Your lease renewal came through
The rent on your lease renewal is what the leasing office would like you to pay, not what you have to pay. Tell us two numbers and we'll tell you whether it's fair — and write the message that asks for less.
Free · No account · About 30 seconds
What you get back
No score to interpret and no charts to read. Four questions, answered the way a friend who works in leasing would answer them.
Similar apartments near you rent for less than what you've been offered. You have a reasonable case.
They're asking
$1,850
$160 more than you pay now
Similar 1-bedrooms near you
around $1,650
based on what's renting in 75204
An example, not your result: a $1,690 renewal offered at $1,850 in 75204. Yours is worked out from your own numbers and your own ZIP.
The message
This is where most renters get stuck — not on whether to ask, but on how to word it without sounding difficult. Here's how yours opens.
Hi,
Thanks for sending over the renewal for Apt 412. I've been here two years, always paid on time, and I'd like to stay.
The numbers, the comparison, and what to ask for depend on your lease and your ZIP — so we write your message once we've run your renewal.
Free · Takes about 30 seconds · No account
Your message goes to your inbox, never to your leasing office. You decide whether to send it at all.
What happens next
Nobody explains this part, and it's the reason most renters never ask. Here's each reply and what to do with it.
More common than renters expect. An empty apartment costs the leasing office far more than the few dollars in question — turnover, cleaning, a month or two vacant, and usually a special to fill it.
Get the new rate in writing before you sign the lease.
A partial yes. The rate is often locked by their pricing system while other things aren’t — a free month, waived fees, covered parking, a longer or shorter lease term.
Ask: “If the rate is fixed, is there anything else you can do — a month free, or the parking fee waived?”
Then you’re exactly where you were before you asked. Your lease doesn’t change, your standing doesn’t change, and you still choose whether to renew or move.
Asking politely once has no downside. It isn’t a breach of your lease and it isn’t a threat to leave.
See apartments near youFrom renters
I honestly had no idea you could negotiate your rent. I started looking at other apartments to move to. I used CounterWise, followed the negotiation process, and ended up renewing at the same rate. Wish I had known about this sooner.
$500/mo increase avoided
$6,000 over the year
I was sure asking would put me on some list. They said no to the rate but gave me a month free instead. Took one email.
$250/mo increase avoided
$3,000 over the year
The wording was the whole problem for me. I knew the increase was high, I just didn’t know how to say it without sounding like I was picking a fight.
$300/mo increase avoided
$3,600 over the year
One result is not a typical result. Renters arrive with increases averaging $373 a month, and nothing on our side tracks what a leasing office finally agrees to — so these are things that happened for individual renters, not what to expect.
Before you sign
What your state allows, how much notice you're owed, and what a lease can't override.
The short answer is no, and here's what the law actually says about it.
Look up your ZIP before you reply, so you know whether your increase is out of step.
Sometimes it does. Weigh the deposit, movers, and fees against a year of the new rent — and against the move-in specials nearby.
FAQ
Asking about the rate is a normal part of renewing — leasing offices field these conversations every week and they're used to them. Your current lease stays exactly as it is while you ask, and if the answer is no, you're back to the original offer with nothing lost. Most states also bar a leasing office from acting against a resident for raising a concern in good faith.
No. The message is written in your voice and goes to your inbox. You send it from your own email, if you send it at all.
Yes. CounterWise can't guarantee an outcome. It helps you understand your leverage and make a stronger request.
We look at what similar apartments in your ZIP are actually listing for, adjusted for your bedroom count, and compare that with what you've been offered. It's asking rent, not including utilities.
No. You're in the same position you were in before you asked, and the choice to renew or move is still yours.
Nothing. The analysis and the message are free and always will be.
Two numbers, about 30 seconds, no account.