In what cases are rents raised? What should you do if your apartment rent increases? A detailed overview of possible ways to protect against increased payment, protecting your rights in court Why do they raise rent?

Lease relationships, the most common since ancient times, require attention and accuracy when concluding a contract. Difficulties and controversial situations most often arise because the procedure for increasing rent is not carefully negotiated. The right to change the rent belongs to the lessor in accordance with paragraph. In this case, the obligatory conditions are:

agreement of the parties (most often concerns the timing of changes to the contract),
conditions for changing the order (the lessor’s unilateral decision to change the rental amount may require written notification),
terms no more than once a year, unless there are other conditions.

In conditions of the need to increase rent, for example, a sharp jump in inflation, the lessor begins the process of changing contractual requirements. A unilateral order of this change is quite possible. The absence of a clause on mandatory notification of the tenant leads to misunderstandings that can be resolved in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art., which states that the form of the lease agreement and agreement must comply with and go through the registration procedure with local authorities. The rent increase assumes the following:

written notice to the tenant at least one month before the deadline for changing the lease; sent as registered or handed over personally against signature;
drawing up an additional agreement, which must indicate the clauses of the agreement that are no longer in force and make detailed changes;
Even if there are no clauses in the contract providing for changes in rent, in accordance with the law, the lessor can unilaterally increase it.

On the part of the tenant, the justification for increasing the rent can be enshrined in the agreement itself. While indicating that the rent may change in the event of inflation, it is not always possible to increase it. Clarification of the type: subject to change, guaranteed change without fail (Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated April 13, 2010 No. 1074/10).

The basis for changing the fixed amount of rent can only be objective circumstances. The reasons for increasing rent include: a change in the estimated value of the leased property due to changes in legislation, an increase in market value determined by the appraiser, and a change in the inflation index.

In the world of market relations, when the seller wants to sell at a higher price and the buyer wants to buy at a lower price, controversial issues can be avoided exclusively by a reasoned, legally and economically accurately drawn up contract. The contract period usually does not exceed 11 months.

Perhaps legal advice from an experienced specialist on changing the standard agreement will save both parties from resolving disputes in court.

It's no secret that for many new entrepreneurs, rent becomes one of the most significant expenses. Be it an office, warehouse, retail or industrial premises. To increase the efficiency of your own business, it makes sense to try to reduce the cost of rent. It is almost impossible to do this without special knowledge, so below are tips that will help you achieve success for sure.

By the way, we have already written articles about that and. Now let's move on to rent reductions.

Conclude a mutually beneficial agreement

The subject of the agreement may not necessarily be only a lease. The benefit to the landlord may include intangible benefits. For example, if he is the owner of a large hotel and rents out premises on its territory for a fitness center, then the payment may be to receive guests. In this case, neither the guest nor the hotel owner will owe the tenant anything. Many will ask, how is this beneficial to the landlord? It's simple. He offers his clients additional service without spending virtually any money on it.

Pay attention to industrial and idle areas

The point here is to get a good room at a low price. It’s not a fact that the profit there will be high, but the rent is significantly less. What can you do in this case? Offer the owner of the idle space to bear part of his costs. This refers to funds to pay bills for light, water, and electricity. Additionally, you can carry out repairs at your own expense. Thus, both the landlord will receive additional profit and the tenant will receive undoubted benefits.

The alternative is the engine of negotiations

To provoke the landlord to reduce the rental price, you need to act not by persuasion, but by actions. Knowledge of the average cost on the market can be used. One more excellent option there will be availability of alternative premises. You need to let the landlord know that the potential tenant has other offices in mind. But it is very important to influence the owner of the premises very subtly. Blackmail will not help in such matters. Having an alternative for the tenant will be a great way to find the most profitable premises.

Find out about the landlord's wishes

The cost of rent is not the only factor that is important for the owner of the premises. To enter into price negotiations with him, it is worth finding out what is really important to him. There are many options here. Here are the most popular:

timeliness of payments;
rental duration;
the ability to pay rent several months in advance;
carrying out repairs at the expense of the tenant;
use of your own furniture and equipment.

Many consider these factors to be insignificant, but in fact it turns out that fulfilling at least a few requirements from the list will significantly reduce the price (sometimes the final cost can be reduced by even 40%).

Don't pay for the premises, take care of the premises!

For many, this idea seems absurd. In fact, it may actually work. It may just take a little longer to find a suitable option. There are plenty of examples. Sometimes entrepreneurs leave for some time to another country or city, and retail space remain unused. At the same time, payment for electricity, property tax, alarm system, etc. - all this falls on the shoulders of the owner. For many of them, it is much more profitable in this case to shift their obligations to another person. There is often no time to look for those who would also pay for it. At such moments, enterprising tenants appear and get excellent premises. Sometimes they are also paid extra for this.

Working with the right people

If a person knows how to build business relationships correctly, then he can easily agree on the provision of services to him. At the same time, it will be beneficial to both parties at the same time. Does this seem impossible? Here is just one example of such interaction. A large holding needs its own web studio. A room is allocated for her. At the same time, you don’t need to do work inside the company very often. This type of interaction is an excellent alternative for the tenant and the landlord.

Let's be tough

If no methods or persuasion work, you can move on to more aggressive tactics. In this case, we mean nitpicking regarding the premises and its condition. This strategy is best used in the very first stages. Completely different little things can come into play. Here are some examples:

lack of internet;
the windows exit on the wrong side;
lack of parking or parking nearby;
poor condition of the premises (need to make repairs).

But here it is very important to take into account the psychological factor. You can't bend it. It is worth monitoring the landlord's reaction. We must not forget that after concluding the contract, you will still need to work with him.

Business Features as a Factor in Rental Cost Reduction

When talking with the landlord, you can resort to using additional arguments:

Low profitability

If the opening store has a low level of markup, then the profit itself will not be large. For a landlord, this can be a weighty argument when making a decision.

The crisis spares no one

It would not be amiss to mention the crisis situation in the country. It’s worth stocking up on arguments and providing real figures on the fall in the value of the ruble against foreign currencies. Imported goods in Russia have become significantly more expensive. As a result, demand for them has decreased, which reduces the entrepreneur’s ability to make high profits.

Talking means doing

If an entrepreneur talks about terminating the contract as soon as possible, then he must clearly demonstrate his readiness. The presence of a corresponding letter will be an excellent motivation for the landlord to reconsider his requirements.

Many people treat “nameless” advice with great distrust, considering them only a theoretical part of the issue. That is why below are several opinions of people who are familiar with the practical side of rental relations.

Sergey Abdulmanov, Dmitry Kibkalo and Dmitry Borisov

Founders and directors of the Mosigra company, authors of the book. They have opened many retail outlets and know how to bargain with landlords like no one else. They talked about this in their book and we will write their recommendations below.

Bargaining is always appropriate! This is one of the basic principles of any business. “If you don’t bargain, tear your hands off! Figuratively." They don’t take money for asking. If everyone always pays as much as they ask, then there will be absolutely nothing left for themselves. Almost any offer implies that the person is willing to give in at least a little on price.

1. For example, consider a room for 500 rubles. per month. But we understand that more than 250 tr. we can't pay for it. Therefore, we give an answer to the proposal: “Guys, let’s give you 250 tr. and we’ll stop by tomorrow?” And this is a joy for everyone, because it is better to have a tenant who pays at least something right now than to have no one at all. True, they can say: “Agreed! But if we find a tenant who is more expensive, then you move out.” It’s still worth trying, because the room can stand like this for years and no one will rent it.

2. Bargain early! Every year, or even more often, the tenant tries to raise the rent by at least 10%. Always like this! We noticed this pattern and a couple of weeks earlier we send a request to reduce the rent. As a result, in the worst case, the price remains the same, in the best, the price is reduced.

Alexey Baranov

The General Director of the Retail Relations company has extensive experience in the retail business, namely in the fashion industry. Here's what he thinks about reducing rent payments.

In order for communication with the landlord to be effective, it is important to understand how pricing is set in shopping centers. They all set their own rate of return, which helps predict the payback period of the object. It could be 5, 7, or 10 years.

When drawing up their own business plan, stores pay attention to the following factors:

attractiveness of location;
the amount of investment and the conditions under which they were attracted to the project;
favorable infrastructure of the area;
level of pedestrian traffic.

The more positive factors, the faster the project will pay off due to higher rental rates.

Any developer has a rent price corridor beyond which it will be unprofitable for him to go. When starting negotiations, shopping center owners usually name the most high price. Reducing it is not easy for retailers. And yet, it is possible to do this. You need to follow the following plan:

First you need to study the areas of work of existing tenants. It is important that the store fits harmoniously into their list.
You need to choose this one shopping mall, in which the tenant will be wanted. Ultimately, this will significantly reduce rental costs. Otherwise, it will be almost impossible to do this.

The question immediately arises: how to become attractive to a landlord? It is necessary to influence it using the following methods:

It is important to convince the landlord that the entrepreneur provides a quality service or product. For clarity, it is worth making a detailed presentation, providing product samples, talking about your features, your relationship to a specific social segment, and expressing your position.
Drawing up a business plan. Moreover, it must be made for a specific shopping center. It's not that difficult to do. First you need to draw up a general business plan, including income and expenses. And only then adjust the received data in accordance with rental rates. In this case, you can make several business plans at once, taking into account different sizes of rental costs.
Suggest setting the rental amount as a percentage of the store's turnover. A well-written business plan will help predict income and convince the landlord of the effectiveness of such a solution. In this case, the size is usually set from 18% to 30%. At the same time, the upper indicator is quite large and difficult to work with. This will help avoid indexation of the rental price, because this is the method of increasing the price that is used for a fixed rental amount.
Prove that the rent is too high. This must be done using facts and figures. This will instill much more confidence in the tenant.

There is one more important point. It refers to a situation where the tenant wants to reduce the rental rate, already having a lease agreement in hand. In such cases, it is necessary to inform the owner of the premises about your intentions and desires in advance. At the same time, it is very important to operate with live figures of your store’s performance. In this case, you can appeal:

the size of the shopping center traffic;
average check;
number of visitors;
the ratio of rental cost and profitability.

It is very important to prove that at the established rental rate the store cannot make a net profit. This way, you can convince the landlord to change the fixed amount to a percentage of the entire turnover, which will be a more profitable and flexible solution for the entrepreneur.

Olga Shtoda

Director of Development and Marketing at BlackStone Keeping Company. Her expert opinion is on how conscientious landlords can avoid manipulation by tenants.

Tenants are not always honest with landlords. Naturally there are objective reasons, as a result of which a reduction in rent is quite natural. But there is another side to the coin. Some not very conscientious entrepreneurs are trying to put pressure on pity, thereby wanting to reduce the rental rate. They start saying that everything is bad for them.

To avoid such cases you can:

Provide a large waiting list.
Increase tenant loyalty. This can be done by establishing not only partnerships, but also trusting friendships. In such cases, working in an informal setting will be a great way to strengthen interaction. It is such long-term measures that provide the maximum effect from cooperation. A person who is loyal to the landlord will not come up with fictitious reasons that should help him reduce the rent. He will not manipulate his partner. A loyal tenant is a reliable partner who will prove more than once that friendship helps strengthen trust and mutually beneficial relationships.

What does the law say about rental relations?

If we talk about the law, we need to discuss several important issues at once. Firstly, on the procedure for changing the amount of rent and the legality of the actions taken. Referring to the law, the following can be stated:

According to paragraph 1 of article 614 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation , the conditions, procedure and deadlines for paying rent must be specified in the contract.
If the agreement does not say anything about making changes to the contract, then the rental rate can be changed based on the consent of both parties no more than once per year. It's set paragraph 3 of article 614 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation .
Minimum terms may be slightly different for certain types of leases and properties.
You can change the rental price more than once a year if both parties agree to it. However, the presence of such a clause in the contract is not necessary. The basis will be Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 73 of November 17, 2011 .
If the lessor himself can change the rental price on the basis of law or agreement, then he does not have the right to do this more than once a year.

There are a number of situations in which a tenant can initiate a unilateral reduction in the rental rate. It will be legal to perform such actions in the following cases:

If the condition of the property has significantly deteriorated through no fault of the tenant and due to factors for which he is not responsible. This is provided paragraph 4 of article 614 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation . This may include the actions of the property owner himself, third parties, or circumstances beyond the control of others. These are various fires, floods and other situations.
If the tenant has identified serious defects in the premises, the owner of the property is responsible for them. This fact is established in paragraph 1 of article 612 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation .
If during the rental period it turns out that there are third parties who can lay claim to the leased property.
If the landlord has failed or seriously breached his obligations regarding major repairs to the premises. This is enshrined in paragraph 1 of article 616 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation .

Secondly, concept of rental holidays.

Here's how things stand with them:

Speaking from a practical point of view, a rental holiday refers to a period of time when the tenant pays significantly less for rent than in other periods. Sometimes he is exempt from paying completely.

In this case, the landlord receives the premises for use, but cannot actually work on the premises for a certain period. The reasons may be:

carrying out repair work;
arrangement of premises;
direct transfer.

According to the acceptance certificate, the premises are transferred to the lessor, but he does not make payments during this period or does so in a significantly smaller amount.

Often, a rental holiday is a period when the rental rate is reduced by the amount of expenses incurred by the tenant to carry out repairs on the premises. In fact, calling it a rental holiday is not entirely correct. It's about on making rental payments for part of the period in the form of costs to improve the condition of the rental premises. It's set subparagraph 5 of paragraph 2 of Article 614 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation .

The duration of rental holidays in most cases varies from 1 month to six months. In some cases, the duration can be reduced or increased.

Rental holidays are one of the conditions of the lease agreement. The use of property during this period is not a sign of gratuitous use under a loan agreement, according to Article 689 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation . In such cases, no other relationship is concluded between the parties, unless a loan agreement is additionally concluded. For the rest of the period of use of the premises, the tenant must pay the amounts established by the lease agreement as long as the property is suitable for use.

We write a letter to the landlord

Facts that can be used when writing a letter to the landlord

When writing a letter about rent reduction, you need to provide arguments in your favor. Here you can operate with the following circumstances:

There has been a significant decrease in rental rates throughout the region (the reason for this may be changes in legislative acts, a crisis situation, etc.).
Serious problems have arisen (with the heating system, water or electricity supply, ventilation), to eliminate which additional funds are needed.
The landlord did not make major repairs to the premises, but this is his responsibility, according to Article 616 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

You can also report the difficulties of the tenant himself (decrease in profits, seasonal fluctuations or any other temporary difficulties). They relate to objective circumstances.

Before writing a letter to the landlord, it is worth assessing the situation at the enterprise, identifying difficulties and documenting them in the letter.

Examples of letters to the landlord about rent reduction

Sample No. 1

Dear Afanasy Petrovich,

Due to the crisis situation in the country, we are faced with financial difficulties. Therefore, we have this moment There is no way to pay the rent in full. We ask you to consider reducing the rental rate for a while.

Sincerely,

Gerasim Alekseevich

Sample No. 2

Dear Afanasy Petrovich,

Over the course of many years of cooperation with you, Slavyanka LLC has always fulfilled its obligations under the Lease Agreement on time. The unstable economic situation in the country has negatively affected the financial condition of our company. We ask you to reduce the rental rate.

We hope that you will come to our position and make concessions. We give an obligation to pay rent on time.

Sincerely,

Gerasim Alekseevich

Sample No. 3

Dear Afanasy Petrovich,

Due to the difficult situation in the country and the sharp decline in purchasing power, we ask you to reduce the rental rate by 8%.

Please note that our organization has never delayed payments and deposited funds on time. If you put yourself in our position and agree to reduce the rent, we guarantee that we will fulfill all obligations in a timely manner, regardless of the severe crisis situation.

Sincerely,

Gerasim Alekseevich

Sample No. 4

Dear Afanasy Petrovich,

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that due to the crisis situation in the country, it is unprofitable for us to implement clause No. 6 of Treaty No. 814. We ask you to change the rent amount.

We hope for your understanding and are waiting for proposals regarding the rental rate.

Sincerely,

Gerasim Alekseevich

Conclusion

These are the ways entrepreneurs offer us to reduce rent. As you can see, you can and even need to bargain. This way you will save money, which will clearly be used in your business. If you have any questions, write them in the comments.

Every tenant runs the risk of finding themselves in a situation where the landlord increases the rent. It is not always clear how to act correctly in such a case and how the tenant should behave. In this article we will tell you in detail what a tenant needs to do in this situation and how to avoid eviction.

○ They increase the rent, the apartment is rented without a contract.

If upon check-in rented apartment a written contract has not been drawn up, this gives certain freedom to each party to the transaction. Thus, the landlord has the right not only to increase the rent, but also to change the timing of its payment. If disputes arise in such a situation, it is only possible to reach an agreement through negotiations, because the owner of the apartment can evict if he refuses.

○ They increase the rent, the apartment is rented under a contract.

✔ Unilateral payment increase.

If the possibility of an increase is not specified in the contract, the owner cannot increase it without the consent of the lessor.

“Unless otherwise provided by the contract, the amount of rent may be changed by agreement of the parties within the time frame stipulated by the contract, but not more than once a year. The law may provide for other minimum terms for reviewing the amount of rent for certain types of lease, as well as for the lease of certain types of property (clause 3 of Article 614 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).”

However, it should be taken into account that in this case there are also restrictions for the lessor. Thus, if the contract states that payment is made in hard currency, the owner cannot establish the payment procedure based on other conditions.

In this case, the tenant has the right to refuse such an increase and this will not be grounds for termination of the agreement.

✔ How can a landlord increase payment?

Legally and if there is a concluded agreement, the owner can increase the rent in one of the following ways:

Obtain the consent of the tenant and formalize the agreement reached in writing. The peculiarity of this method is the need to obtain consent, without which it is impossible to draw up a document regulating changes in payment.
Provide in the agreement upon its conclusion the possibility of a unilateral increase from a certain date. In this case, the tenant’s consent is not required, but it is necessary to send him a notice of planned changes in payment. In this case, the notice must indicate after what period the payment amount will be considered changed. If you skip this point, the size will be considered changed from the moment the notification is received.
Include in the agreement a clause regarding an automatic increase in fees after one calendar year of rent. There is no need to notify the tenant here, but the condition should be formulated as clearly as possible.

If the tenant does not agree with such an increase, he can challenge it by filing a claim in court. Refusal to increase cannot be grounds for eviction.

○ How to protect yourself from increased pay.

To avoid rent increases, the tenant must carefully read all the clauses of the contract when signing it. It is also important to discuss any controversial issues that may cause conflicts in the future.

But it should be borne in mind that if the contract does not indicate the possibility of changing the amount of rent, the landlord does not have the right to increase it without the consent of the tenant. If the owner still insists, then in this case you can protect your rights by filing a claim to invalidate the changes in payment in the agreement. In this case, it is necessary to attach a challenge to the market value report prepared by the lessor.

However, one should be prepared for the fact that if the reality of changes in market value is recognized, the requirement for an increase in payment will be satisfied.

○ The landlord evicts for refusing to increase the rent.

The owner of the apartment can do this without permission only in the absence of a rental agreement. If there is an agreement, only the employer can terminate it early. The owner must contact the judicial authorities for this. Therefore, refusal to pay a large amount cannot be considered grounds for termination of the contract and eviction from the apartment without an appropriate court decision.

The employer can also go to court on the basis of the owner’s failure to comply with the obligations stipulated by the agreement.

Therefore, utmost care and caution should be exercised when entering into a lease agreement. In this case, it is especially important to take into account the owner’s ability to increase the rent.