Broken dishwasher and rental increase

[Wendy Lam]

Hi all, hoping to get some good feedback on my situation.

This is my first rental property, purchased in fall of 2021. Tenant has lived at property for 20+ years. Their previous rent was about 700 under market value, I bumped it up but still 400 under market value. Always timely on rent, and takes care of the property. When I purchased the property, the dishwasher in the unit was already broken. The previous owner did not replace it knowing they would sell the property soon. 

I am ok to purchase and install the new unit ($400 + $150 install), but given that they're still under market rent, I wanted to negotiate a rental increase with the dishwasher. Given that renewal is 4 months away, what's the best way to approach this? I'm thinking +$50 per month effective on their renewal.

[Terrell Garren]

IMO, it's tacky to use a dishwasher replacement as leverage in increasing rent.  If you need to raise the rent at renewal, just raise the rent. Leave the DW out of it. If they are supposed to have a working DW, provide them with a working DW.