Posted by Sailor on January 03, 2007 at 20:14:45:
According to “Every Landlord’s Legal Guide,” Florida requires 15
days notice. My state only requires 7 days, but I give 60 days
notice (1) as a courtesy, & (2) to allow tenants time to put the
increase in the back of their minds. My feeling is that a sufficient
period of inertia leads to acceptance of the increase.
You are planning to more than double the rent, & even if the new
rent is below your mkt, you are going to get more than mild
reactions. My non-legal advise is to : (1) not let tenants know
you are anything other than hired help; (2) break the news face-
to-face, (3) make the increases gradual, & (4) grant some
benefit(s) as a partial trade-off, e.g., “Mr. Tenant, even though
you know rents have to go up because of the increases in taxes &
insurance, I have insisted that the new corporate owner put new
machines in the laundry room & add motion detector security
lights along the walkways. They’ve also agreed to phase in the
increase quarterly over the next 12 months, as long as your rent
is received by 5 pm on the due date, so you don’t take such
a hit all @ once. Is it OK w/you if I put new batteries in your
smoke alarms while I’m here, & install this fire extinguisher in
your kitchen?”
No matter how you handle things, some folks are going to be
upset & move, & maybe that’s an easy way to get out the riff-raff.
You don’t have to offer a gradual increase to the ones you want
out anyway, but do it as a “favor” to prized tenants. Don’t lose
sight of the fact that your tenants are fellow folks & not just $$$
machines. I’ve been landlording for 27 years & prefer to have
cooperative families in my property. It is definitely more
profitable. By having high expectations, while @ the same time
not being miserly, life goes a lot smoother for us all & I get top
mkt rents on or before the due dates.
I’d check the Archives on a coupla other Forums on this site to see
how others have handled rent increases–
Tye