Owning rental property got more expensive this year. Property tax, maintenance, utilities and insurance are all up. In one industry roundup of rising ownership costs, property tax topped the list, affecting 60% of owners. The natural reflex is to pass some of it on: raise the rent.
Some landlords are going the other way. In Avail's 2026 survey of independent landlords, 18% had committed to not raising rent at all. And in Hemlane's 2026 owner report, 42% of rental owners named tenant turnover as their single biggest challenge, ahead of everything else.
Both instincts have a point. But neither is a policy. The answer for your unit and your tenant comes from a simple sum that most landlords never do: what one move-out actually costs you.
The maths on one move-out
Take a unit let at 1,000 a month and a 3% increase. That is 30 more a month, or 360 a year. Now suppose the increase is the last straw and the tenant gives notice. Before a single shilling, pound or dollar of new rent comes in, you pay for:
- The empty month. Finding, vetting and moving in a new tenant rarely takes less. That is 1,000.
- Getting the unit ready. Cleaning, a coat of paint, the small repairs you would have left for a sitting tenant. Say 400.
- Finding the next tenant. A letting fee of half a month's rent, or the equivalent in advertising and your time. Another 500.
One increase vs one move-out
A 3% increase on 1,000 a month
If the tenant stays
+360
a year (30 a month)
If the tenant leaves
−1,900
once, before any new rent comes in
- One month empty 1,000
- Cleaning, paint, small repairs 400
- Letting fee or advertising 500
5.3 years
of that increase to earn back a single move-out
That is roughly 1,900 gone in one move-out, more than five years of the increase that caused it. And that is the tidy version. It leaves out the rent you might have to drop to fill the unit quickly, the deposit dispute that drags on for weeks, and the risk that the next tenant is worse than the last.
Run your own numbers
Your figures will be different. A unit in high demand might fill in a week; a large house might sit for two months. Put in your own rent and costs and see how long an increase takes to pay for a single move-out.
Run your own numbers
Is the increase worth the risk?
Increase earns a year
+360
One move-out costs
−1,900
Years to earn it back
5.3
If the increase makes this tenant leave, it takes years to come out ahead. Make sure it is explained, fair and expected.
If the answer is more than two or three years, the increase is only worth it if the tenant stays. That does not mean you should not raise the rent. It means how you raise it matters as much as how much.
Why good tenants actually leave
Very few good tenants leave over the increase alone. They leave because the increase lands on top of something else that has been building up. The rent is just the moment they decide to act on it.
The last straw
The increase is rarely the only reason
01
The repair that took three weeks
Not the leak itself, but the silence while it dripped.
02
The increase that arrived as a surprise
A letter with a new number and no reason feels like a push.
03
Nobody to talk to
Messages that go unanswered, or answered by someone who can't decide anything.
04
Fear about the deposit
If they don't trust your records, they assume the worst at move-out.
Being able to reach a real person matters more than most landlords think. In research commissioned by HappyCo across North America, 82% of residents wanted to deal with a person first when something urgent went wrong. Residents with access to human support were 11 percentage points more likely to renew their lease than those where an automated channel was the main way to get help.
None of these reasons costs much to fix. A repair answered the same day, a reply that says "we're on it, the plumber comes Thursday", a deposit record the tenant can see. These are the things that make an increase feel fair instead of feeling like the last straw.
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Start free trial →How to raise rent and keep the tenant
The landlords who raise rent without losing people tend to follow the same pattern. They treat the increase as a conversation, not an announcement.
A fair increase, step by step
How to raise rent and keep the tenant
A few months before
Check the relationship
Any open repairs or unanswered messages? Fix those first.
Before the notice deadline
Have the conversation
Explain the increase and what drives it: tax, insurance, upkeep.
On time, in writing
Send the notice
The new amount, the date it starts, and who to call with questions.
Afterwards
Record it
The date, the amount and what was agreed, so nobody argues about it later.
The step most people skip is the first one. Before you send any increase, look at the tenant's side of the relationship. Is there an open repair? A message that never got a reply? Clear those first. An increase that arrives the week after a leak is fixed reads very differently from one that arrives while it is still dripping.
The step most people forget is the last one. Write down what was agreed, when, and at what amount. When the next review comes round, or the tenant moves out and the deposit is settled, you want a record, not two people's memories.
When an increase is still the right call
None of this is an argument for freezing rents forever. If your rent is well below the market, if your costs genuinely rose, or if the unit is in demand and would fill in days, a fair increase is reasonable and most good tenants will accept one. Undercharging for years only makes the eventual catch-up bigger and harder to explain.
The point is to price in turnover before you decide. Know what a move-out would cost you. Know whether this tenant is likely to stay. Then pick an increase that is worth the risk and explain it well. Our earlier post on the real reason landlords miss rent payments covers the other half of the same idea: most lost income is a systems problem, not a tenant problem.
The cheapest tenant you will ever have is the good one you already have. Keeping them is not about never raising the rent. It is about making sure the increase is the only thing they have to think about.