Landlord Tenant

Increasing Rent by Landlords

Posted on May 22nd, 2008 | by John Glenn |

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Rent increment, a major issue in the business of renting by landlords. If you have signed a lease, your landlord can’t raise the rent until the end of the lease period. So, if you have a one-year lease at $1000 a month, the landlord can’t raise the rent until the end of the year. A lease is a rental agreement that covers a specific period of time, such as a year or six months or any fix period of time that is decided at the time of agreement.

If your agreement does not say anything about the increment of rent, means you have month to month tenancy, a landlord can usually raise the rent as much as she or he likes after giving 30 days notice. A notice usually has to be given in writing and might need to be dated and given personally to the tenant or sent by registered mail. If the landlord doesn’t give the notice of a rent increase in the right way, the tenant usually doesn’t have to pay the increase, and the landlord has to do it over again.

The landlord can’t raise the rent in order to force the tenant to move out for an illegal reason. Federal law forbids discrimination against tenants because of race, gender, national origin, or religion, and some state and local laws forbid discrimination because of things like marital status, sexual orientation, children, or disability. If you believe that the landlord is raising your rent for an illegal reason, you should write a letter saying that and keep a copy. You can then refuse to pay the rent increase. If you do this, the landlord might try to evict you for nonpayment of rent and you will have to prove the landlord’s bad intent in court.

Tags: Landlord Tenant Laws, rent increment



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