Rent increase questions

[Warped]

VA

I am buying out my brother's share of a duplex that was recently left to us by my mother. Both apartments are currently occupied. One tenant has been renting from my mother for over 18 years and the other has been there just shy of 3 years. Neither tenant currently has a lease or rental agreement and haven't since after their first year of occupancy. The questions I have are listed below.

1: After I take ownership of the house, is 60 days notice fair to the tenants to notify them of a rent increase? I cannot find anything in the VA LL/T laws regarding any required length of notice for this sort of thing.

2: Is an increase of just under 16% (roughly $55.00 per month) fair for a tenant that has lived there for 18 years without a single increase in rent? The VA LL/T laws don't state give any guidelines as to how much a landlord can increase the rent by.

3: Is an increase of just shy of 6% (roughly $25.00 per month) fair for tenants that have lived there for just shy of 3 years without an increase? Again, the VA LL/T laws don't state anything about what is or is not allowable.

I'd also like to say that the tenants I'm speaking of are now paying well below the average for my area and, even with the increase they will still be well below the average for the area, both of them by around $100.00 per month. In the surrounding cities for a comparable apartment, they would be paying between $200 and $300 per month more. The reason for the increase is that I'm trying to cover as much of the mortgage payment, taxes, insurance and water bill as I can. I know the property will increase in value over time but it sure would be nice to come close to breaking even.

Of course, I will also offer them both 1 or 2 year leases (their choice) with the option to renew at the same rate when the increase takes effect. Is that fair to them? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[FarmerJ]

if you cannot find any law regulating rent increase amounts in your state statutes then there is none unless your city has one . the amount of rent increases you listed are not bad , If the tenants have no written lease then the amount of notice you give that rents are going up and written leases will have to be in place depends on what your state laws require for month to month renters . 60 days is more than enough if the state law say only required 30 . If the tenants dont like it too bad , you likely can find replacements even with the increases, and actually could come closer to the number to make it pay rather than breaking even . when you do the leases you might want to stagger them so you dont risk them both wanting to move out in a year try to get one to do say a 18 month and the other just one year .

 

[Warped]

if you cannot find any law regulating rent increase amounts in your state statutes then there is none unless your city has one . the amount of rent increases you listed are not bad , If the tenants have no written lease then the amount of notice you give that rents are going up and written leases will have to be in place depends on what your state laws require for month to month renters . 60 days is more than enough if the state law say only required 30 . If the tenants dont like it too bad , you likely can find replacements even with the increases, and actually could come closer to the number to make it pay rather than breaking even . when you do the leases you might want to stagger them so you dont risk them both wanting to move out in a year try to get one to do say a 18 month and the other just one year .

Thanks for the response FarmerJ. I'd really rather they didn't move because they are a good group of people and they always pay on time. I searched the Virginia Legislature website and didn't find anything and I searched my city's website and didn't find anything about it there either. If you don't mind me asking, do you have any suggestions as to where I can find an example lease online or should I have my attorney draw one up and copy it for each tenant? Thanks again for the help!