How to write a letter to increase rent
Updated: Jan 27, 2022
The time of your property lease renewal has come and you’ve come to a situation where you have the opportunity to increase rent. Once you’ve decided to do so, suddenly you face a big obstacle– How do I write a letter to increase rent? As a professional property management company here in New Jersey, we believe that writing a letter or email for increasing rent is the way to go.
But how do you write such a letter?
Laws
Each state has different laws you have to obey when increasing rent. Some of the things you should pay attention to:
How frequently can you increase rent? (In New Jersey, its once per year)
Does the lease allow rent increases during the term of the lease?
Is there a maximum limit for rent increase? (some towns have rent control)
You also have the duty to inform your tenant about the rent increase usually 30 days before the increase. For the properties we manage here in New Jersey, we like to reach out to the tenants 60 days in advance to notify them of rent increases.
How to write a letter for increasing rent
Make sure to keep the letter professional, short and polite. After all, we are all just people, and the way we do things greatly affects the final result. If you communicate with your tenants with respect, they will do the same.
When writing the letter, we recommend using the tenant’s name rather than just “dear tenant.” Make it clear that you’re open to answering any of their questions and showing them that you’re grateful for having such great tenants.
What really helps is if you include a brief explanation of why you have to increase the rent. If a tenant knows that you need to increase the rent due to an increase in property taxes, insurance or because you improved the property, they are more likely to understand and agree with the raise of the rent.
The letter should include tenant’s name, landlord’s name and contact information, property address, date the letter is written, the current cost of rent, amount of rent increase, and the date the increase is valid from. As a property management company, we do this annually and this is exactly what we incorporate in our letters/emails.
If you still aren’t sure how your letter should be written, or you just want the advice of a professional property management company, feel free to contact us!