In one apartment complex, does everyone in the same type of unit and floor pay the same rent?

Question

if the property manager wants to increase the rent, does it apply to every tenant or certain people she/he picks? and how does the discrimination occur? how does the property manager decide whose rent to increase or not

Answer 1

A landlord is NOT allowed to discriminate, charging different people just because..

That being said - all apartments are not equal. Some have more rooms, some have more square footage, some have amenities. And some have leases that are lapsing sooner than other leases. Some people have even worked out a long term contract for a certain price by putting down a large down payment.

So, no - even in apartments that are exactly alike, two people may not pay the same amount. It CANNOT be based upon religion, race, ethnicity, s*x, or disability.

Answer 2

As the other answers note, different tenants can be charged the same amount for the same type of unit on the same floor. It's possible, for instance, that management offered a "special" to fill up some units, so those units might be rented at a discount. Or there may have been a reduced rate for a 2-year lease.

Especially in areas with rent control, someone who's been in an apartment for a long time may have below-market rent, whereas someone just moving in will be charged full-market rent.

Or management may have raised the rent on August 1. Someone renting on July 31 would pay one amount; someone renting on August 1 would pay the higher amount.

As one of the answers notes, you can't discriminate based on protected classes--race, religion, etc. On the other hand, there are a lot of classifications that aren't protected.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

In general the landlord is free to get what ever rent they can for a unit, so even an apartment complex with similar floor plans you can have different rents, that said, if one can show the real reason for the rent increase is based upon a protective class either federal or state statute then you would have recourse  

Answer 4

Rents can vary from identical unit to identical unit, based upon location desireability amongst other things.  Rents need not all be increased at the same time, since most leases do not end at the same time.

As well, some units may have more upgrades (newer appliances, better flooring, etc.) than others, and may demand more rents.

Answer 5

Like Goz said, the landlord can charge whatever he wants for similar units as long as he is not discriminating on the basis of race, color, nationality, ethnicity, religion, familial status, etc.