Man Explains Why He’d Rather Move Every Year Than Renew His Lease — ‘All Of This Should Be Illegal’
He said he's saving more money by moving.
Prostock-studio | Shutterstock Finding an affordable place to live is no easy task. With rent prices continuing to rise faster than wages, it would be a natural solution for people to simply renew their leases and stay in their current places, especially if their rent isn't being increased. But according to a content creator named J, it might actually be better for people to do the opposite.
In a TikTok video, he claimed that as someone who is always moving, he's found that the entire real estate industry and how landlords treat their tenants, when it comes to raising their rent, needs to be fixed. He encouraged people to try their hand at moving once their lease is up to avoid spending unnecessary money for a roof over their heads.
A man explained why he'd rather move every year than renew his lease.
"Let me give you the perspective of a mover, right?" J addressed another creator who had complained that people need to stop moving around and start renewing their leases because that's the reason the housing crisis is as bad as it is. "I've had five apartments in five years."
He explained that in one of his apartments, he was sent a renewal offer. In the offer, he was told that his rent would be increasing by $150, which he thought was ludicrous considering nothing in the apartment or building had changed enough to warrant such an increase. If anything, he insisted that the cost should go down.
The explanation he received was that the market was going up, so they needed to accommodate. However, he decided to do some research and stumbled across a unit that was available next door. It was the same layout as his apartment, and there had been no new renovations done, but it was listed as $200 cheaper than what he was paying at his current place.
"What's the catch? It was for new tenants," J continued. When he contacted the landlord to tell him that he was just going to move into this unit instead of renewing his lease, J was told that he would actually have to pay a $500 transfer fee to move units.
He would have to pay the same amount of rent for his new unit.
On top of the transfer fee, the landlord told him that since he wasn't a new tenant and was simply trying to move to a different unit within the same building, his rent would be the exact same as the price he was paying for his current place, including the rent increase.
"Make it make sense," J demanded. Not wanting to do either, he decided to just move out altogether and find somewhere new. After alerting the landlord of his decision, he checked his apartment website and found that the unit he was moving out of was now being listed as $200 cheaper for a new tenant.
"You see how that works? It's not us, it's the apartment complexes," he pointed out. "It's the scam that they have going on. But this is the best part, when you pull up a new complex, they have newer renovations and they'll give you two months free just because you are a new tenant moving in."
He acknowledged that while moving costs and the labor of having to move are all horrible, and he doesn't enjoy having to do that every year, in the long run, he ends up moving to cheaper places than if he had stayed and renewed his lease.
Americans are struggling to afford housing.
While it may be landlords and property companies that are making it difficult for people to comfortably afford a place to rent, it's also important to acknowledge that wages for jobs and the state of the economy have also played a massive role in the lack of affordability as well.
In fact, according to a report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, it was found that in 2022, as rent increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, a record 50% of U.S. renters paid more than 30% of their income for rent and utilities. Nearly half of those people were severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their income.
There are all these tips and tricks renters are told to do when they're trying to move, including moving during the winter months because units might be cheaper, and simply renewing your lease instead of moving around. However, whether you're staying with your current lease or trying to find a new place to live, it's often still a lose-lose situation.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
