Once my friend moved in, she had the power. Here is how she did it:
- She moved into a bachelor apartment, $2200 per month.
- On her second month, she called up her landlord and told him that she was going to lower her rent down by $1000. He refused. She said “see you in court then” and hung up.
- She stopped paying rent to this landlord.
- For 2 months, he calls her crying and screaming, saying that she must pay rent to him. How his mortgage costs have gone up and that she must pay this high rent. My friend simply refused and didn't pay him anything.
- 3 months later, landlord sends her an email, but my friend tells him to hire a lawyer. He emails back saying he can't afford a lawyer because she hasn't been paying rent.
- Again, my friend offers to negotiate a new contract for $1200 per month.
- They negotiate up to $1400 per month. She signed the new contract in person with her landlord and filmed him signing it.
Now she has cheap rent. She successfully negotiated a rent increase, just in reverse. The landlord only had power over her if she believed he did. She simply did not pay and negotiated him down from her position of strength. The landlord had no money and was so underwater he couldn't afford a lawyer to fight out a legal battle with her. That's how she negotiated down. And this is totally reasonable. Rental prices should be able to be negotiated, and the landlord would have done the same thing to my friend all the time if he was in that position, it's just in reverse. Rent increases, rent decreases. All fair game.