12 Terms You Should Always Negotiate Before Signing a Lease for a Home

When renting a place, it’s important not to be fooled into thinking landlords hold all the power. It’s true that they have a place to live and that you need a place to live, which appears to give them the advantage. But landlords need solid, reliable tenants who will pay their rent on time and not cause trouble. That means potential landlords need you—the mature, reliable tenant—almost as much as you need them.

In other words, you have more leverage than you think, and you should use that leverage to negotiate the terms of a lease before you sign it. Below, I’ve highlighted 12 details in most any lease that you should try to change in your favor when considering a rental. You might not succeed in getting all (or any) of these concessions, but it’s always worth trying.

Rent

The most obvious thing to negotiate is the amount of rent you’ll be paying. Landlords set the rent based on what they think they can get for a place, but they may be willing to drop the price if you give them a good reason. Points to bring up in your favor:

• The market. Look at comparable rents in the area—including other units in the same building. If those rents are lower across the board, use that to argue for a lower rent.

• Vacancies. If the building has a lot of empty units, use that to your advantage—the landlord may be more desperate for income than they’re letting on.

• Your own worth as a tenant. If you’ve got references from prior landlords, a great credit report, and deep roots in the area, you’re exactly the kind of tenant they want, so they might be willing to get you into their building with a break on the rent.

• Advanced rent. Offering to pay some months of rent in advance means stability and less work for the landlord, and it might be worth a drop in the rent.

Security deposit

Security deposits act as insurance for the landlord—if you damage the property or try to skip out on your rent, they can cover their losses using them. While there are usually laws governing the maximum amount a landlord can demand, how those funds are handled during your tenancy, and the process of getting the money back when you move out, landlords don’t have to demand a security deposit at all, and they can choose to require a smaller one. If you have a great rental history filled with glowing references, ask your potential landlord to reduce the amount they want for a security deposit—or even waive it altogether.

Length of tenancy

Typically, residential leases have a 12-month term, after which they need to be renewed or convert automatically to month-to-month. But if you’re pretty sure you’re going to want to stay in a rental for the longer term, you can negotiate a longer time period—18 months, or even two years. There are advantages that come along with a longer term on the lease:

• A sense of permanence and stability. Since you won’t have to start looking for a new apartment in a year, you can put down some roots.

• Reduced costs. You won’t need to budget for hiring movers or pay other costs involved with apartment hunting, like application fees, should you experience an unexpected rent hike.

• Stable (lower?) rent. A longer lease can lock in your current rent, avoiding automatic annual increases. You can even argue that since you’re sparing your landlord the trouble of finding a new tenant next year, you should get a break on the rent right now.

Appliances

Apartments typically come with the basic appliances like a fridge and a stove, and may include dishwashers, laundry machines, or other features. If the ones in the apartment are a little old, you can ask the landlord to replace them. If you have your own (maybe nicer) ones, you can negotiate to have the existing ones removed during your tenancy.

This can also be part of your overall rent negotiation. If the landlord is asking for a rent that scrapes the top of the market, pointing out that the appliances are old and probably not working well might result in either a lower rent or new appliances. Either way, it’s a win.

Upgrades and repairs

If you notice things in the apartment that are broken, worn-out, or in need of repair, this can be part of your ask when you negotiate the lease. Every broken item or fixture can be a reason to reduce the rent—and thus might inspire the landlord to agree to replace or repair it. And worn-out carpets, scuffed paint, and other aesthetic elements in the apartment can lower its overall value, also justifying a lower rent.

Additionally, you can negotiate how much you can change the apartment yourself. The clblockic move is to negotiate a small break in the rent or security deposit in exchange for painting the whole apartment—the free labor benefits the landlord, but you also get a fresh, clean space to call your own. You can also negotiate permission to change things like cabinet pulls, door hardware, and window treatments that might otherwise get you into trouble.

And when it comes to upgrades, what about a whole-unit upgrade? If there are larger, recently renovated, or better-located units in the building or complex, a lease renewal negotiation is an opportunity to snag one. If the rent is going up, ask if you can switch to a unit that’s in better shape or located in a better spot—that shift from overlooking the noisy street to overlooking the quiet garden in the back might make that rent increase sting a lot less.

Cleaning obligations

It’s generally understood that you’re responsible for cleaning your apartment. But you can ask your landlord to pay for a cleaning service, and it might be in their best interests to do it. You’ll probably never do as good a job cleaning as a professional, and having a service come in regularly will keep their property in tip-top shape. It won’t hurt to suggest this when you’re going back and forth over a lease agreement.

Parking

Is parking available for a price? See if you can get a discount, get a spot thrown in for free, or get an additional spot for a reduced price (or for free). Parking is valuable, but sometimes apartment complexes have more spaces than tenants who need them, so getting this might be easier than you think.

Amenities

Landlords often list the amenities that come with an apartment as a way of luring potential tenants. An on-site gym, wifi throughout, swimming pools, party rooms, roof decks—the list of amenities can be pretty impressive. And costly, as many apartments charge monthly fees for these services. It can be well worth your time to try to get these fees waived or discounted, or to get amenities normally reserved for higher rents added to your lease. If the landlord is having trouble filling their units, this is often an easy concession to make, since they’re already providing those services whether you’re paying for them or not.

Move-in blockistance

Also under the category of “no harm in asking” is move-in blockistance—someone to help you drag all your stuff from your car or truck to the apartment. If the landlord has staff on the property to handle maintenance and other tasks, or a relationship with a company to clean out abandoned apartments, they may be willing to offer you a few hours of free labor in exchange for signing the lease. This can make your move-in a lot less stressful.

Pets

Pets and landlords can be a difficult match; property owners often have nightmares about ruined carpets and floors, damaged walls, and noise. But landlords can also make exceptions to their own rules if they want to, so if you have a pet and your dream apartment doesn’t allow them, it’s often worth it to make an effort to negotiate. If they resist the idea, you can offer your own concessions, including a higher rent or security deposit, or an agreement to protect floors and blunt noise with rugs.

Utilities

A back door approach to lowering your rent is to try to get the cost of utilities included in your monthly payment, or for any fees included in your rent to be reduced—especially if you can argue that your electricity, water, and gas usage is lower than the average. For example, if most of the people in other units work from home but you still go into a physical office, you can argue that your energy usage is much lower.

Storage

If you’re downsizing, cramming all that stuff into your apartment can be a real challenge. Even if the place includes a storage unit in the basement, you might be faced with paying for off-site storage. When negotiating the lease, see if you can get a larger or second unit thrown in at no cost (or at a discount). Even if you have to pay a little extra for it, at least you won’t have to drive across town every time you need to rotate your wardrobe.