How much is your month Rent and has it gone up?

[eschal]

My landlord want's to 'up' my rent by 15%...which it's now going to be 460US plus expensas 100US. Plus Cablevision,Metrogas, Telefonica etc = 75US.

Grand Total of 635US every month. Wtf!! I know it still maybe a good price for some of you, but this goes out to expat veterans not being paid in dollars.

Btw: I live in San Telmo in a quiet furnished loft. I spend most of my time outside of San Telmo so i'm wondering if you think I can find something (probably not as nice) for the same price or less in a Caballito, Belgrano, Palermo,Almagro. etc.
Thanks!!!

 

[nikad]

Is that adjustment specified in your contract? What type of contract do you have ie: furnished, long term? Is this the contract renewal instance'

 

[tez]

And how long have you been there? Do you have a month-to-month contract?

My rent went up 20% last September after one year here, but that was in the contract and is pretty standard for local rents.

Considering the price, I'm still not sure you can find anything better.

You say he "wants" to raise the rent... what does this mean, he asked you? If that's the case, I suggest you string it out as long as you can with a, "lo voy a pensar y te aviso," while still paying the formerly agreed upon rent. This is what Argies do to me all the time in one way or another, maybe it will work for you!

 

[eschal]

It's renewed every 3 months, furnished. It's not in my contract but my contract is up in April. This is what he said "El precio por otro lado, estuve fijandome y los precios aumentaron. O sea, el dolar no sigue el mismo indice que los precios y el dinero del alquiler yo lo dejo aca) asi que me gustaria ajustarlo a USD 460 por mes (15% de aumento, mismas condiciones, yo pago el seguro y el ABL que es el impuesto municipal, que debe haber llegado en diciembre o enero y vos pagas el resto de los impuestos).

Also I'm not sure what he means by "el resto de los impuestos"

 

[Postmodernchild]

Caballito furnished as you have it will be more expensive at a decent area such as closer to Acoyte y Rivadavia and much more in Avenida Pedro Goyena. Almagro will be probably around the same. Housing is not cheap any longer...one of the hardest things here is getting used to price hikes..so much for being able to plan...and I love planning stuff!

 

[tez]

Always fun how people adjust the prices to keep up with the inflation of the peso... even though the prices are in dollars... Love that! It's funny because I'm a landlord in another life, so I'm on the other side. It's tough, because I can see that he could probably get that higher price from someone else, so why not ask for it?

I don't know... I still recommend you try and ignore the issue as long as possible. Maybe he's a non-confrontationist, if that's a word, and he won't push the issue too hard out of laziness. I know landlords like that.

 

[syngirl]

When I used to live in furnished apartments and had a similar arrangement it was very common for the landlord to want to up the price at the end of every contract (if not also cover a commission again!). Part of the benefit of moving into an unfurnished place is you only get that ugliness every year or two.

Unfortunately the landlord is right, at least according to my brief foray onto Clarin Inmeubles classifieds yesterday -- prices have gone up everywhere it seems, both for furnished and unfurnished. You should have a bit of a shop around to at least put yourself in the position of negotiating, but if you move you have to consider the other costs involved (commissions etc).

When was the last time he upped it? Every 3 months is BS. Even every 6 mos is BS -- once a year fine.

A lot of landlords will purposely jack up what they want from you to an inconceivable level just to get you out of a place, because then they know they can get someone else to come in and pay it -- ie our neighbours across the hall were paying 1800 pesos a month (unfurnished) for their place before the lease expired -- the landlord asked for 3000 pesos -- a ludicrous increase, they moved. The next people that moved in thought they were getting a good deal because they pay 2400 pesos.

We've had ridiculously good luck with our place, but unfortunately will leave it when the lease expires in October -- the landlord loves us but I'm sure the next people that move in will pay at least 30% more than we are now.

 

[citygirl]

I'd say that's still a good price compared to what's out there.

My rent has gone up about 20% in 2 years. 10% after the first year and then another 10% 9 months later. The building expenses increased dramatically hence her increasing my rent.

 

[nikad]

By impuestos he means water, electricity, gas, building fees ( for some strange reason some people call these impuestos - taxes )

 

[French jurist]

Like with poker, don't play only by your cards, play too by the cards of the LL.

1- In case of a short term rental :
. If the LL doesn't renew the contract with you, he might have to wait a few weeks at least, if not two or three months, before renting again (those are the best cards for you).
. On the opposite, you taking the risk to have to move to a new place just to spare 2 US$ a day are his/her best cards.
--> You could mix those two factors and ask much in advance -for next time- if he/she plans to raise the rent then wait until the last moment before giving your answer.
I agree that what you pay is not outrageous, far from that, it's correct.

2- In case of long terms rental.
First a bit of my own experience. I've lived from 12/2003 until 02/2009 in a very nice penthouse on billinghurst x mansilla (border of Recoleta but outside the tourist ghetto), with 5 rooms, 110 sq. meters, 50 sq. meters of terrace, last floor (just God above, if he exists).
I started paying 1.200 pesos/month (+ very low expensas) and ended up paying in late 2008 3.000 pesos (with about 250 pesos of expensas = including hot water + gas).
That's far from the unofficial inflation but with time, the LL was always getting more hungry with the raises.
I had to leave at midterm of the contract for personal reasons but the LL wanted to raise again at 3.600 pesos at that time, arguing that those were the prices, she would have no difficulty renting it again and so on.
Well, it turns out that right after I left, she had problems renting it (remained empty for about 2 or 3 months, and the rent was finally settled at 3.300 with the new inquilinos).
I actually had difficulties getting my deposit back when I spent 7.000 pesos in painting again the whole apartment when I left (paint was not new when I entered, I wanted to act as a gentleman). Her discurse turned from white to black (likely the thing I hate the most about the Argentinean mentality and it's not often that I criticize Argentineans) and she was now telling me that it had been very difficult to rent and so own.
--> Lesson learned

The point where I want to get about long term rentals is that if in the first years after 2002 the rents raised quite rapidly, now they are raising following an asymptotal (not sure of the spelling) figure and it's insane to accept 20 % raises every year.
It also depends on the apartment (1 BR ? 2 BR ? 4 BR ? = different markets).

Here again, you should be playing by the LL cards : for them, having Americans or Europeans is -almost- a synonim of safety and this has no price!

Also, "on the paper" (well, this is Argentina, ok), the rental fees have to follow a specific index if I recall (too lazy to check the law now).

So, how to deal with that? I guess we have to get rid a bit of our American or European habits and act/think/speak like an Argentinean. If not, don't complain to be eaten alive.

Also, if you have a certain amount of money blocked on an account to pay for the rent, why not offering to pay one full year in advance. I know that some people will adopt a no-no attitude towards this posture but it makes sense. That's what I did for the house where I live now and I simply said that because I'll be paying one full year in advance, I should not be handicapped by inflation.

This is Argentina and it's a Latin country, therefore we need to speak, argue, at times raise the voice, speak again and take full advantage of the fact we come from countries where people are a bit more serious regarding such kind of contracts.
But all in all, if food & service prices really raise by 20/30% a year, rental prices are now raising by 10% or a bit more.