Asklemmy

44152 readers

844 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

How do you negotiate with your apartment rental landlord when they are a huge corporation with 500+ properties? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been dealing with this for years now since my apartment complex was bought by new owners(multiple times now). Every time I renew the lease they want to raise the price $100+ ($300+ during covid). I always try to negotiate by saying I've lived there many years with no problems, paid rent on time, etc. Unfortunately I'm only even allowed to speak to the local office manager who is either powerless or pretends to be and doesn't even pretend to be sympathetic.

Meanwhile, they aren't even keeping their end of the deal up. The pool and hot tub have been drained and in disrepair since January.(I'll definitely mention this when negotiating this time).

Lastly, moving is not the answer. Practically every apartment complex around here is owned by one of these horrible companies so there's no escape unless you happen to find something owned by an individual(which has its own problems). I'm also getting a small discount(gets smaller every renewal) for being in an outdated unit so moving would still raise my rate, be a massive hassle, and I'd have to pay a new deposit.

Long term I will buy a house, but how can I save enough when they gouge me at every turn?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You need a tenant union. There may be tenant unions active in your area which you can contact for advice, or even support. Beware of retaliation though. This is something which needs to be thought about carefully and approached strategically. In this regard, it is no different from unionizing a workplace.

If the corporation is renting 500+ units, that means they are ripping off 500+ working class families / individuals. If those 500+ tenants organize to the degree where they can collectively withhold their rent, they've got the landlords by the balls. Individual action can only go so far.