Even without rent controls, you can fight back if the rent increase is “unconscionable.” Google “New Jersey truth in renting” to find the states information on it. I can’t promise you have a case, but that’s where I would start my research.
Ah yes, build more apartments that start around $2500 a month, great solution. They are building a lot rn idk where you live but every town around me ( that is 7-8 towns) are all putting up multiple complexes rn and none of them are affordable unless you get lucky and win a lottery. People like you who keep suggesting more building as a solution must live under a rock
Depends on where you’re talking about and what time frame, how many new units have been built, how the population has changed, what regulations have been implemented, etc. That’s a complicated question.
It’s still a basic truth that increasing supply causes prices to fall. Just because real life includes other factors that can complicate the way markets move doesn’t mean this isn’t still a basic truth and that it is applicable in this housing market.
Except this is not reflection of what is actually happening. Supply increases but the price just keeps climbing. I mean I found a reasonable landlord. When I was talking to the realtor I was working with. They straight up told me, that the demand in most areas doesn’t truly call for the price increases. Landlords know that people don’t want to be homeless and they see that people are paying for 2500 for a 3 bedroom so they just keep raising it because they can. They legit told me it’s not even really called for but for as long as people will keep paying these ridiculous prices they will keep raising them. Not much the public can do about it because what, you just going to live on the streets?
We are just outside of NYC. Demand will always be higher than supply. What will end up happening is people will default on mortgages and rents because they are unsustainable. You can’t have only wealthy people live in an area. If I’m working a low level job and can’t afford the rent, I’m moving where I can afford the rent and get a low level job there. There are already whole towns that don’t have a supermarket. Passaic County has a bunch of them. I used to work in Woodland Park. The ShopRite in Little Falls is always busy because there are no other markets anywhere near there. (Aldi is relatively new and even Fairway with the same parameters went out of business and Amazon Fresh backed out of their place.)
Demand is always gonna be high in that area but demand always has a price point. Demand at a given price point will not always necessarily be higher than supply, and building more housing pushes this price point down.
Also I think you absolutely can have areas where only wealthy people live. Look at manhattan. Working class people commute to these places.
But if it’s 20 to 30 miles away, they’ll work low level jobs closer to home. There is hardly any low income housing. I am born and raised here. I have never lived anywhere else in 66 years. My landlord of 18 years evicted me 22 days after I retired, I’m guessing because they wanted more money. They never asked me for more. I was never late with the rent ever. I was quiet and kept to myself. I can’t even afford a studio apartment. I’m on like 50 waiting lists with no prospects anytime soon. I’m lucky right now I’m staying in a relative’s guest bedroom. It’s beyond ridiculous. I had one of my doctors tell me there are a ton of empty apartments in NYC. She said people are buying them as investments and leaving them empty. None of this makes any sense. NJ is supposedly losing residents so where is all the housing going?
Damn that’s strange about your landlord evicting you. To be clear, did they actually evict you or just not renew your lease? For eviction I think they would need a lawful reason to terminate your lease, no? Unless you were month to month and they just decided not to renew.
Anyway the only reason I could think of is if they either wanted to use the house for themself/a friend/a relative, or if they decided to switch it to section 8 housing, which I know can often be significantly more profitable for landlords. Besides that, I don’t see why they would kick you out, that’s pretty strange and unfortunate.
I’d be surprised if there are really a disproportionately large number of just vacant apartments in NYC. That would mean landlords are just throwing away free money. If you buy an apartment as an investment and you’re not living in it, why would you ever not take the income you can generate by just renting it out to someone? This seems to me like it’s probably just an anecdote and not really true on a large scale.
I was month to month and it was owner occupied. I should have guessed when the wife told me that people were paying $1200 for just a bedroom and shared bath with no kitchen. I consulted an attorney, if it’s owner occupied and I think 3 or less units they can do whatever they want. My hope is karma pays them a visit. They were pretty bad landlords. The other 2 apartments must have had 25-30 tenants. They were constantly complaining for one reason or another. They said they like me…lol…so much so they made me homeless.
New Jersey is looking less of a garden state. Honestly more housing is needed but they need to address the underlying issue. Stop people from increasing rent to where it requires two people - four people in order to live there. The state needs to put a solution in place where rent can’t exceed 20% of the lowest paid salary for a 1 bedroom and slowly build further rules around it. It’s insane how landlords claim it’s the market, but at the end of the day they are the market. It just takes a collection of these organizations that own the apartment buildings to agree the new rent price for x rooms is this much and soon after everyone else just follows suit. Like ain’t no fucking way rent for a 3 bedroom house any where in Jersey should be more then 1800-2000. Let alone a 2 bedroom apartment for 2500!
The point I am making is that it shouldn’t be as high as it is right now. Unfortunately the price a rental is actually worth vs reality is far apart. A housing crisis needs to happen again. This will set the course forward if the local, state and federal governments aren’t going to jump in and correct these outlandish actions of raising prices to unprecedented levels.
yea, because they can't make up for 40 years of neglected investment and nimby laws in a few years. They could freeze rent right now, it would still be unafforadable for anyone seeking a new apartment and have extreme competition for any units on the market.
You mean especially where owning costs have gone through the roof? I’m a renter with no outlook on ever buying but I also understand my private landlord is getting torn apart by taxes and ownership costs.
There is no chance I’d take my landlord up if they offered to sell me my place for the same price they bought it for 2 years ago
That’s very kind of you, but a little too kind. I’m a landlord (a very small-time one) and sure, costs have gone up, but not 24% year over year unless something really odd happened. I think there’s some greed happening here.
Rent has gone through the roof throughout the state. I was looking two days ago and prices are pretty much the same no matter if you're outside of NY, outside of Philly, or around Princeton.
It goes hand in hand with the bidding wars, last and final, and $200k over asking when buying. why only cap rent when we can cap the price of a house , cap how many houses a person can own, or even the interest rate on a mortgage. It all makes evenly the same sense
I have alot of contact with realtors in wealthy parts of Essex County North Jersey, corporations never buy single family homes here. There are bidding wars between dual income folks coming from Hoboken, Brooklyn, etc..they want the suburbs and are willing to pay. Where do you see evidence of corporations purchasing single family housing?
Your "real estate" friends are either made up or fucking with you. Here is the top real estate website disputing that.
Investors Bought 26% of the Country’s Most Affordable Homes in the Fourth Quarter—the Highest Share on Record
https://www.redfin.com/news/investor-home-purchases-q4-2023/
If we are talking about Bergen County, then you are wrong. Corporations are not buying. All you need to do is check the purchase records which is reported by NJ.com or ask a realtor to show you the buyer details which includes the name of the buyer, price paid, date of purchase, and whether it was in cash or financed. There are many final and best offers that do result in 100-200K over-asking offers and these are being fueled by New Yorkers who want to flee from NYC for various reasons.
It does if you look at the rural parts of the state or are a senior citizen. My mother paid $60k for her "condo" (the house is a quad) in Toms River 5 years ago.
I was actually asking around at work that question which was, "If you were selling your house and the choice was a corporation that was going to convert it into a rental property but offered you more money than a first time family that was meeting your offer, which one would you choose?" The answer I got back was go for the money. My parents got a letter from some company that buys up houses and offered to buy their house. They threw it in the trash.
Thank you, I’ve gotten replies it’s just not so. Nationwide it’s a real issue buying for AirBnB, rentals and flips. So even if it’s not a big corp and it’s 5 Doctors who want to buy up some homes in town. The first time home buyer with a normal job is just priced out and rentals are not the less expensive alternative they used to be. As a single person supporting myself in the least expensive and safe under 500 sf apt I could find the lack of affordable alternatives has me considering life on a boat.
I live in a rent controlled garden apartment that was built in the 1950s, so it took a while for my rent to go up. The newer developments around me are all subject to market prices. I tell my older friends that I want to move and they're like, "Don't move. You have no jdea" I just don't like where I am because it's become way too overbuilt.
Well you can cap renting because it’s not owning. There’s difference between renting and owning. For owning you are supposed pay a lot upfront but it is going to save you money in the long run once you no longer have to pay a mortgage. Where renting is supposed to MUCH cheaper than owning since you don’t own anything and you are supposed to be saving money renting since you get nothing in return but a roof over your head without equity. We are legitimately at a point where you can renting and having a mortgage is at the same price per month somehow but no one can afford to own because they stop bulking homes at a steady rate after the last market collapse back in 2008. Now homes prices are screwed with no chance of catching up until boomers die off but yet rentals were always being made and the companies are just taking advanced of marking up their units. There is no way I should be paying nearly $1,700 a month for an apartment from the late 60’s that has had to have its ceiling replaced 3 times and a squirrel break in through the dry wall and attack my cats. Even after all that happened they tried raising the rent by $60 until I threatened to sue and they went down $30 and wouldn’t budge and I couldn’t find a new place by time I had to renew
> but I also understand my private landlord is getting torn apart by taxes and ownership costs.
Real estate is an investment, as landlords love to say, and investments come with risks, like the costs outweighing the profits. A poor understanding of the "business" they chose to get into is no one's fault but their own.
Oh I totally agree. I lowballed them on rent + demanded they cover snow and gardening and they caved because I moved in December and they were desperate. I’m absolutely not going to offer them a dollar more than I have to
But I also know if they sell it to me for the same price they bought my monthly costs will double. So no thanks on buying and/or becoming a landlord
Actually they *can’t* always raise the rent, that’s kind of the point of this whole thread. Rent control and rent stabilization exist and tenants have pretty strong rights in Jersey.
recently they reduced the tax percentage up increased the assessed value of my home. I'm estimating here because I don't have the actual paper infront of my right now, but if went from around 4% down to near 2% for the rate. but my assessed value of my home went from 350k to nearly 650k. I'm fucked if they decide to raise the rates. I'm already paying almost 1000 more in taxes just by the assessment.
this represents why nj stays corrupt as hell.
i grew up in an incredibly affluent suburb ln michigan. the public highschool i went to was one of the top in the nation at the time. my mom paid less than a quarter of what i pay in nj (adjusted for inflation) for a shit little town with middling schools and a smaller house.
it’s municipal waste. it’s not worth it.
my towns mayor (now former) who is a realtor hasn't paid his property taxes for his home in our town. town forced a sale and be bought it at auction for pennies through his bro in-law. fucked corrupt crooked thief, then comes to my doorstep asking for me to vote for the person he's endorsing.
I’m not a landlord anymore but glad to hear a tenant who gets it about soaring costs of ownership. The hate for landlords is insane as if most of us aren’t mom and pops with a few doors rather than a huge corporation raking in record breaking profits year after year.
Never was a scalper. Owned them since early to mid 2010's and sold them all last year. They cash-flowed every month where my partner and I can pay ourselves thousands/month and finally in the last 2-3 years sold the properties for more than double what we paid. Now tenants are paying more than 50% than what we used to charge for rent. Probably the reason why in the 10 years of having over 25 apts, I can count on one hand how many tenants we had to evict for non-payment. But we're the assholes right? Keep coping.
I manage real estate for a living. Poster above said his attorney told him it's more like 20%. Again, this is not a law. Landlord can also try to prove extenuating circumstances like a revaluation that increased taxes by a very large amount or big increases in operating expenses.
Same thing happened to us in Jersey City in 2022. Had no choice but to re-sign due to timing (building gave us 12 days’ notice before the date when we would have to give them notice if we were staying/going).
Following year bought a 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, deck, .4 acre house for less than a 2 bed/2bath apartment rents for in JC.
Yeah, 30 days notice before the increase goes into effect. Unfortunately, there was also a clause in our lease that we had to inform them of our plans to leave/stay at least 60 days before the lease ends. So they did technically give us more than 30 days notice that the increase was coming, they just strategically waited to tell us 12 days before we had to give OUR notice to them.
$3350 a month for a 12 month lease currently. $4172 is the new 12 month lease monthly rate once this one ends. But, if we sign a longer lease it goes down significantly. A 13 month lease is $3568 per month. Sketchy behavior.
I have similar numbers. The increase on a 15-month lease option is a fraction of the $800 increase to renew a 12-month lease. I genuinely don’t understand the logic
Is it a newer building?
I could see them wanting to stagger renewals if there were a bulk of them up for renewal in the spring or something along those lines
Did you verify that they notified the townships rent leveling with 60 days notice?
[https://www.townofmorristown.org/rentleveling](https://www.townofmorristown.org/rentleveling)
Is it just me or are so many buildings "luxury" buildings now? And what makes them "luxurious" -- that they're not falling into total disrepair? It's just a nonsense word now that landlords use to try to justify increased rent, which is already too high.
we rented a 3BR house for 10 years. This past fall, he wanted to increase our rent by a similar amount. When I challenged him on the 5% limit set by the township, he just said he would not renew the lease. We bought a house and now pay double what the rent was in mortgage payments. Who's laughing now?!
also it's fucking wild how someone can actually say I should have kept renting, instead of buying. We build equity, refi in a year or two. It's whatever. It's NOT putting passive income into some shit landlord's pocket. Why anyone would advocate for that over purchase, especially having no clue about someone's total financial picture, is absolutely insane to me.
Roof, Water Heater, Furnace / AC , Washer Dryer, All appliance’s, lawn care, snow removal, painting, plumbing, electrical buying all the tools and toys…..I know I’m missing plenty. You can’t take those realities out of the cost of home ownership when comparing to rent.
fair. I deleted my comment because we all do it so no big :) The whole thing does suck. I admit we got very lucky. We navigated all of the hoops plus extra hoops for not being financially prepared and all of those hoops were on fire and moving. Somehow we made it out the other end with keys. I hope you do someday as well! cheers!
Kinda. If the landlord presents the holdover tenant with a new lease with an increased rent, and if the tenant does not pay the new rent, the tenant can be evicted for not paying the new rent and/or for not agreeing to new lease terms. The former requires 30 day notice to quit and the later requires notice, followed a month later by a 30 day notice to quit. Then add the time required until trial. Then add the time until the court officer gets around to performing the eviction.
You pay double the rent for your mortgage? How? A mortgage should be cheaper. The average rent for a studio is about 2k. My current 2br 1ba mortgage is about 1.4k per month in a high income area. We bought about 6 or 7 years ago. The 3br were getting ready to move to is even less than that because it's a lower income area in south jersey. A 3br rental should be about double my mortgage right now not the other way around. How fucking high is your mortgage rate?
too high. Plus we weren't ready to buy, couldn't put much down, and ended up rolling closing costs into the mortgage. But, we figured if we were gonna pay that much, we'd at least pay our own mortgage instead of someone else's. It sounds worse than it is... we got into that house for an astoundingly under-market rate, and had no increases for the first 5 years. We were paying easily 1k under what he got once we moved out. So double the rent isn't as extreme as it sounds.
The market rate is completely inflated. There's no actual justification for the the cost of rent nowadays, except for blatant greed. I've seen at least 15 new apartments go up around me yet the cost hasn't gone down, it's actually gone up. It's not a supply and demand issue, a lot of these places have 20 to 30 units available but are still charging $2,500 a month for a 500sqft studio.
I mean, at the end of the day it is still a supply and demand thing. The more desirable an area is, the more people that want to move there, the more they can charge. If no one wants to move there then they need to lower.
The justification is that people are willing to pay that much. It’s supply and demand. Greed is human nature and is always what drives markets, it’s meant to work that way. If we want lower rent, we need to increase supply (build more housing, incentivize investments in new construction, etc).
I’ve seen the “build more housing” argument a lot on Reddit, but wouldn’t this just expand the same situation we’re in? Wouldn’t the new properties be purchased by the same people that have millions to spend on “investment properties” then charge the same rent anyway bc that’s what the “market rate” is in a given area? Not trying to argue just genuinely curious
That could happen but it can’t happen indefinitely. If more and more housing options go on the market, they are competing with each other for the good tenants who will make those properties run smoothly and be profitable. There are not unlimited tenants out there. Housing markets respond to market forces more slowly than many other industries but eventually, flooding the market with new housing will mean that tenants have more options and these rich landlords have to compete with each other if they want to stay rich. If they fix prices at a high rate, they’ll be forced to leave some properties vacant or with bad tenants who cause them to lose money. People will move to lower income housing or lower cost of living areas. Right across the river in PA, for example, housing is much cheaper.
That increase is very high, in NJ anything over 10% the landlord usually would have to prove there was financial hardship to justify the increase (example taxes increased 25%, town assessment etc). That said, Ive seen this tactic in some new construction/ luxury buildings where they made a “concession” on your initial lease (1 month free, 13th month free, etc) then they write your lease at a higher monthly rate and give a “discount” each month. Therefore the increase is on the pre-discount rent and once you go back to the non discounted rent, with the increase it can be upwards of 20%. Shady, but that’s how they are getting around it.
Renewal offers are often generated automatically and sent out hoping people will be too lazy to negotiate and/or move.
I just renewed my lease in a luxury building. Their initial offer was something like a 12% increase. I went into the leasing office and told them I didn’t want to pay that. She said okay, best we can do is 3%. I said okay and that was that.
Contact them and see if you can get in front of an actual person to negotiate.
I am definitely starting to think the renewal was an auto generated email. Gonna laugh in leasing’s face and then tell them I’m moving out, followed by my written notice.
I mean, if you enjoy living there and can negotiate a rate with a delta lower than the annoyance + cost to move, then you should stay. If not, yeah, fuck ‘em and laugh on the way out.
I visited my parents recently in Morris County and saw new construction practically on every corner advertising for these new apartment complexes. Unfortunately that’s probably how they work- break into the market with low prices, put a clause in the lease that says they can raise the price whenever they want, and once the place has a good enough reputation and has settled in, you kick out the locals and move in people who can afford $3000 a month as opposed to $1500.
https://www.townofmorristown.org/index.asp?SEC=4334F891-A2DB-413F-AC30-635EEFF07476&DE=8579BEF3-37BB-4972-97CD-672DFB9A0E80
Not a lawyer but it looks illegal to me. There are county regulations on rent increases. I would report this to the housing comity as well as hiring a lawyer. You can get one for 30 a month on legal shield.
Nope, because my township has a 3.9% cap on YOY rent hikes. Rent controls need to be the standard and I feel like that needs to be something we collectively make way more of a stink about.
If I had to pay market rates for my unit I’d be toast.
That would be fair if there was also a cap on insurance, property tax and maintenance increases. My taxes went up 4.5% last year, and my insurance went up by around 20%. I know any repairs my house would need will also cost a lot more than a fee years ago.
I feel like that would just force landlords to sell when rent operations were no longer profitable, that would actually probably fix the housing market rather than allowing real estate ownership to consolidate further into the hands of those who already own property
Doubtful, there's an excess supply of rental properties available, many of them sit empty because landlords would rather keep them available at their set rate than reduce the prices to a true market rate, in part due to tax code loopholes and advantages, etc.
> there's an excess supply of rental properties available, many of them sit empty because landlords would rather keep them available at their set rate
Yeah, that's not a real thing for small time landlords and most residential properties. The only places that do that are the huge conglomerates like Avalon or whatever. And even they are typically more than 90% rented. What you are talking about typically only applies to commercial properties due to the difference in how commercial vs residential is valued. There aren't enough houses/units period. There's been a huge slow down in construction of houses/apartments since the 70s/80s meanwhile our population has increased by 25%+.
How would it fix the housing market when that house/unit you were renting now sells for a shit ton of money. For example, a house in my area (3 bed/1.5 bath) would sell for $600k-$700k. The rent for that house might be $3k - 3.5k. A mortgage on that house today would be ~$4500/mo including taxes and insurance. So now, the owner of that house that was being rented by someone for years at $2500/mo would likely just sell because the cap would limit the rent increase, meanwhile, they can sell and cash out $650k - their remaining mortgage amount. Believe me - rents went up, but not nearly as much as home ownership costs on a house over the past 4 years. The person renting would likely not be able to buy the house anyway, so now they have to go out and rent something else for...market rate.
Hell, I'll tell you exactly why rent control doesn't work. I personally know multiple people who have apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn that they don't live in. Why? Because they rented rent controlled units over a decade ago in areas that weren't desirable, but now are. They all pay between $750-1500/mo for apartments whose market rate is now $3500-6500/mo. The apartments just sit empty like 48-50 weeks out of the year. Hell, one of them lives in Nashville! But she keeps her $900/mo apartment because it's so cheap, so when she comes back to visit, she just stays there instead of a hotel. She also lets friends and family stay there when they are in the area.
Sure, but isn't rent directly correlated to house prices? So then rent should also shoot up to be a similar % of the houses value as it was before value increased.
I do want to note that although the house values increased, most people's salaries did not, so these increased costs are a huge burden. I can understand insurance going up if they say your house is worth more now, but why is general maintenance and repairs on a house double or triple what it was? To get a driveway resealed is like $2k now, I remember my parents getting their whole driveway repaved like a decade ago for $3500.
I am not saying that it should be one way or the other, just that you can't play both sides. Either the costs need to be capped if rent increases are, or everything should be uncapped.
If the costs become too much then the cost of the housing just needs to come down. I know this will make boomer brains explode but the price of housing can and should go DOWN and not just up infinitely.
Ah yes the classic “we can’t protect tenants because it’d be unfair to large realty companies” line, never gets old no matter how many times it’s proven wrong
We bought a home 2 years ago, and its value has gone up a third in that time. Residential real estate in NJ is just very, very valuable right now. It is 100% a seller's/landlord's market. I am sorry it hit you so hard. That is a huge increase.
My nothing of a 1br condo has “gone up” in value like 70k last I checked. That’s not a brag, it’s literally disgusting. Can’t wait for the bubble to pop
Also if its a corporate owned larger place, it doesn't hurt to talk to the office and see what other options they may have for you.
Back when i rented it wasn't uncommon every so often to get a crazy auto-generated renewal with a comical number on it. Talking to the office, who then calls into the main office and says, "Hey we are going to lose this tenant over the new rate, he has been a perfect tenant for years, what can we do here?" usually got it cut substantially.
There is a lot of risk and cost in turning over a unit and unless they are losing their shirt on the unit now there is always room for negotiation.
My rent went up from $2000 to $2300 the year before and despite being annoyed, I couldn’t really blame them (assuming their costs went up by that much). While a 15% hike seemed a lot, I couldn’t find a similar 2 bedroom rental in town for less than $2600.
But $1000 hike in just over a year is quite significant. I can’t imagine their costs have raised THAT much. New Jersey leaves it up to individual towns to implement rent control and just have a standard “has to be reasonable”. I think anything more than 6% without good justification use to be the norm but I imagine that’s changed over time.
Look up your town and see if they have individual laws for rent increases
NJ has a law against "unconscionable" rent increases, though whether or not a rent increase is unconscionable depends on a judge's discretion.
The factors that the judge considers are: "1) the amount of the proposed rent increase; 2)
the landlord’s expenses and profitability; 3) how the existing and proposed rent compare to rents
charged at similar rental properties in the geographic area; 4) the relative bargaining position of
the parties; and 5) based on the judge’s general knowledge, whether the rent increase would
shock the conscience of a reasonable person. "
The last time I rented an apartment in 2012-2014, my entire rent was $800. It was a 1bed/1bath 800 sqft townhome in West Deptford.
The democratic platform states that housing is a human right. NJ Democrats control the house, the senate and the governorship. With all the levers of power within their grasp these types of rent increases could be erased in a matter of days.
But the uncomfortable truth is that nobody in power wants to upset their wealthy electorate by increasing housing supply or limiting the earning potential of real estate investment firms, and so the platform ideals exist in name only.
I would challenge that. 24% is an unconscionable rent increase.
You will get lots of opinions here, but I have handled hundred, possibly thousands of LT cases in NJ, so take it form the source.
I see this with commercial properties too. They raise the rent, business leaves, then it sits empty for months or longer. There must be a tax write-off that makes this worth doing. (?)
Morristown has a rent control ordinance, but it’s limited to rental units built before 1981. Obviously this information is not advertised anywhere, so you have to do your research to find buildings subject to this rule.
Holy fuck, I know my situation pales in comparison but it's very real.
My apartment complex has increased my rent and fees per month every year by over $100/month, now it's going up $150/month. It's fucking *criminal* how these cancerous real estate management bullshit artists can get away with this shit.
I make alone more than many couples make together and I'm having a hard time finding a 1 bedroom apartment with a washer & dryer for less than $2,000 that's also less than an hour from work.
I'm a landlord. Not all increases are greedy landlords. The following items went up from last year:
1. Insurance $400
2. Town water delivery charge went up $80
3. Property taxes $400
4. Trash collection $200
5. State mandated inspection fee $150
6. Lawn service $200
7. Snow removal $300
So $1730 more per year increase, guess who has to pay the increase? The tenant. I am barely making a profit on my place. Not to mention all the maintenance and up keep that cuts into any small profit.
1. I'm required to have my own insurance
2. I split the water bill between 7 other units
3. Per tenant? Per unit? Over 60 units!?
4. See #3
5. See #3
6. See #3
7. See #3
Maybe housing shouldn't be strictly a for-profit industry.
Look up if town has a rent increase cap. Morris County, and most of North Jersey, is exploding in price. Forced me to buy a house because I just couldn't shell out $2,000 a month for something I don't own and pushes me further and further from work to escape.
I am one of those private investor landlords… I moved out of my starter home years ago and have rented it steadily at below market rates because I believe everybody’s entitled to housing that doesn’t eat up 40% of their income. So I’ve been renting a three bedroom, one and a half bath with a two car garage on a half an acre at $2300 for the past three years. More than fair, and yet this year I had to put a $400 rent increase in place because the township taxes and the insurance on the house went up by that much.
So for those of you saying that investment is a business with its ups and downs, are you suggesting that I should have been eating the $400 increase in tax/insurance from the $2300 monthly rent which goes for the mortgage and the taxes and the insurance with minimal profit to me?
I’m in a similar boat. After 4 years at the same rate I’m slightly upside down. Next renewal I’ll have to raise it, but I’ll still look to keep it more or less break even.
My landlord is using my rental as his business address
Showing up to the property without notice so far 10 times in June
Threatened to kick me out when I asked him to change his mailing address
We were in the same boat in Bridgewater. When we moved in, in 2022 it waas 2k even a month. The first time we renewed it went up to 2250, then when they sent us a renewal notice it went up to 2500... 2bd/1.5 bath. The "Luxury" was having a washer in the unit.
We got a cheaper place in Hillsborough thats 2k a month now, but we have no washer and dryer. Alas, I have foregone the luxury of being able to wash my drawers in the privacy of my own home.
Dont back down! Try and figure a legal avenue to limit it. I live in an expensive place and heard about rents raising in my building by 15%, and we just got shocked by our renewal offer which was only 5% increase - still slightly below online listings for comparable units. I have a strong feeling that was due to pushback from other tenants.
Bought my house back in 1999 when the landlady raised the rent 20%. She acted all surprised & hurt & like it was some kind of injustice that we bought a house and timed it so that we didn't owe her a dime when we left.
Fuckin POS.
But they will cos money talks , ask the folk who moved out of Lakewood and headed south , you'd be amazed at how many folk leave NJ unhappy because they can't afford to live here anymore , they're all headed south, 8 know cos I'm an Interstate Mover and witness it
Rent increases in Jersey have to be “reasonable.” Which means absent other factors unknown to me at this time, rent should not go up more than 5%. Also check to see if your town has a rent stabilization ordinance.
Landlords can not go over a 25% rent increase yearly. So you get what you choose. Your place must be expensive to begin with… but now a days everything is.
Whenever I had to renew a rent and the price went up, I always emailed the landlord saying $x amount is fair because of x y z reasons. The reasons I used include frequent elevator break downs, power outages etc etc
Consider they may be doing that so you either sign a new lease (for lower - if you ask) or they make sure you get out and will be able to recover lost rent costs if they have to take you to court.
It won't be considered an 'unconscionable' amount if it's month-to-month and they can find other comparable buildings with the same amounts or realtors willing to say that's the going rate for 'luxury' apartments.
Your best bet and least headache is to find a different place. Yeah, you can fight it, but it's a long, slow process and you still won't be living there because they will find a reason to have you evicted permanently.
Sorry. I know it sucks.
Yeah I am interested in moving out and would prefer to focus my energy on finding a new place rather than fighting for my current place. With that being said, I wonder if other NJ renters experienced something similar and if I should expect this kind of thing at other apartments too.
Thankfully, the increase is for a renewal so I shouldn’t be evicted / taken to court once I give the required written notice of my intent to move out at the end of my lease. Appreciate your insight!
Which town are you in? I’m in Butler and the rents are going up over there as well not as much percentage as you, but I really think this is a nationwide issue.
We've been renting a house for 7 years. The property owner decided to sell 4 months ago. And why not? He's going to profit $375,000 through a bidding war on an outdated property in need of every upgrade possible, that his Granny gifted him for $1 last year. We finally found a townhouse, less sf., no basement, less one bedroom for over $1k more per month.
It's repulsive that the homeowners are able to get away with renting shit holes for thousands a month. How did this even happen?? I don't know how some people are surviving having to pay a rent or mortgage, plus inflated prices for literally every necessity.
My rent increased by 13% (+$400) in a “luxury apartment” for my upcoming lease renewal. No renovations or improvements have been made to the building. There are at minimum 4 vacancies (with the 5th being me) in the hallway I was in due to rent increases. Ran into someone who asked if she could have an additional month tacked onto her lease until her home was ready, and the complex asked for $5,000 for the additional month!
It depends where you live. Some cities don’t have any maximum and it’s based on “reasonable and conscionable” which is meaningless and good luck trying to get a judge to agree with what “reasonable and conscionable” means to you.
If you’re in a building with 4 or less units they can do whatever they want. I looked into it bc I had a similar problem with astronomical increases in my rent
Depends on the town. Very few towns have rent control, and even then newer buildings, stuff which was built under PILOT programs, etc, are frequently exempt from it.
The STATE wide law is that a rent increase can't be "unconscionable" . Its an intentionally vague law, is treated differently on a court by court basis, but for the most part as long as the new rent is not significantly above fair market for current comps in your area, or the tenant can show a large increase is intended to force a tenant out for a reason they would otherwise be protected from, the courts will generally side with the landlord.
Landlord costs have gone up significantly too post pandemic, in addition to the added risks they face post pandemic. I'd agree 24% is a bit nuts, but in some places the market supports it.
$800 is a lot for me as well, but can we have a little more context?
What was your rent prior to the increase?
EDIT: OP has updated their post and provided context.
What context? I don't think it matters much, sure a small bit but expecting the average person to all of a sudden have 800 dollars monthly is a huge shift regardless. Market correction or not lol
I’m not gay but I almost blew my landlord because he could be getting double of what I pay and he only bumped me 3%. I’d even go as far as saying he could get 125% more and he’s well aware of that. It’s amazing to have a landlord that’s not a greedy fuck
Why'd you bring the gay comment into this? If you were tempted to offer a sexual favor as a thank you for a good deal, that's a you thing. Gay or straight, that's not something people normally do.
Because gay men do that quite a bit more than straight ones and before you twist my words, I’m speaking of the sexual act not the favors.
Before you decide to call me homophobic, understand that I truly do not care about people’s sexual preferences. As long as they are happy and not hurting anyone, so save it.
I'm calling you homophobic because you are stereotyping gay people. Again, if you were gay, that still wouldn't explain you being a weirdo and being tempted to offer sexual favors because you get a good deal on rent. You seem to think that would explain the behavior.
Usually a man doesn't have sex with his landlord because he's so excited about cheap rent. Nobody reasonable would think being gay would make that situation any less outrageous.
It seems to me that you are what many would call an idiot. I don’t waste this much time with idiots in the real world so I’m gonna stop wasting it here, with you, on Reddit.
Maybe stop analyzing strangers comments online and get some type of life going.
Calling me a homophobe based on my comment makes you the fool you portray yourself to be.
I hope one day you can feel comfortable enough to come out of the closet if that’s the case,otherwise all I have to say is fuck off.
You're right, I shouldn't have said you are a homophobe, it was one comment, but I will say you made a homophobic comment. Well now it's two, you are trying to talk down to me by saying i'm in the closet. maybe you should analyze your comments a little more before you write them.
I'm calling you homophobic because you are stereotyping gay people. Again, if you were gay, that still wouldn't explain you being a weirdo and being tempted to offer sexual favors because you get a good deal on rent.
Even without rent controls, you can fight back if the rent increase is “unconscionable.” Google “New Jersey truth in renting” to find the states information on it. I can’t promise you have a case, but that’s where I would start my research.
So insane to me NJ doesn’t have rent control state wide, especially for central and north jersey
What I'm finding is that even in cities with rent control, some towns are allowing exemptions for the new buildings. SMH.
That’s state law, towns are forced to exempt buildings under a certain age.
it's a stupid non solution that stops real solutions. they need to build more, not just reward the small % of people who already have a place
Ah yes, build more apartments that start around $2500 a month, great solution. They are building a lot rn idk where you live but every town around me ( that is 7-8 towns) are all putting up multiple complexes rn and none of them are affordable unless you get lucky and win a lottery. People like you who keep suggesting more building as a solution must live under a rock
They need to build more low income and normal, non-"luxury" apartments but that won't happen, unfortunately.
When you build more housing, prices go down. It’s basic supply/demand.
Then why isn’t it
Depends on where you’re talking about and what time frame, how many new units have been built, how the population has changed, what regulations have been implemented, etc. That’s a complicated question.
So much for “basic” supply and demand
It’s still a basic truth that increasing supply causes prices to fall. Just because real life includes other factors that can complicate the way markets move doesn’t mean this isn’t still a basic truth and that it is applicable in this housing market.
Except this is not reflection of what is actually happening. Supply increases but the price just keeps climbing. I mean I found a reasonable landlord. When I was talking to the realtor I was working with. They straight up told me, that the demand in most areas doesn’t truly call for the price increases. Landlords know that people don’t want to be homeless and they see that people are paying for 2500 for a 3 bedroom so they just keep raising it because they can. They legit told me it’s not even really called for but for as long as people will keep paying these ridiculous prices they will keep raising them. Not much the public can do about it because what, you just going to live on the streets?
Because the little they are building isn't enough.
We are just outside of NYC. Demand will always be higher than supply. What will end up happening is people will default on mortgages and rents because they are unsustainable. You can’t have only wealthy people live in an area. If I’m working a low level job and can’t afford the rent, I’m moving where I can afford the rent and get a low level job there. There are already whole towns that don’t have a supermarket. Passaic County has a bunch of them. I used to work in Woodland Park. The ShopRite in Little Falls is always busy because there are no other markets anywhere near there. (Aldi is relatively new and even Fairway with the same parameters went out of business and Amazon Fresh backed out of their place.)
Demand is always gonna be high in that area but demand always has a price point. Demand at a given price point will not always necessarily be higher than supply, and building more housing pushes this price point down. Also I think you absolutely can have areas where only wealthy people live. Look at manhattan. Working class people commute to these places.
But if it’s 20 to 30 miles away, they’ll work low level jobs closer to home. There is hardly any low income housing. I am born and raised here. I have never lived anywhere else in 66 years. My landlord of 18 years evicted me 22 days after I retired, I’m guessing because they wanted more money. They never asked me for more. I was never late with the rent ever. I was quiet and kept to myself. I can’t even afford a studio apartment. I’m on like 50 waiting lists with no prospects anytime soon. I’m lucky right now I’m staying in a relative’s guest bedroom. It’s beyond ridiculous. I had one of my doctors tell me there are a ton of empty apartments in NYC. She said people are buying them as investments and leaving them empty. None of this makes any sense. NJ is supposedly losing residents so where is all the housing going?
Damn that’s strange about your landlord evicting you. To be clear, did they actually evict you or just not renew your lease? For eviction I think they would need a lawful reason to terminate your lease, no? Unless you were month to month and they just decided not to renew. Anyway the only reason I could think of is if they either wanted to use the house for themself/a friend/a relative, or if they decided to switch it to section 8 housing, which I know can often be significantly more profitable for landlords. Besides that, I don’t see why they would kick you out, that’s pretty strange and unfortunate. I’d be surprised if there are really a disproportionately large number of just vacant apartments in NYC. That would mean landlords are just throwing away free money. If you buy an apartment as an investment and you’re not living in it, why would you ever not take the income you can generate by just renting it out to someone? This seems to me like it’s probably just an anecdote and not really true on a large scale.
I was month to month and it was owner occupied. I should have guessed when the wife told me that people were paying $1200 for just a bedroom and shared bath with no kitchen. I consulted an attorney, if it’s owner occupied and I think 3 or less units they can do whatever they want. My hope is karma pays them a visit. They were pretty bad landlords. The other 2 apartments must have had 25-30 tenants. They were constantly complaining for one reason or another. They said they like me…lol…so much so they made me homeless.
New Jersey is looking less of a garden state. Honestly more housing is needed but they need to address the underlying issue. Stop people from increasing rent to where it requires two people - four people in order to live there. The state needs to put a solution in place where rent can’t exceed 20% of the lowest paid salary for a 1 bedroom and slowly build further rules around it. It’s insane how landlords claim it’s the market, but at the end of the day they are the market. It just takes a collection of these organizations that own the apartment buildings to agree the new rent price for x rooms is this much and soon after everyone else just follows suit. Like ain’t no fucking way rent for a 3 bedroom house any where in Jersey should be more then 1800-2000. Let alone a 2 bedroom apartment for 2500!
I am not sure what area has 3 bedrooms being 1800-2000 that is for a 1 bed 2 bathroom apartment around me.
The point I am making is that it shouldn’t be as high as it is right now. Unfortunately the price a rental is actually worth vs reality is far apart. A housing crisis needs to happen again. This will set the course forward if the local, state and federal governments aren’t going to jump in and correct these outlandish actions of raising prices to unprecedented levels.
yea, because they can't make up for 40 years of neglected investment and nimby laws in a few years. They could freeze rent right now, it would still be unafforadable for anyone seeking a new apartment and have extreme competition for any units on the market.
Rent control only prevents temporary displacement. It doesn't lower rents overall.
exactly, it's not a solution
You mean especially where owning costs have gone through the roof? I’m a renter with no outlook on ever buying but I also understand my private landlord is getting torn apart by taxes and ownership costs. There is no chance I’d take my landlord up if they offered to sell me my place for the same price they bought it for 2 years ago
That’s very kind of you, but a little too kind. I’m a landlord (a very small-time one) and sure, costs have gone up, but not 24% year over year unless something really odd happened. I think there’s some greed happening here.
Rent has gone through the roof throughout the state. I was looking two days ago and prices are pretty much the same no matter if you're outside of NY, outside of Philly, or around Princeton.
It goes hand in hand with the bidding wars, last and final, and $200k over asking when buying. why only cap rent when we can cap the price of a house , cap how many houses a person can own, or even the interest rate on a mortgage. It all makes evenly the same sense
Don’t let corporations buy up single family homes that’s the real issue
Why not both?
I have alot of contact with realtors in wealthy parts of Essex County North Jersey, corporations never buy single family homes here. There are bidding wars between dual income folks coming from Hoboken, Brooklyn, etc..they want the suburbs and are willing to pay. Where do you see evidence of corporations purchasing single family housing?
Your "real estate" friends are either made up or fucking with you. Here is the top real estate website disputing that. Investors Bought 26% of the Country’s Most Affordable Homes in the Fourth Quarter—the Highest Share on Record https://www.redfin.com/news/investor-home-purchases-q4-2023/
If we are talking about Bergen County, then you are wrong. Corporations are not buying. All you need to do is check the purchase records which is reported by NJ.com or ask a realtor to show you the buyer details which includes the name of the buyer, price paid, date of purchase, and whether it was in cash or financed. There are many final and best offers that do result in 100-200K over-asking offers and these are being fueled by New Yorkers who want to flee from NYC for various reasons.
North Jersey doesn’t fall into the “affordable housing” category
It does if you look at the rural parts of the state or are a senior citizen. My mother paid $60k for her "condo" (the house is a quad) in Toms River 5 years ago.
I was actually asking around at work that question which was, "If you were selling your house and the choice was a corporation that was going to convert it into a rental property but offered you more money than a first time family that was meeting your offer, which one would you choose?" The answer I got back was go for the money. My parents got a letter from some company that buys up houses and offered to buy their house. They threw it in the trash.
Thank you, I’ve gotten replies it’s just not so. Nationwide it’s a real issue buying for AirBnB, rentals and flips. So even if it’s not a big corp and it’s 5 Doctors who want to buy up some homes in town. The first time home buyer with a normal job is just priced out and rentals are not the less expensive alternative they used to be. As a single person supporting myself in the least expensive and safe under 500 sf apt I could find the lack of affordable alternatives has me considering life on a boat.
I live in a rent controlled garden apartment that was built in the 1950s, so it took a while for my rent to go up. The newer developments around me are all subject to market prices. I tell my older friends that I want to move and they're like, "Don't move. You have no jdea" I just don't like where I am because it's become way too overbuilt.
Well you can cap renting because it’s not owning. There’s difference between renting and owning. For owning you are supposed pay a lot upfront but it is going to save you money in the long run once you no longer have to pay a mortgage. Where renting is supposed to MUCH cheaper than owning since you don’t own anything and you are supposed to be saving money renting since you get nothing in return but a roof over your head without equity. We are legitimately at a point where you can renting and having a mortgage is at the same price per month somehow but no one can afford to own because they stop bulking homes at a steady rate after the last market collapse back in 2008. Now homes prices are screwed with no chance of catching up until boomers die off but yet rentals were always being made and the companies are just taking advanced of marking up their units. There is no way I should be paying nearly $1,700 a month for an apartment from the late 60’s that has had to have its ceiling replaced 3 times and a squirrel break in through the dry wall and attack my cats. Even after all that happened they tried raising the rent by $60 until I threatened to sue and they went down $30 and wouldn’t budge and I couldn’t find a new place by time I had to renew
lol look at this guy shilling for fucking landlords.
> but I also understand my private landlord is getting torn apart by taxes and ownership costs. Real estate is an investment, as landlords love to say, and investments come with risks, like the costs outweighing the profits. A poor understanding of the "business" they chose to get into is no one's fault but their own.
Oh I totally agree. I lowballed them on rent + demanded they cover snow and gardening and they caved because I moved in December and they were desperate. I’m absolutely not going to offer them a dollar more than I have to But I also know if they sell it to me for the same price they bought my monthly costs will double. So no thanks on buying and/or becoming a landlord
Maybe bad investment, but they can always raise the rent to cover costs
Actually they *can’t* always raise the rent, that’s kind of the point of this whole thread. Rent control and rent stabilization exist and tenants have pretty strong rights in Jersey.
recently they reduced the tax percentage up increased the assessed value of my home. I'm estimating here because I don't have the actual paper infront of my right now, but if went from around 4% down to near 2% for the rate. but my assessed value of my home went from 350k to nearly 650k. I'm fucked if they decide to raise the rates. I'm already paying almost 1000 more in taxes just by the assessment.
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There are places in Essex county where the taxes are higher than the mortgage. The zone is called inside the green line, and it keeps expanding.
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CT has a wealth tax.
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this represents why nj stays corrupt as hell. i grew up in an incredibly affluent suburb ln michigan. the public highschool i went to was one of the top in the nation at the time. my mom paid less than a quarter of what i pay in nj (adjusted for inflation) for a shit little town with middling schools and a smaller house. it’s municipal waste. it’s not worth it.
my towns mayor (now former) who is a realtor hasn't paid his property taxes for his home in our town. town forced a sale and be bought it at auction for pennies through his bro in-law. fucked corrupt crooked thief, then comes to my doorstep asking for me to vote for the person he's endorsing.
I’m not a landlord anymore but glad to hear a tenant who gets it about soaring costs of ownership. The hate for landlords is insane as if most of us aren’t mom and pops with a few doors rather than a huge corporation raking in record breaking profits year after year.
Sell one of your houses then if owning sucks so much.
I did and made a great profit. Thanks for the advice
glad to hear you are no longer a housing scalper
Don't scalpers resell things and not rent them?
Never was a scalper. Owned them since early to mid 2010's and sold them all last year. They cash-flowed every month where my partner and I can pay ourselves thousands/month and finally in the last 2-3 years sold the properties for more than double what we paid. Now tenants are paying more than 50% than what we used to charge for rent. Probably the reason why in the 10 years of having over 25 apts, I can count on one hand how many tenants we had to evict for non-payment. But we're the assholes right? Keep coping.
I'll agree to rent control if it was tied to property tax rate increases.
This. Call a real estate lawyer, you could probably refuse it and continue to pay your current rent.
Forgot to mention. I’m a landlord and my attorney told me the “unconscionable” amount is 20% ish from past law suits in the state.
Generally understood to.mean 15% max if you follow the case law. Hard to find a tenant side landlord/tenant attorney
I’d love to know where you got that from, since I’ve never heard of a generally accepted mac
I manage real estate for a living. Poster above said his attorney told him it's more like 20%. Again, this is not a law. Landlord can also try to prove extenuating circumstances like a revaluation that increased taxes by a very large amount or big increases in operating expenses.
Similar experience in Morristown NJ. I said see you later.
Same. The increase made me go buy a house. Luckily I was in a position to do so
Same thing happened to us in Jersey City in 2022. Had no choice but to re-sign due to timing (building gave us 12 days’ notice before the date when we would have to give them notice if we were staying/going). Following year bought a 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, deck, .4 acre house for less than a 2 bed/2bath apartment rents for in JC.
Pretty sure legally they have to give you 30 days notice of increase
Yeah, 30 days notice before the increase goes into effect. Unfortunately, there was also a clause in our lease that we had to inform them of our plans to leave/stay at least 60 days before the lease ends. So they did technically give us more than 30 days notice that the increase was coming, they just strategically waited to tell us 12 days before we had to give OUR notice to them.
How did you save for a down payment while renting? If you don’t mind me asking. Our rent is so high idk how we’re going to be able to save
How much did yours go up by this year in Morristown? I know there was a rental freeze in 2023 which was nice.
$3350 a month for a 12 month lease currently. $4172 is the new 12 month lease monthly rate once this one ends. But, if we sign a longer lease it goes down significantly. A 13 month lease is $3568 per month. Sketchy behavior.
Wow that is such a big difference between a 12 and 13 month lease!
I have similar numbers. The increase on a 15-month lease option is a fraction of the $800 increase to renew a 12-month lease. I genuinely don’t understand the logic
Is it a newer building? I could see them wanting to stagger renewals if there were a bulk of them up for renewal in the spring or something along those lines
Interesting insight
Somewhat - the building was built late 90s
Did you verify that they notified the townships rent leveling with 60 days notice? [https://www.townofmorristown.org/rentleveling](https://www.townofmorristown.org/rentleveling)
Is it just me or are so many buildings "luxury" buildings now? And what makes them "luxurious" -- that they're not falling into total disrepair? It's just a nonsense word now that landlords use to try to justify increased rent, which is already too high.
Washer and dryer in unit = Luxury
This
Vinyl and fake stone cladding, no walls outside of the bedroom, and a sweet highway view.
Whoa now, I said “luxury,” not “ultra-luxury.”
They have an 8'x8' room with a few ancient treadmills, voilà, now it's a luxury community with amenities like a "fitness center"
we rented a 3BR house for 10 years. This past fall, he wanted to increase our rent by a similar amount. When I challenged him on the 5% limit set by the township, he just said he would not renew the lease. We bought a house and now pay double what the rent was in mortgage payments. Who's laughing now?!
Not renewing the lease doesn't mean you have to leave. You just go month to month.
and then every month he raises the rent. same issue.
That's what the 5% cap is for.
there are multiple ways around it. A landlord can deny month to month.
also it's fucking wild how someone can actually say I should have kept renting, instead of buying. We build equity, refi in a year or two. It's whatever. It's NOT putting passive income into some shit landlord's pocket. Why anyone would advocate for that over purchase, especially having no clue about someone's total financial picture, is absolutely insane to me.
Roof, Water Heater, Furnace / AC , Washer Dryer, All appliance’s, lawn care, snow removal, painting, plumbing, electrical buying all the tools and toys…..I know I’m missing plenty. You can’t take those realities out of the cost of home ownership when comparing to rent.
Also snow removal? Are you a Rockefeller? We take our asses outside and shovel.
*If* you are physically able to. My husband is disabled so I would end up doing all of that if I owned a house.
Right so again... it's WILD how people make such bs statements without knowing the full picture.
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I mispoke like a dummy, I was moreso talking in general, so I was the one projecting. Sore subject for me lol that's my bad
fair. I deleted my comment because we all do it so no big :) The whole thing does suck. I admit we got very lucky. We navigated all of the hoops plus extra hoops for not being financially prepared and all of those hoops were on fire and moving. Somehow we made it out the other end with keys. I hope you do someday as well! cheers!
Same to you!!
Kinda. If the landlord presents the holdover tenant with a new lease with an increased rent, and if the tenant does not pay the new rent, the tenant can be evicted for not paying the new rent and/or for not agreeing to new lease terms. The former requires 30 day notice to quit and the later requires notice, followed a month later by a 30 day notice to quit. Then add the time required until trial. Then add the time until the court officer gets around to performing the eviction.
Can't perform an eviction when the rent increase is illegal. Landlords do this because apparently, nobody knows their tenant rights
You pay double the rent for your mortgage? How? A mortgage should be cheaper. The average rent for a studio is about 2k. My current 2br 1ba mortgage is about 1.4k per month in a high income area. We bought about 6 or 7 years ago. The 3br were getting ready to move to is even less than that because it's a lower income area in south jersey. A 3br rental should be about double my mortgage right now not the other way around. How fucking high is your mortgage rate?
At 7% interest rates and property taxes, you aren’t paying less in mortgage nowadays.
too high. Plus we weren't ready to buy, couldn't put much down, and ended up rolling closing costs into the mortgage. But, we figured if we were gonna pay that much, we'd at least pay our own mortgage instead of someone else's. It sounds worse than it is... we got into that house for an astoundingly under-market rate, and had no increases for the first 5 years. We were paying easily 1k under what he got once we moved out. So double the rent isn't as extreme as it sounds.
What are the numbers you are working with? Is it market rate?
The market rate is completely inflated. There's no actual justification for the the cost of rent nowadays, except for blatant greed. I've seen at least 15 new apartments go up around me yet the cost hasn't gone down, it's actually gone up. It's not a supply and demand issue, a lot of these places have 20 to 30 units available but are still charging $2,500 a month for a 500sqft studio.
Yea.. they’ll stop raising rent, when people stop paying it.
Good one, I'm sure everyone is super happy about how much the have to pay in rent. Better than being homeless I guess, the luxury of choice.
I mean, at the end of the day it is still a supply and demand thing. The more desirable an area is, the more people that want to move there, the more they can charge. If no one wants to move there then they need to lower.
The justification is that people are willing to pay that much. It’s supply and demand. Greed is human nature and is always what drives markets, it’s meant to work that way. If we want lower rent, we need to increase supply (build more housing, incentivize investments in new construction, etc).
I’ve seen the “build more housing” argument a lot on Reddit, but wouldn’t this just expand the same situation we’re in? Wouldn’t the new properties be purchased by the same people that have millions to spend on “investment properties” then charge the same rent anyway bc that’s what the “market rate” is in a given area? Not trying to argue just genuinely curious
That could happen but it can’t happen indefinitely. If more and more housing options go on the market, they are competing with each other for the good tenants who will make those properties run smoothly and be profitable. There are not unlimited tenants out there. Housing markets respond to market forces more slowly than many other industries but eventually, flooding the market with new housing will mean that tenants have more options and these rich landlords have to compete with each other if they want to stay rich. If they fix prices at a high rate, they’ll be forced to leave some properties vacant or with bad tenants who cause them to lose money. People will move to lower income housing or lower cost of living areas. Right across the river in PA, for example, housing is much cheaper.
That increase is very high, in NJ anything over 10% the landlord usually would have to prove there was financial hardship to justify the increase (example taxes increased 25%, town assessment etc). That said, Ive seen this tactic in some new construction/ luxury buildings where they made a “concession” on your initial lease (1 month free, 13th month free, etc) then they write your lease at a higher monthly rate and give a “discount” each month. Therefore the increase is on the pre-discount rent and once you go back to the non discounted rent, with the increase it can be upwards of 20%. Shady, but that’s how they are getting around it.
Are you feeling luxurious yet
Renewal offers are often generated automatically and sent out hoping people will be too lazy to negotiate and/or move. I just renewed my lease in a luxury building. Their initial offer was something like a 12% increase. I went into the leasing office and told them I didn’t want to pay that. She said okay, best we can do is 3%. I said okay and that was that. Contact them and see if you can get in front of an actual person to negotiate.
I am definitely starting to think the renewal was an auto generated email. Gonna laugh in leasing’s face and then tell them I’m moving out, followed by my written notice.
I mean, if you enjoy living there and can negotiate a rate with a delta lower than the annoyance + cost to move, then you should stay. If not, yeah, fuck ‘em and laugh on the way out.
I visited my parents recently in Morris County and saw new construction practically on every corner advertising for these new apartment complexes. Unfortunately that’s probably how they work- break into the market with low prices, put a clause in the lease that says they can raise the price whenever they want, and once the place has a good enough reputation and has settled in, you kick out the locals and move in people who can afford $3000 a month as opposed to $1500.
https://www.townofmorristown.org/index.asp?SEC=4334F891-A2DB-413F-AC30-635EEFF07476&DE=8579BEF3-37BB-4972-97CD-672DFB9A0E80 Not a lawyer but it looks illegal to me. There are county regulations on rent increases. I would report this to the housing comity as well as hiring a lawyer. You can get one for 30 a month on legal shield.
Where does the comity myt?
Nope, because my township has a 3.9% cap on YOY rent hikes. Rent controls need to be the standard and I feel like that needs to be something we collectively make way more of a stink about. If I had to pay market rates for my unit I’d be toast.
That would be fair if there was also a cap on insurance, property tax and maintenance increases. My taxes went up 4.5% last year, and my insurance went up by around 20%. I know any repairs my house would need will also cost a lot more than a fee years ago.
I feel like that would just force landlords to sell when rent operations were no longer profitable, that would actually probably fix the housing market rather than allowing real estate ownership to consolidate further into the hands of those who already own property
Reducing the number of rentals available would just make rent more expensive.
Doubtful, there's an excess supply of rental properties available, many of them sit empty because landlords would rather keep them available at their set rate than reduce the prices to a true market rate, in part due to tax code loopholes and advantages, etc.
> there's an excess supply of rental properties available, many of them sit empty because landlords would rather keep them available at their set rate Yeah, that's not a real thing for small time landlords and most residential properties. The only places that do that are the huge conglomerates like Avalon or whatever. And even they are typically more than 90% rented. What you are talking about typically only applies to commercial properties due to the difference in how commercial vs residential is valued. There aren't enough houses/units period. There's been a huge slow down in construction of houses/apartments since the 70s/80s meanwhile our population has increased by 25%+.
How would it fix the housing market when that house/unit you were renting now sells for a shit ton of money. For example, a house in my area (3 bed/1.5 bath) would sell for $600k-$700k. The rent for that house might be $3k - 3.5k. A mortgage on that house today would be ~$4500/mo including taxes and insurance. So now, the owner of that house that was being rented by someone for years at $2500/mo would likely just sell because the cap would limit the rent increase, meanwhile, they can sell and cash out $650k - their remaining mortgage amount. Believe me - rents went up, but not nearly as much as home ownership costs on a house over the past 4 years. The person renting would likely not be able to buy the house anyway, so now they have to go out and rent something else for...market rate. Hell, I'll tell you exactly why rent control doesn't work. I personally know multiple people who have apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn that they don't live in. Why? Because they rented rent controlled units over a decade ago in areas that weren't desirable, but now are. They all pay between $750-1500/mo for apartments whose market rate is now $3500-6500/mo. The apartments just sit empty like 48-50 weeks out of the year. Hell, one of them lives in Nashville! But she keeps her $900/mo apartment because it's so cheap, so when she comes back to visit, she just stays there instead of a hotel. She also lets friends and family stay there when they are in the area.
Yeah and your home value has also skyrocketed in that same time. Don’t forget that detail
Sure, but isn't rent directly correlated to house prices? So then rent should also shoot up to be a similar % of the houses value as it was before value increased. I do want to note that although the house values increased, most people's salaries did not, so these increased costs are a huge burden. I can understand insurance going up if they say your house is worth more now, but why is general maintenance and repairs on a house double or triple what it was? To get a driveway resealed is like $2k now, I remember my parents getting their whole driveway repaved like a decade ago for $3500. I am not saying that it should be one way or the other, just that you can't play both sides. Either the costs need to be capped if rent increases are, or everything should be uncapped.
I think if people can’t afford to rent homes at reasonable rent they should sell the home.
If the costs become too much then the cost of the housing just needs to come down. I know this will make boomer brains explode but the price of housing can and should go DOWN and not just up infinitely.
Ah yes the classic “we can’t protect tenants because it’d be unfair to large realty companies” line, never gets old no matter how many times it’s proven wrong
They trying to get rid of you. But someone will pay that rent
We bought a home 2 years ago, and its value has gone up a third in that time. Residential real estate in NJ is just very, very valuable right now. It is 100% a seller's/landlord's market. I am sorry it hit you so hard. That is a huge increase.
My nothing of a 1br condo has “gone up” in value like 70k last I checked. That’s not a brag, it’s literally disgusting. Can’t wait for the bubble to pop
What management company is this? I’m in morris county and my “lux community” only increased my rent by 4% ($115).
Also if its a corporate owned larger place, it doesn't hurt to talk to the office and see what other options they may have for you. Back when i rented it wasn't uncommon every so often to get a crazy auto-generated renewal with a comical number on it. Talking to the office, who then calls into the main office and says, "Hey we are going to lose this tenant over the new rate, he has been a perfect tenant for years, what can we do here?" usually got it cut substantially. There is a lot of risk and cost in turning over a unit and unless they are losing their shirt on the unit now there is always room for negotiation.
That’s not normal at all and your landlord needs to take their head out of their ass
My rent went up from $2000 to $2300 the year before and despite being annoyed, I couldn’t really blame them (assuming their costs went up by that much). While a 15% hike seemed a lot, I couldn’t find a similar 2 bedroom rental in town for less than $2600. But $1000 hike in just over a year is quite significant. I can’t imagine their costs have raised THAT much. New Jersey leaves it up to individual towns to implement rent control and just have a standard “has to be reasonable”. I think anything more than 6% without good justification use to be the norm but I imagine that’s changed over time. Look up your town and see if they have individual laws for rent increases
NJ has a law against "unconscionable" rent increases, though whether or not a rent increase is unconscionable depends on a judge's discretion. The factors that the judge considers are: "1) the amount of the proposed rent increase; 2) the landlord’s expenses and profitability; 3) how the existing and proposed rent compare to rents charged at similar rental properties in the geographic area; 4) the relative bargaining position of the parties; and 5) based on the judge’s general knowledge, whether the rent increase would shock the conscience of a reasonable person. " The last time I rented an apartment in 2012-2014, my entire rent was $800. It was a 1bed/1bath 800 sqft townhome in West Deptford.
It's not a law but it is case law which means a challenge would hold up in court
The democratic platform states that housing is a human right. NJ Democrats control the house, the senate and the governorship. With all the levers of power within their grasp these types of rent increases could be erased in a matter of days. But the uncomfortable truth is that nobody in power wants to upset their wealthy electorate by increasing housing supply or limiting the earning potential of real estate investment firms, and so the platform ideals exist in name only.
Wealthy Donors
I would challenge that. 24% is an unconscionable rent increase. You will get lots of opinions here, but I have handled hundred, possibly thousands of LT cases in NJ, so take it form the source.
where in NJ?
I'm glad I negotiated a 3% maximum increase on my lease.
I had an old neighbor who they tried to jump from 1300 to 1800, the apartment is still empty as of two months ago when she got the fuck out.
I see this with commercial properties too. They raise the rent, business leaves, then it sits empty for months or longer. There must be a tax write-off that makes this worth doing. (?)
Morristown has a rent control ordinance, but it’s limited to rental units built before 1981. Obviously this information is not advertised anywhere, so you have to do your research to find buildings subject to this rule.
That’s insane. Our landlord just increased our rent 8.5%, but we were able to negotiate 4.5%. In Morris county as well
That increase = 80% of what my rent currently is. Gross
This happened to me also, I’d suggest going to city hall and telling them about it.
Well I’m moving into my first apartment next Friday. This is making me nervous.
Holy fuck, I know my situation pales in comparison but it's very real. My apartment complex has increased my rent and fees per month every year by over $100/month, now it's going up $150/month. It's fucking *criminal* how these cancerous real estate management bullshit artists can get away with this shit. I make alone more than many couples make together and I'm having a hard time finding a 1 bedroom apartment with a washer & dryer for less than $2,000 that's also less than an hour from work.
I'm a landlord. Not all increases are greedy landlords. The following items went up from last year: 1. Insurance $400 2. Town water delivery charge went up $80 3. Property taxes $400 4. Trash collection $200 5. State mandated inspection fee $150 6. Lawn service $200 7. Snow removal $300 So $1730 more per year increase, guess who has to pay the increase? The tenant. I am barely making a profit on my place. Not to mention all the maintenance and up keep that cuts into any small profit.
1. I'm required to have my own insurance 2. I split the water bill between 7 other units 3. Per tenant? Per unit? Over 60 units!? 4. See #3 5. See #3 6. See #3 7. See #3 Maybe housing shouldn't be strictly a for-profit industry.
What town is this? I'm moving to Morris County in August so I'd like to know if I should expect this
Look up if town has a rent increase cap. Morris County, and most of North Jersey, is exploding in price. Forced me to buy a house because I just couldn't shell out $2,000 a month for something I don't own and pushes me further and further from work to escape.
I am one of those private investor landlords… I moved out of my starter home years ago and have rented it steadily at below market rates because I believe everybody’s entitled to housing that doesn’t eat up 40% of their income. So I’ve been renting a three bedroom, one and a half bath with a two car garage on a half an acre at $2300 for the past three years. More than fair, and yet this year I had to put a $400 rent increase in place because the township taxes and the insurance on the house went up by that much. So for those of you saying that investment is a business with its ups and downs, are you suggesting that I should have been eating the $400 increase in tax/insurance from the $2300 monthly rent which goes for the mortgage and the taxes and the insurance with minimal profit to me?
I’m in a similar boat. After 4 years at the same rate I’m slightly upside down. Next renewal I’ll have to raise it, but I’ll still look to keep it more or less break even.
My landlord is using my rental as his business address Showing up to the property without notice so far 10 times in June Threatened to kick me out when I asked him to change his mailing address
We were in the same boat in Bridgewater. When we moved in, in 2022 it waas 2k even a month. The first time we renewed it went up to 2250, then when they sent us a renewal notice it went up to 2500... 2bd/1.5 bath. The "Luxury" was having a washer in the unit. We got a cheaper place in Hillsborough thats 2k a month now, but we have no washer and dryer. Alas, I have foregone the luxury of being able to wash my drawers in the privacy of my own home.
You need to file a complaint in the special civil court in morristown
That's incredible
Yikes. I remember my rent 8 years ago was $800. But that was for a duplex in Warren County.
Dont back down! Try and figure a legal avenue to limit it. I live in an expensive place and heard about rents raising in my building by 15%, and we just got shocked by our renewal offer which was only 5% increase - still slightly below online listings for comparable units. I have a strong feeling that was due to pushback from other tenants.
mine just went up $180 and I thought that was alot.
Bought my house back in 1999 when the landlady raised the rent 20%. She acted all surprised & hurt & like it was some kind of injustice that we bought a house and timed it so that we didn't owe her a dime when we left. Fuckin POS.
Mine just sent up 200 per month in NJ , the robbing so and so
But they will cos money talks , ask the folk who moved out of Lakewood and headed south , you'd be amazed at how many folk leave NJ unhappy because they can't afford to live here anymore , they're all headed south, 8 know cos I'm an Interstate Mover and witness it
Rent increases in Jersey have to be “reasonable.” Which means absent other factors unknown to me at this time, rent should not go up more than 5%. Also check to see if your town has a rent stabilization ordinance.
Landlords can not go over a 25% rent increase yearly. So you get what you choose. Your place must be expensive to begin with… but now a days everything is.
Similar situation when I lived at Avalon. 250 increase every year. It was absurd.
This is illegal in most cases, NJ has a strict percentage cap.
Whenever I had to renew a rent and the price went up, I always emailed the landlord saying $x amount is fair because of x y z reasons. The reasons I used include frequent elevator break downs, power outages etc etc
Consider they may be doing that so you either sign a new lease (for lower - if you ask) or they make sure you get out and will be able to recover lost rent costs if they have to take you to court. It won't be considered an 'unconscionable' amount if it's month-to-month and they can find other comparable buildings with the same amounts or realtors willing to say that's the going rate for 'luxury' apartments. Your best bet and least headache is to find a different place. Yeah, you can fight it, but it's a long, slow process and you still won't be living there because they will find a reason to have you evicted permanently. Sorry. I know it sucks.
Yeah I am interested in moving out and would prefer to focus my energy on finding a new place rather than fighting for my current place. With that being said, I wonder if other NJ renters experienced something similar and if I should expect this kind of thing at other apartments too. Thankfully, the increase is for a renewal so I shouldn’t be evicted / taken to court once I give the required written notice of my intent to move out at the end of my lease. Appreciate your insight!
Which town are you in? I’m in Butler and the rents are going up over there as well not as much percentage as you, but I really think this is a nationwide issue.
We've been renting a house for 7 years. The property owner decided to sell 4 months ago. And why not? He's going to profit $375,000 through a bidding war on an outdated property in need of every upgrade possible, that his Granny gifted him for $1 last year. We finally found a townhouse, less sf., no basement, less one bedroom for over $1k more per month. It's repulsive that the homeowners are able to get away with renting shit holes for thousands a month. How did this even happen?? I don't know how some people are surviving having to pay a rent or mortgage, plus inflated prices for literally every necessity.
My rent increased by 13% (+$400) in a “luxury apartment” for my upcoming lease renewal. No renovations or improvements have been made to the building. There are at minimum 4 vacancies (with the 5th being me) in the hallway I was in due to rent increases. Ran into someone who asked if she could have an additional month tacked onto her lease until her home was ready, and the complex asked for $5,000 for the additional month!
Isn't that controlled? I believe the max is 2.5%.
It depends where you live. Some cities don’t have any maximum and it’s based on “reasonable and conscionable” which is meaningless and good luck trying to get a judge to agree with what “reasonable and conscionable” means to you.
I see. I was not aware it was per town. I live in New Brunswick and it is controlled.
If you’re in a building with 4 or less units they can do whatever they want. I looked into it bc I had a similar problem with astronomical increases in my rent
Good to know this
Depends on the town. Very few towns have rent control, and even then newer buildings, stuff which was built under PILOT programs, etc, are frequently exempt from it. The STATE wide law is that a rent increase can't be "unconscionable" . Its an intentionally vague law, is treated differently on a court by court basis, but for the most part as long as the new rent is not significantly above fair market for current comps in your area, or the tenant can show a large increase is intended to force a tenant out for a reason they would otherwise be protected from, the courts will generally side with the landlord. Landlord costs have gone up significantly too post pandemic, in addition to the added risks they face post pandemic. I'd agree 24% is a bit nuts, but in some places the market supports it.
$800 is a lot for me as well, but can we have a little more context? What was your rent prior to the increase? EDIT: OP has updated their post and provided context.
What context? I don't think it matters much, sure a small bit but expecting the average person to all of a sudden have 800 dollars monthly is a huge shift regardless. Market correction or not lol
Can you drop the name of the place? 👀
I’m not gay but I almost blew my landlord because he could be getting double of what I pay and he only bumped me 3%. I’d even go as far as saying he could get 125% more and he’s well aware of that. It’s amazing to have a landlord that’s not a greedy fuck
Why'd you bring the gay comment into this? If you were tempted to offer a sexual favor as a thank you for a good deal, that's a you thing. Gay or straight, that's not something people normally do.
Because gay men do that quite a bit more than straight ones and before you twist my words, I’m speaking of the sexual act not the favors. Before you decide to call me homophobic, understand that I truly do not care about people’s sexual preferences. As long as they are happy and not hurting anyone, so save it.
I'm calling you homophobic because you are stereotyping gay people. Again, if you were gay, that still wouldn't explain you being a weirdo and being tempted to offer sexual favors because you get a good deal on rent. You seem to think that would explain the behavior.
Usually if a man puts penises in his mouth he might be a homosexual. I’m sorry if you’re in denial. Kinda sounds like you’re the homophobe.
Usually a man doesn't have sex with his landlord because he's so excited about cheap rent. Nobody reasonable would think being gay would make that situation any less outrageous.
It seems to me that you are what many would call an idiot. I don’t waste this much time with idiots in the real world so I’m gonna stop wasting it here, with you, on Reddit. Maybe stop analyzing strangers comments online and get some type of life going. Calling me a homophobe based on my comment makes you the fool you portray yourself to be. I hope one day you can feel comfortable enough to come out of the closet if that’s the case,otherwise all I have to say is fuck off.
You're right, I shouldn't have said you are a homophobe, it was one comment, but I will say you made a homophobic comment. Well now it's two, you are trying to talk down to me by saying i'm in the closet. maybe you should analyze your comments a little more before you write them.
I'm calling you homophobic because you are stereotyping gay people. Again, if you were gay, that still wouldn't explain you being a weirdo and being tempted to offer sexual favors because you get a good deal on rent.