Can a Good Landlord/Tenant Relationship Result in Cheaper Rent?

Landlord and tenant relationships, while not always easy, can work to your advantage. This is particularly true when your landlord rents and manages a small number of apartments.

Landlord Types

When looking for an apartment, you may encounter more than one type of landlord. Smaller buildings, or apartments in converted houses, may have a landlord managing the property on or off-site.

Other apartments that you explore may be located in high-rise buildings or complexes comprised of multiple buildings. Typically, this type of apartment will utilize a management company specializing in managing larger properties. As a tenant, you’ll deal with the management company, not the landlord.

These two scenarios differ in that the former allows you to deal directly with the owner of the property, and the latter forces you to deal with a middleman, the management company. You may find it easier to establish a relationship that works to your advantage in the first case; but it’s not impossible to do so in the second case.

Traits of a Good Tenant

Certain traits will characterize you as a good tenant. For instance, pay your rent on time every month. Follow all of your apartment’s rules. Be considerate of your neighbors, treating them as you’d like to be treated yourself. Take care of your apartment by keeping it clean and by not breaking or damaging anything. Report all problems and items in need of repair immediately.

Establishing a Relationship with Your Landlord

Communication is of paramount importance in establishing a beneficial relationship with your landlord. Anything not permitted in your lease should never be considered (let alone done) without your landlord’s express permission. Stay in touch with your landlord to show that you’re interested in being a good tenant.

Practice good record-keeping to prevent disagreements with your landlord over rent payments. Demonstrate reliability by acting in a consistent manner.

Be honest. Honesty and integrity, in dealings with your landlord, will go a long way in making you a desirable tenant.

How a Good Landlord/Tenant Relationship Can Result in Cheaper Rent

Your landlord benefits from your reliability and trustworthiness. From your landlord’s perspective, a good tenant is hard to come by and worth keeping.

It is also cheaper to keep you as a tenant than to replace you. Costs associated with a new tenant include deep cleaning and painting the apartment, advertising fees and lost rent if the apartment remains vacant after you leave. Since it costs a landlord less to keep you than to find a new tenant, these savings may be passed along to you in cheaper rent.

Knowing you personally will make some landlords more compassionate about your circumstances. If you’re genuinely unable to afford a rent increase, your landlord may agree to keep the current rent to avoid losing you.

For these reasons, your landlord may make concessions on the rent, or other terms, to keep you. It pays to build a good landlord/tenant relationship because aside from the possibility of negotiating cheaper rent, it helps you to build a positive rental history for the future.

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Lisa Bernstein: As a long-time apartment dweller and seasoned condominium trustee, I have dealt with numerous landlord-tenant, property management, and day-to-day apartment complex issues. My extensive, direct experience has led to invaluable insights into apartment life from both the tenant and management perspectives.