Rent & rent increases
General information, not legal or tax advice. Landlord-tenant and tax rules vary by state, county, and city and change often. Confirm against current statute or a licensed professional in the relevant jurisdiction before acting.
For renters
Residential
Generally no. During a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term unless the lease itself contains a clause allowing an increase. The usual exceptions are an escalation clause you agreed to, or a pass-through the lease specifically permits.
Month-to-month tenancies are different: there the landlord can raise the rent with proper written notice — commonly 30 days, but 60 or 90 in some states for larger increases or longer tenancies. Rent-controlled and rent-stabilized jurisdictions cap how much, and no increase can be retaliatory or discriminatory.
For landlords
Residential
In most of the US there is no cap on how much you can raise at renewal — but you must give proper written notice, commonly 30 days, and 60 to 90 days for larger increases or longer tenancies in some states. The big exceptions are statewide caps (California's Tenant Protection Act limits most increases to about 5% plus regional CPI; Oregon has a similar formula) and local rent control or stabilization.
You generally cannot raise rent mid-fixed-term, and an increase can never be retaliatory (e.g., after a repair complaint) or discriminatory. Check both state law and any city ordinance for each property.
For landlords
Commercial
Commercial leases build increases into the contract rather than relying on statute. Common structures are fixed annual bumps (for example 3% per year), CPI-indexed escalations tied to inflation, or step-ups to defined rates at set years. In a triple-net deal, base rent escalates on this schedule while the tenant separately absorbs rising taxes, insurance, and CAM.
Capture the escalation schedule on the lease record itself so renewals and billing run automatically rather than living in a side note. Collabrio stores annual escalations on the commercial lease so the right base rent bills every year without a manual recalculation.
For landlords
Residential
A late fee usually has to be three things: authorized in the lease, reasonable, and charged only after any required grace period. Several states cap the amount — often a flat dollar figure or a percentage of monthly rent (5% is common) — and some mandate a grace period before any fee applies.
Disclosure is increasingly required: Florida's 2026 changes, for instance, require late, NSF, and similar fees to be reasonable and disclosed in writing before the lease is signed. Avoid daily-compounding fees where they're prohibited, and apply the same fee policy to every tenant.
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