Rent Increase

Hi,


Can anybody advise what the avarage percentage is on rent increases over the past 2 years?


Is there such a figure?


Thanks in advance!

Hi,

I don't think there is such a figure! It depends on the flat, the location, and the landlord. For example I know of someone whose landlord recently wanted to put his rent up from 38K to around 50K, but after negotiation he agreed to 42K with extensive renovations. If you have a good relationship with your landlord you should hopefully be able to persuade him/her to only increase a little bit - but if the property is in a sought-after area it could be more difficult.

Hong Kong tenants did have that kind of protection until July 2004! Probably a lot of people didn't know - I didn't - but there were only limited ways a landlord could get a tenant out, and if the tenant thought the rent increase was too much he could go to a rent tribunal. But with any tenancy agreement that's come into effect since 9 July 2004, the agreement just ends when it ends and the landlord can put the rent up as much as he likes.


My advice would be, don't try to force the landlord into too small an increase. It has to be the market rate otherwise he will just insist that you leave and he gets another tenant. If you offer a reasonable rent, there's a good chance that he'll keep you on rather than go through the inconvenience and expense of finding another tenant. If you're feeling brave you might point out to him that, if you leave, he will probably have to spend money on a) advertising, b) agency commission, and c) redecorating, plus of course the flat could sit empty for a while generating no income.

Good old Sino put their rents up double in GC.


What i DON"T understand is why a landlord would rather have a property sit empty for x number of months when he could take a perfectly good tenant at a lower rate and not hgave the property sitting empty.

Because they have enough money not to care if it's rented out or not, and if they don't have a tenant they don't have to do any renovation. They're only prepared to pay for redecoration if they have a tenant paying the right price, otherwise they're happy to leave it empty. The flat itself, after all, is still worth the same amount of money regardless of its internal condition.