So I just received this lovely email today…

What are my options here? I would like to renew the lease (ending in a little less than 1 year) because I really like the place but no way I’m taking a 10.4% increase mid lease if I can avoid it.

« Thank you very much for your continued support. We are contacting you in response to a request from the owner (proprietor) of [redacted], in which you are currently residing, regarding the rent.

Due to the aftermath of the recent price hikes, the management fee and reserve fund for repairs have increased significantly since Mr. [redacted] first moved in, and rental management is now in a difficult situation.

We would like to ask for your (the lessee's) partial cooperation, although we do not ask you (the lessee) to bear all of the costs.

Therefore, we would like to increase the rent from 288,000 yen to 318,000 yen from January 2025 onward. We would like to keep the next renewal fee at 288,000 yen as before.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could cooperate with us as described above, since you said that you would like to stay in the property as long as possible and continue to manage the rental business.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you in advance for your confirmat. »

Edit:

Thanks everyone,

After reading all your comments (and doing a bit of research, though looking at the rent agreement is challenging since we our Japanese isn’t the greatest)

I’m leaning toward an answer that would look a little like this:

Dear blah blah

Thank you for sharing the details regarding the proposed rent adjustment. I understand the challenges posed by rising costs, and I appreciate your efforts to communicate openly about this matter.

However, I have a few concerns:

1.  My current lease renewal is set for September 2025, so I am unsure whether a rent adjustment in January 2025 is appropriate, given that rent changes are usually implemented at the time of contract renewal.
2.  The proposed 10% increase appears quite high, considering the economic pressures faced by both tenants and landlords. I would like to understand more about the calculation and justification behind this figure.

I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this further and explore potential compromises.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best regards, Blah blah blah