"Shouldn't Landlords Feel Guilty about raising rent?"

[Tyler Rowland]

I was talking about Real Estate Investing with some people at Home Show event, and as I was talking about getting rents up to market rates. A lady in the conversation asked me if I felt guilty about that (raising rents to market value).  Almost as if rents should stay the same forever.  

I told her "of course I don't feel guilty, because I try to do everything in the correct way.  And as someone that provides housing and services to people that need them, I feel quite the opposite."  But the thing that really got me about the question she posed was that potentially, there are a lot of people out there that feel it is shameful to raise rents and therefore something to feel guilty about.  How have/would you answer her question.  And how does that perception get corrected?  How do Landlords/ Property Management Companies help your tenants understand incremental rent increases, especially when rents are well below market averages?