibility, honestly, to make the investment and then to make sure you actually reap the reward of it over time. How should I think about, if I'm a DIY landlord, maybe thinking about raising rent

for the first time, how should I think about the value of the tenant in the property versus the amount I'm willing to give? Yeah. And we're primarily talking right now when you don't have a vacancy coming up. Yes. When you have a vacancy, it's super easy, right? Go on your favorite listing site, look at what things are renting around you. My suggestion is always start at the top end and then drop it based on the amount of leads that you get, right?

And so when you have a vacancy, very easy to do. You should never really go through a vacancy period or a turnover without changing the price. Yeah, yeah. And checking the local market, right? Like, be very diligent about that. But let's say you have a tenant in, you understand your local laws. your lease agreement allows you to do to do rent increases. What I would do is I would check the market as if I had a vacancy.

And if I'm falling behind by over, you know, $100, $200 per month, I would then consider having that conversation with a tenant. If I'm behind what I think by $50 a month, sure, that adds up throughout the year, but I don't know if that's worth it, especially if it's a great tenant. Yeah. If you have a great consistent tenant,

they're paying on time. I would typically look at has market change? changed, you know, more than 2 to 3% before I altered rent at all. If it's changed $50, in my mind, it's not worth it. I'm rocking the boat. All right. In the last vacancy, you did a great job using screening tools and figuring out the right tenant to move in.

They're in. They're paying on time. It's great. You look out at the market and you see that your market rent is actually about $200 behind. With that great tenant in, do you raise it all the way up to $200? Is that your first out to them? it really depends on how expensive the place is, right? If it is, let's say, five, seven percent increase in rent that $200,

then I may consider stepping it up, right? Going halfway first for this next time and then halfway the next time. If that's within the 5% margin, I would communicate ahead of time, right, to that tenant even further out than the notice period. If the notice period's 30 days, talk to them 60 days, you know, even let them know 90 days and tell them, hey, at the end of this term, the rent will increase. Here's X, Y, and Z reasons why, right, the market is shifted. And so to keep up with market and expenses, I'm increasing the rent 4%.

And I would use both the percentage. And then I would also say, I'm increasing at 4%. So your new rent amount will be $1,800 a month or whatever that margin is. That makes sense. And I've also read online, some landlords in that communication will also include the fair market rent as kind of a cross side of like actually you're paying less than fair market here even though there is a lift yeah and i think especially if you're like stepping it up right you're not making the full jump to fair market it doesn't hurt to provide a couple of those zillow listings right that

you saw from a fair market perspective um in that just so they they understand that you did research and you didn't pull this out of a hat that makes sense is there any situation where you wouldn't raise the rent even if the market conditions have increased I have never raised rent in the middle of a lease term. So that's a situation. Let's say the market rate's changing quite a bit. I typically will not interrupt a lease to try to raise rent. I'll always do it around the renewal period.

So that's one area where I wouldn't raise the rent. One thing that I'm actually willing to entertain doesn't mean I'll necessarily do it is if I increase the rent and the tenant actually comes back with a counter. That's well within their right to do. As a landlord, you can, you can either entertain that or you can say, no, this is, thank you for your counter, but this is my final offer, right, is also more than appropriate. If you have a tenant, it's just been a great tenant, they're taking care of the place, they're paying rent, and they come back with a counter offer. I think it's worth entertaining in most cases. Gotcha. That makes sense. So the general themes I'm hearing from you is making

sure you're diligent about assessing the conditions. If the conditions are such that you can raise rent in a vacancy situation and you've got a good tenant, makes a lot of sense to be predictable and reasonable in your approach to them and don't do it in the middle of the least term. Yeah. And really just, is it a hell you're willing to die on? Yeah. I have a tenant right now that just went through a renewal and the local market only really went up like 1%. Yeah. And so I didn't bother raising it. It's a great tenant, but what I did do is still have the conversation, right? I still brought up, hey, with this renewal, we are not going to raise rent because the market hasn't changed a lot.

I always suggest people do that so they get the routine of the conversation, right? And you get the goodwill and the credit of not increasing it so that the tenant understands that a year from now, the next renewal, you may actually increase the rent, right? And so I do think that is important, a bit of primer. I absolutely agree. Be predictable, right? Yes, sir. Well, that's all about raising rent, I guess.

It's a pretty straightforward process, even though it can be emotionally scary. So yeah, like and subscribe, leave a comment if you have a tip or trick that we did not discuss. Thanks so much. TurboTenant is the all-in-one platform for landlords to manage their rental properties. From vacancy to tenancy, we have you covered with industry-leading tools and expert advice. Landlord better from anywhere for free at turbotenant.com.