Many landlords are confused about when they should send a notice for rent increase out to their tenants.
The problem is, there isn’t one specific answer and depending on where you live the rules differ drastically.
Some states and provinces require 90 days notice, some require 30 days, some only allow increases once per year and some even limit the amount you can increase the rent.
That’s why it’s so important to understand your local rules.
Once you understand the local rules regarding your ability to increase rents you can then start making a smart decision about the timing.
Finding Out Rent Increase Rules
So where do you start?
Well Google can be an initial starting point.
Simply type in your state, or province or even city (be sure to include the state or province if you use city) and Landlord Tenant Act as an initial search.
In most cases this will lead you to a local government site that has a copy of your local landlord tenant rules. Which leads to the boring part, now you have to read the rules!
Most Landlord Tenant Acts are incredibly dry, are written in legalese and often end up being more confusing than clear. But it’s where you need to start.
Buried in that dry legalese you’ll typically find the important tidbits you need to know about increasing rent. Unfortunately they also don’t include all the additional tidbits (at least in most cases).
Some of these hidden nuggets can include whether the timeframe for notice includes a full month as part of the 30 days or what types of notice are acceptable.
I’m going to touch on that a bit more further down this article, so hang on.
Other methods to find out local rules about rent increases and the timing for notices of rent increases is to call you local state or provincial government and then get redirected to the department that deals with those regulations.
They can often direct you to a website with the information or send you a package explaining the rules. They may not break all the information down into an easy to follow format, but at least you have more information.
A third way to find out the rules is to join a local landlord association or group. Most cities and municipalities often have some sort of landlord, apartment or rental association where you can get quality information along with hanging out and learning from other local landlords.
Some of these groups are free, some require memberships.
In my experience those groups can be vital sources of information as far as what’s happening in the industry and what changes or issues may be coming down the channel affecting your properties.
If you’re a brand new landlord I can’t emphasize how important these types if groups can be to your long term success.
Alright, we’ve talked about where to find out about local landlord tenant rules and time lines, now let’s delve into some idiosyncrasies.
When 30 Days Isn’t Really 30 Days
The 30 day notice is one of those tricky notices that really shouldn’t be that tricky.
It becomes tricky because most leases involve month long terms in them (either month to month or a fixed number of months as part of the term), which means the majority of the time a 30 day notice must include a full month.
Translated that means if you provide a tenant a notice on the 15th of a month it usually doesn’t take effect until the full 30 days of the next month has passed. That turns it into a 45 day notice…
This is also the case with most 90 day notices as well making it very important to get these notices off before the end of the current month or it either invalidates the notice or doesn’t take effect for another month.
Learning how much notice and how the rules apply is part one. Part two is actually serving the tenant notice about a rent increase.
How To Serve A Notice For Rent Increase
Sorry verbal notices and texts don’t seem to count anywhere.
They’re hard to prove when done verbally and they usually won’t hold up in court when done via text.
Proper notice is typically written and often requires specific information like the tenants name, the property address, the landlords name, the current date and when the increase goes into effect.
But that’s only one part of serving it. The next important part is how it’s delivered to the tenant.
This brings us back to understanding what is and what is not accepted in your area.
In some jurisdictions they do allow this to be done via email, but I would still recommend doing it in actual writing and then providing a follow up email instead.
Some states may require registered mail, some will allow process servers some need the tenant to sign off on it, others don’t.
In the majority of cases it’s simply a matter of handing them the written document, preferably getting them to sign off they received it, but what if the tenant knows the rent increase notification is coming and suddenly starts avoiding you?
If you’re doing this on the last day of the month and they successfully evade you for the day they may have just bought themselves another 30 days before the rent can actually increase.
This is why it’s important to serve time sensitive notices several days in advance where possible or even weeks in advance if you can.
If they still continue to evade you (rare case, but it does happen) you may be able to post the notice on the property and this opens up a new set of rules and nuances.
If a property has two entrances (front and back door say) you may be required by law to post on both doors. Posting on just a front door could allow the tenant to say they didn’t see it until after the month started as they only use the back entrance.
Granted, this is not the norm as most tenants are going to be fine with receiving a notification, but if they are not, or if you expect backlash, you need to be prepared.
And being prepared means following the rules and then being able to prove you followed the rules or that the tenant received the notifications.
Taking photos or video when you have to post notices helps, getting tenants to confirm they received the notice and are aware of it in texts or emails can count as proof or simply having them sign off can be easiest when possible.
It’s simply better to prepare for the worst in many cases and if it works out great. If it doesn’t, well you have your backup and yo know you followed the rules.
Hopefully this answers most of the questions you may have about any notice for rent increases coming up in your near future.
I’d love to hear any feedback you have, so leave a comment about your experiences or challenges with raising rents.
Relevant Rent Increase Articles
If you are considering increasing rents, here are a couple other articles you may also find helpful.
Very good advice! Now I’m questioning my process. My goal is to have a new lease signed 60 days prior to the end of the current lease. I start 2 weeks before then with an emailed notice. I wonder if that’s technically compliant. I need to go read the statute again. Thanks for the tips Bill!
The biggest challenge with emailed notices if proving tenants received them. It’s very easy for someone willing to turn this into an issue to simply deny they ever received it. Sure you have proof you sent it, but you can’t verify they were the one who opened and/or read it or if it even went to spam.
Now if you can get them to reply back it adds more credibility if it was to go to court, but what does your local state law say about proper methods of notifications?
Some landlord tenant statues are so antiquated it’s laughable and some are just outright biased. So yes, go check the statutes, just to make sure and just be prepared.
It’s unfortunate that we have to jump through all the extra hoops when 95% of the time it all works out just fine, but much like purchasing insurance we need to take the extra steps just in case it does go sideways.
Thanks for the feedback Accidental!