If you’re a renter, you’ve probably heard the adage “renting is throwing away money.” However, in the right circumstances, this statement couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In many areas, renting is quite a bit cheaper than purchasing a home, and it can free up more monthly cash flow that you can invest for your future. Plus, it provides you with the flexibility to move if you aren’t sure where you’d like to settle down for the long term. In this post, we’re going to cover ways to negotiate your rent so you can keep even more money in your pocket each month!
Despite the ridiculously booming housing market over the past few years, rental price increases finally seem to have slowed down. According to the Apartments.com Rental Report for April 2024, rent prices for mid-priced apartments are 1.4% higher than they were a year ago. With years of insane price hikes behind us for now (hopefully🤞), the power is starting to shift into the hands of renters, which means it’s a great time to negotiate your rent amount and lease terms.
11 Tips to Negotiate Your Rent
The idea of negotiating your rent may be intimidating, but it’s one of the best ways you can advocate for yourself financially. Even better, it can improve your relationship with your landlord. By negotiating, you’re finding a win/win that works for both of you. You score a better deal on a place to live, and your landlord gets to keep a good tenant that respects their space.
The goal of negotiation isn’t to screw over the other person. It’s to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that meets the objectives of both parties. Money might be the primary motivator for you, but it might not be for your landlord. So think outside the box during any rent negotiation – it’s your best chance to snag a deal and create that winning scenario. Here are a few different strategies you can use to negotiate or get cheaper rent on your next home or apartment.
1. Research the market
Before any rent negotiation, it’s helpful to have current and specific rental data to help you make your case. Chances are the landlord did some research before listing the space, so if you want to challenge any aspect of their listing you’ll need to come equally (or more!) prepared.
Luckily, rental data is available online, and a great place to start is Zillow’s rent comparison tool. First, take a look at the median prices for similar homes or apartments in your neighborhood. If the numbers you come back with are lower than the asking rent for your desired apartment, you have a clear argument in your favor to negotiate for a lower rent amount.
To take it a step further, compare the appliances, amenities, and square footage. Also, take note of how long comparable units have been sitting on the market. If listings have been sitting online for a long while, you can assume they are asking too much.
When you begin to negotiate rent, be sure to let the data speak for itself. Landlords and rental companies are less likely to offer you a discount if you bring up personal circumstances. Instead, it’s more difficult to justify charging higher rent if you show them data in black and white. Even for missing amenities you don’t care about, bring them up as a negotiation factor anyway, and see if they will lower rates to accommodate.
For example, you might say: “Three other places I’m looking at have covered parking, and your apartment complex doesn’t. Can you knock $50/m off the rent to accommodate?”. You’d be surprised at how well this tactic works!
2. Sign a longer lease
A landlord’s arch nemesis is vacancy. Each month that an apartment remains vacant, the landlord or rental property loses out on that money with no opportunity to ever recoup those costs. Whenever a tenant’s lease is up, their apartment is now at risk of becoming vacant for a few months if they cannot find a new tenant quickly enough. Time is of the essence.
When it comes time to negotiate your rent, you can use this to your advantage. In exchange for signing a longer lease, your landlord or rental company may be willing to offer you a discount. This is because having a guaranteed tenant ensures that they won’t need to take that vacancy hit and the corresponding loss of income. Instead, they’ll have peace of mind knowing that their apartment will be occupied, providing steady cash flow.
Just be aware that signing a longer lease is not without its own potential drawbacks. You’ll have less flexibility to move during this time. And if you end up having issues with your apartment, neighbors, or landlord, you’ll be stuck there for longer. Just make sure you thoroughly vet your landlord or rental company before committing to signing a longer lease. You can do this by speaking with past tenants, neighbors, etc.
3. Move at the right time
The rental market is cyclical, meaning supply and demand change depending on the time of year. Certain months tend to yield higher or lower rents, often in correlation with the number of people currently moving. Choosing to move during one of those “off-peak” months can lead to hundreds of dollars worth of savings.
For example, rental prices tend to be the highest during May-September. Between school years ending and beginning, and the warmer weather, more people are shifting their living arrangements. While you’ll have more vacant apartments and more options available, rents are priced higher because there is more competition. Meanwhile, during the Winter months, people are less likely to move due to colder temperatures. Most renters want to stay put during the busy holiday season and when the school year is in full swing. This means the apartments that do become available will have less competition, lower prices, and more room for negotiation.
If you’re looking to move out for the first time, we’d recommend waiting until late fall or winter to start your search so you can take advantage of those built-in savings. If your lease is set to end in the summer, navigating a winter move can be trickier. You can always ask your landlord to sign a 6 or 18-month lease in order to time your next move perfectly. You could also consider moving in temporarily with family for a few months if that’s possible.
4. Reduce Costs for Your Landlord
Another way to negotiate a discount on rent is to brainstorm a few ways that you could reduce costs for your landlord. If you can save them meaningful money, they are likely to agree to pass some (or all) of those savings on to you.
When landlords and rental companies calculate rent, they factor in any additional costs for maintaining the property. For example, the rent might be priced to cover the mortgage, and services like landscaping, snow removal, repairs, and cleaning services. If you’re able to take on one or two of these responsibilities, they may be able to give you a discount on rent without it eating into their bottom line.
Do you have an extra hour or two on the weekends that you could use to mow the lawn and trim the hedges? Don’t mind shoveling on a snow day? Maybe you’re a tech whiz who can help the landlord upgrade cabling, set up a shared internet service, or even help market the apartment complex to attract new renters. Consider asking your landlord if they would be willing to give you a discount in exchange for taking on one of these responsibilities.
Remember to think outside the box. Some landlords (eg. older, less active folks) need all the help they can get, and money might not be their primary motive.
5. Negotiate for Perks
So your landlord shot down your request for a discount on rent. Guess it’s time to throw in the towel, right?
WRONG. Just because they aren’t able to accommodate lowering your rent does not mean that the negotiation is over. You can still make an effort to increase the value you get from your rent by negotiating for perks.
Negotiating for extra perks can improve your living experience, and even save you some money in other areas of your budget. For example, asking for free use of gym and laundry facilities could save you about $50-80 each month. While it isn’t a discount on rent, you’ll still be able to lower your monthly expenses.
Here are some additional perks you can consider asking for when you negotiate the rent terms:
- Parking spots
- Free gym access
- Laundry services
- Free use of pool facilities/lake rights
- Installing new appliances
- New paint
- Some included utilities
Remember: One person’s trash is another one’s treasure. Something that means very little to your landlord might be of serious value to you. There is no harm in asking for things you want – the worst they can say is No.
6. Work part-time for your landlord
One of the coolest, and most underrated side hustles out there is working part-time as a property manager for your landlord or management company. It’s sort of like becoming an RA at college and getting free room and board in exchange!
Tasks like contacting contractors to make repairs, looking after the facilities, and even just being there to let maintenance workers inside can eat away at a landlord’s time, especially if they have multiple properties. And, many of these folks balance full-time jobs on top of all that. Some mom-and-pop landlords who own a few buildings might need some help managing their properties. That’s where you step in!
By taking on some of these extra responsibilities, you may be able to score anywhere from 50-100% off of your rent. It’s worth noting that this is a real job, that comes with real responsibility. So doing this won’t work for everyone. However, if you work from home, this could be a perfect fit for you, since you’ll likely have more flexibility in your work schedule and commuting will be a breeze.
7. Be a loyal, reliable tenant
A great tenant can make a landlord’s life much easier, whereas a bad one can cause a ton of headaches. Bad tenants can drive away neighboring good tenants, damage property, and cause stress to property owners. So, it’s safe to say that landlords will do A LOT to keep a good tenant in place. If you’re hoping to keep your rent to a minimum when you renew your lease, make an effort to be a responsible tenant!
First, call at the first sign of any maintenance problems within your home (trying to diagnose or fix the problem yourself doesn’t hurt either!). Even though you may not want to “bother” your landlord, identifying and repairing these issues early on is the key to avoiding costly damage to the space. For example, it’s easier to fix a slowly dripping pipe now, vs. having to address major water damage that’s been caused over the years. Landlords love proactive tenants.
Second, avoid any problems or conflicts with your neighbors when possible. Observe the noise ordinances, be polite, and make sure to keep your space clean and well looked after. In general, act like you own the place and show pride in where you live. Landlords LOVE that – and will want to keep you around as long as possible.
Last, make sure to always pay on time, or even a few days early if you can. When it comes time to renew your lease, you can bring up the fact that you’re an excellent tenant with a solid payment history during your rent negotiations. Seriously, it’s little things like this that make a difference.
Stable employment, good credit, A+ recommendations, etc. can all be leveraged to show that you are a fantastic tenant and deserve consideration for discounted rent.
8. Look for places that have been on the market for a while
If you need to move during those crazy competitive summer months, it’s a little more difficult to negotiate the rent for an apartment that already has 100+ applications. If you ask to pay less in rent, chances are they will just offer the apartment to one of the applicants who are willing to pay full price.
Instead, try looking at apartments that have been on the market for a while. Websites like Zillow and Trulia allow you to see how long a place has been on the market. If it’s been hanging around for many weeks or even a few months, you’ll likely have more room to negotiate. Remember, vacancy is a landlord’s biggest enemy, so they’re typically more open to negotiation the longer the listing has been up.
9. Start looking early
If your lease is up next week and you need a new place to live ASAP, it may be more difficult to negotiate. That’s because time isn’t on your side. Sometimes negotiations take a bit of back and forth, and you want as many factors in your control as possible.
Like most things in life, being proactive can make your apartment search a lot less stressful. The more time you have to shop, the less likely you’ll need to accept a bad deal just because you need somewhere to live. Shop early, shop often, and you’ll have the best chance of success.
If you’re looking to move somewhere new, I suggest you start searching for your new crib about 6-8 weeks before your current lease ends. That should give you plenty of time to find the perfect place and ample time to negotiate for a lower rent amount. With the pressure off, you’ll be able to walk away if negotiations don’t go in your favor.
10. Take advantage of rent promotions
A friend of mine moves into a brand new apartment every single year. Why? Because her area (Atlanta) is booming with new apartment complexes being built all the time, and they all offer incentives for new residents to move in. Offering a free month or two of rent is a great marketing tactic to boost occupancy for new buildings.
Of course, this tip works for people in bigger cities with fresh new buildings, and those who are willing to move a lot. If you live a minimalist lifestyle and moving isn’t that much of a pain, this can save you a ton. Sometimes my friend only moves 4-5 blocks over, in the same neighborhood!
Rent promotions sometimes exist for buildings that have just been purchased by a new owner, or freshly renovated. If you’re looking to rent within an apartment complex, it never hurts to ask the management office if they have any promotions, or if there’s a season that’s best to sign up!
11. Ask to have fees waived
And lastly, if your landlord is not receptive to a rent decrease, or throwing in extra perks, you still have one more card to play. You can still save a ton of money by asking to have various fees waived.
For example, renters in certain markets need to pay a broker fee, which can often be between 12-15% of the annual rent. For a $ 2,000-per-month apartment, that means the broker fee could be anywhere between $2,880-$3,600!
During negotiations, ask if your landlord would be willing to pay the broker fee for you. Sometimes, just getting this fee waived can save you even more than a monthly rent reduction if you were to break it down over the course of 12 months. Sticking with our previous example, ditching that broker fee could equate to a monthly savings of $240-$300.
Tips for Success
Negotiation is a skill, and the more you flex that muscle, the stronger it will get. However, you can get better results the first time by following these guidelines…
Stay calm, cool, and collected
Let’s be real here. No one is going to want to give you a break if you’re rude. Instead, be polite and cordial, and try to keep your cool even if negotiations don’t go your way. Keeping negotiations professional and respectful will ensure you have the best relationship with your landlord moving forward, even if you don’t necessarily get the discount you were seeking.
Also, as nervous as you might feel, the landlord is likely nervous also. Nobody loves negotiation. Stepping outside your comfort zone can lead to amazing things. Stay confident – you got this! 💪
Start with a lower figure
This tip is essentially negotiation 101. If you’re hoping to get a discount on your rent, begin with a number slightly lower than what you’d like to end up paying. Always assume they will counter-offer. For example, if the rent is listed at $2,000 and you want to pay $1,900, consider asking them if you can have the apartment for $1,800. They may meet you in the middle.
By the way, the landlord probably used this exact same tactic when they advertised the property in the first place! They are asking for the absolute top dollar price, knowing there is wiggle room to move down if they need to. So for any new listing, always assume there is room to negotiate rent.
Communicate via email if you can
If you’re renting from a larger rental company, it can be a good idea to negotiate via email. That way you have a record of any offers you have been sent. This is especially helpful if you are dealing with multiple employees who might tell you different information. Always get your offers in writing just to be safe!
Practice
Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Negotiation is no different. Sometimes it can be helpful to ask a friend to practice negotiating with you. Feeling a bit more prepared can help you speak more confidently, potentially impacting the outcome of your negotiation!
Be willing to walk
Lastly, if the rent is still “too damn high” and they won’t budge, be willing to walk away. Inflating our living expenses and living in places we can’t afford can be hugely detrimental to our finances. It is not worth it! Stay patient. You’ll find a better deal around the corner.
The Bottom Line:
Often, the costs we perceive as fixed in our lives are more flexible than we might realize. It is entirely possible to negotiate lower rent, especially in a cooling rental market. The trick is to research thoroughly, think from a landlord’s perspective, and remember the worst that can happen is that they might say No.
Negotiating your rent (or any monthly bills) is an important step towards advocating for yourself financially. All of those extra dollars saved can be put towards your investing goals, or building up a downpayment to buy a house. Don’t just be a savvy consumer online. Use those same tactics when you’re finding a place to live too!
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