So You Want to Lower Your Rent? Here’s How to Negotiate

Rental costs typically consume a lion’s share of your monthly income. When you’re faced with skyrocketing costs against a limited and overstretched income, it’s worth having a word with your landlord to get your payment slashed.

The thought of raising the subject with your property manager may be nerve-racking, but a successful outcome is achievable. So, here are some negotiation tips to help you cut down on your rental costs.

Sell Yourself

Presenting a solid value proposition can warm the landlord up to a discussion on lowering your rent. The best online sales courses teach that one of the top ways to sell is to lay bare all the benefits that the other person will get from your offering.

Let the landlord know right from the beginning how they stand to gain by having you stay — sell yourself as a model tenant. Your strong points as a tenant can include:

Showcasing an impressive track record of paying your rent on time consistently.
Letting your landlord know quickly when there’s anything broken or malfunctioning.
Keeping the walls and floors clean and undamaged.
Maintaining a detailed record of any repairs you’ve made to fixtures around the apartment.
Never having had a complaint against you, for example, for blasting your music too loud or any disorderly conduct.

The bonus of a solid credit score and proof of income can also ease the landlord’s mind.

Side note: If your funds allow, pay a couple of months in advance. Advance payments give your landlord peace of mind knowing that there’s no need to chase rent for the next few months. Ask for a small discount in exchange for the upfront payments.

While you’re selling yourself, remember to avoid being overly aggressive to avoid creating a bumpy relationship with the landlord.

Prepare Thoroughly

Solid preparation increases your confidence and allows you to make a more informed case, setting you up for success during negotiations. So, before you raise the matter of lowering your rent, take time to gather your thoughts.

Kick off your research online to gain knowledge about what’s going on in the rental market. Investigate a few similar cases and get the lay of the land when it comes to rental charges and amenities offered in other properties in your area.

Present these results to your landlord to shed light on the fact that you have alternative options. The prospect of losing out on income can help soften the landlord’s stance.

Remember to ensure that the alternatives are directly comparable. Otherwise, the landlord can easily poke holes in your case for a rent price drop. For instance, it helps if these other properties:

are located in the same or similar geographic area
share related features such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms
offer matching amenities such as in-unit laundry facilities, outdoor space, gym, parking space, or storage
have similar access to public transport

Use those rentals to tip the discussions in your favor. Negotiation anchoring refers to establishing a reference point or “anchor” around which the final negotiation position will revolve.

Note: On Rentberry, we collect price rent statistics for the tenants and landlords, so you can check prices for similar properties in the area in no time!

The anchor is usually the first offer presented in a sale or negotiation. The final price will typically not fall far from the anchor.

When asking for reduced rent, make your offer even lower than the rent you expect to pay. For instance, if you’re currently paying $1,100 and you’d be over the moon if your rent went down to $1,000, start at $935 to give yourself some wiggle room. Even if the final price ends up being slightly higher, it will still be within your range.

Keep in mind that negotiation courses warn against starting too low. If you open with a paltry offer, you may not be taken seriously. Use your online research to establish a reasonable price that won’t sour your relations with the landlord.

Know Your Landlord

What you already know about your landlord can help determine what they want in a model tenant. It is usually worthwhile doing some more digging into what they value most in their relationship with a tenant. You may discover your landlord values forging connections and building personal relationships or that their concern is only to get paid on time.

Take stock of how the landlord generally interacts with tenants. How have they dealt with previous renters who hit hard times and asked for rental extensions? Does the landlord always go straight to the point or skirt around the main points of the discussions?

Also, avoid diving headfirst into the rental negotiations without giving yourself a couple of minutes to warm up the landlord through friendly small talk. Use these initial interactions to drill down on what matters more to your landlord. For example, do they keep talking about the length of the lease? This could indicate that the landlord prefers tenants with longer-stay contracts rather than those who pay more for shorter periods.

As you move further into the discussion, throw around some propositions and gauge the landlord’s reaction. How they respond may point out the obvious non-negotiable areas to avoid, helping you determine your route toward common ground.

Once you have a clearer picture of what the landlord wants, you can scan for areas of overlap in your mutual needs to present a stronger value proposition.

Say, for example, your landlord divulges that they hate the prospect of having to replace tenants every so often. Now you know that lease terms are valuable to them. You can propose to sign a longer-term lease contract in exchange for lowering your rent. That way, both sides get what they want, a win-win.

Get Your Timing Right

Consider starting your negotiations while you still have ample time before your lease expires. Starting the ball rolling early can give you sufficient time for a few rounds of negotiations.

You can pace your discussions by first strengthening your rapport and laying the groundwork before you jump into the main negotiations. If you hit a snag, you can put the discussions on hold while you regroup and prepare a stronger case.

More like this: How Can You Negotiate Your Rent? Tips for Getting the Best Deal

In addition, take advantage of seasonal trends in your city. For example, say you live in a town with universities or colleges. Rental demands increase during the beginning of the school year when students flock to the city. Conversely, the end of the school year will be a quiet period for filling vacancies.

So, try to time your negotiations towards those dry periods when your landlord is faced with tougher prospects of replacing you if you decide to leave.

Tactfully remind your landlord of the lost income and hassles they’ll face while searching for a new tenant, including:

fees associated with listing the vacancy online or in local listings
the time they’ll spend showing the apartment
the screening process for potential tenants

Negotiating Your Way to Affordable Rentals

If you’ve made a run at the negotiations, but the landlord won’t bend on lowering the rental, it may not be the end of the road. You may still have a shot at getting a favorable outcome. Negotiation courses advise hunting for other opportunities to gain value:

Ask the landlord not to charge you extra for parking.
If you go away on vacation, see if the landlord will allow you to sublet
If your apartment is one of many owned by the landlord, you could ask for a referral deal, where you earn credit on your rent payments by referring new tenants.
Offer help to knock off some of the landlord’s expenses. For example, you can mow the lawn or take care of some handy work on-site in exchange for rent credits.

All in all, talking your landlord down to a lower rental is doable, so arm yourself with research on comparable properties with a lower price tag. Know what your landlord is looking for.

Once you are prepared, sell yourself and show your landlord what they stand to gain by giving up a little income. Finally, look for the best timing to broach the subject, especially during seasons of high vacancy rates.