Skip to content
Two investors reviewing resources on a laptop

Get industry-leading resources — for free

Unlock resources for every investing strategy and stage with a free account.

By continuing, you agree to BiggerPockets LLC's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Followed Discussions Followed Categories Followed People Followed Locations
General Real Estate Investing
All Forum Categories
Followed Discussions
Followed Categories
Followed People
Followed Locations
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback

User Stats

452
Posts
18
Votes
Matt H
18
Votes |
452
Posts

What's the useful life of a tenant?

Matt H
Posted

Hello, my question is how long will the average person rent an apartment for? I suppose a lot of that has to do with age, profession, and amount of tenants in one unit, and other factors? But generally speaking is there a certain amount of time?

Say 3 years on average?

The reason I ask is that I've been looking at an apartment building. The law in the province it's in dictates that you can only do a 2% rental increase per year. However, the rents are a little low right now. You can re-rent them at market rate after someone leaves or gets evicted. So my though is that if the average rental time someone rents for is say 3 years before moving on, then within 3 years I could re-rent at least most of the units at a higher rate without having to evict anyone or break leases.

Any advice on how to proceed in a situation like this where the law dictates that you can't raise rent over 2% per year? You could raise them to market rates but you'd have to do it in a way that keeps the building cashflowing in the mean time? I suppose just gradually re-renting as people move at the market rate would be the way to go?

Loading replies...