The Letter

We got a notice that our landlord was going to increase the rent for the second time this year. That kinda sucked. That said, the proposed increase would still be about $50 per week less than the median lease price for 2 br units in the area and we don't live in a hovel, so, I guess we're still getting a good deal. With these things though it's more the principle of it. Being a reasonable human being, I wrote them the following letter.

NB: Names and monetary amounts have been removed to protect the innocent.

Hi [insert real estate agent],

Further to our discussion last week I’m writing to negotiate the latest proposed rent increase. Since March 2008 our rent has gone from $XXX per fortnight to our current rent of $XXX. The latest proposal takes it to $XXX per fortnight which is a 21% increase in 8 months. This far outstrips any CPI increase or the sum total of the interest rate hikes over the past 2 years. We understand the climate of the market currently, however with interest rates expected to come down for the second time in the past month (http://business.smh.com.au/business/rba-points-to-lower-rates-20080908-4bpm.html) we feel that two rent increases in 2008 is a bit excessive especially as we requested a lease at the last increase but were denied.

We believe that we’ve been good tenants with no payment delinquency and we have only requested work on the unit when absolutely necessary (broken oven, faulty light fixtures, fly screens for the windows in summer, leaky pipes). The value of having dependable tenants is something that is sometimes overlooked and we hope this comes into consideration. Also from a personal perspective, we’re attempting to budget for our wedding in August next year and fear that a continuation of rate increases will affect our budgeting. We feel that it would be fair to both parties if the rent went to $XXX per fortnight (which is a 13% increase this year) given the shifting nature of the market, we would also like to discuss the possibility of a lease to assist with budgeting.

We look forward to a fair and reasonable response.

Regards and thanks for your time.
[insert tennant name here]

Anyways, given the nature of my awesome letter writing skillz they agreed. Instead of giving them more money each forthnight, I negotiated to give them half the proposed more money each fortnight. Feel free to use my letter if you ever find yourself in the same situation.