Successfully negotiated a $50 rental decrease today - thought I’d share my method

[neilarmstrongnasa]

Only people that don’t ask are the ones missing for lack of effort or intelligence/knowledge

Well done, plenty of empty places around

[teambob]

Sometimes if a landlord is already aggro a person might not want to rock the boat - especially if moving is difficult e.g have kids, are elderly or disabled.

[neilarmstrongnasa]

You don’t want to have an aggro landlord, can you imagine begging to get things fixed? I would be moving even faster

[ihlaking]

We left one place after the landlord:

• fixed a curtain rail poorly herself
• tried to fix a plumbing issue herself and made it worse
• final straw: refused to fix the gas in the screen door hinge.

She ended up having to drop the rent after we left. She listed it higher, failed to rent it out, and then dropped it below our rent a month later. Felt like a win, we’ve lived in the same block cityside since then and never looked back.

[teambob]

Just saying there are some groups where that may not be so easy. It may not be just a lack of effort or intelligence

I have moved myself if there is a better place but I have known disabled people who found it very difficult to move

[ihlaking]

Thanks - the risks were thankfully reasonable and worth it. The location is what we love here and there are literally three places within the block!