My landlord asked me today (via email) whether we plan to stay in the apartment and sign another lease in September. He mentioned there may be a small rent increase. He did not tell me what "small" means, although I suspect it will be $100 or less (current rent - $1600/mo).
I do not plan on moving even if the rent increases. What I am interested in is whether there is something I can negotiate for in return. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of options that could be used as negotiating points are not available to me:
- I already have a parking spot, there are 3 total in back and 3 units, so I doubt he would give me a second spot.
- Laundry is coin op in the basement and shared between all 3 units. There is nowhere in my unit where a washer/dryer could go.
- Unit was completely renovated prior to my moving in, so all the appliances are new and in good condition
- The apartment itself is also in good condition, only minor wear and tear from the 3 years I have lived here.
The answers in How does one effectively negotiate rent? are similar but the question is geared towards moving into a new place, as opposed to my situation which is a rent increase in an apartment that I have lived in for 3 years.
The only thing I can think of is increased snow removal. Right now the landlord pays someone to shovel part of the driveway, but not enough to get any cars out. The tenants have to do the rest, and it has caused conflict in the past. If I could get the LL to agree to shovel the entire driveway each time it snows (maybe 4-6x/year), that would work well. It would probably cost him an extra $30-50 per snowfall to shovel the entire driveway (I live in the Boston area).
In this situation what other items might I negotiate for?