Do you rent? For this it could go up what you pay

Housing rents have become more expensive, inflation, the gentrification of some areas, among other factors, have influenced the cost of this service to increase in the country.

Do not be surprised if this month your landlord tells you that you will have to pay more for the rent, especially if the contract established that the rent would rise each year according to inflation, which until the first half of December was at 7.77% per year.

So, if you pay 10,000 pesos in rent, it could go up 770 pesos, it all depends on the final level of inflation that will be announced in the coming days.

In Mexico it is estimated that of the 35.3 million inhabited private homes, 16.4% are rented, that is, just over 5.8 million properties and of these only 54% have a rental contract, according to data from the Morada Uno platform, a startup focused on real estate leasing.

That is why it is important that if you are renting or will do so, ask questions such as when the rental payment will go up, by what percentage and in this way avoid surprises.

“Often the rental contracts for a house or apartment are verbal, there are even people who Google and use templates, but these documents lack the necessary clauses and customization in each case,” said Santiago Morales, director of Morada Uno.

Therefore, it is important to look for legal alternatives to support this process that will help both the landlord and the person who will rent the property.

In accordance with article 2448-D of the Civil Code of Mexico City, rents must be paid in national currency and their increase must only be applied annually and not exceed 10 percent.

Although some owners make an increase between 5 and 8%, some remodeling that increases the value of the property, the maximum percentage is 10%”, according to information from the Century 21 blog.

If the rent increase exceeds that percentage and is exaggerated, you can report your landlord to Profeco.

This is how rents have gone up

In CDMX, the average price per square meter for house rentals was 152 pesos in 2022 and was 130.50 pesos in 2021. Therefore, an increase of 16% is observed, according to data from the real estate portal Properties.com.

In the case of apartments, the average price per square meter was 208.40 pesos in 2022 and 190.03 in 2021, an increase of 9 percent.

These growths, in part, have been driven by the phenomenon of digital nomads, foreigners who settle temporarily and work remotely in Mexico City, in strategic areas of the country’s capital.

According to Propiedades.com, in addition to digital nomads, there are other factors that during 2022 influenced the adjustment of rental prices in the capital, such as the increase in the cost of real estate, the home office, inflation, among others.

For this year, a current issue will be the inspection processes in the rental market.

“High tax evasion was detected, the regulations for the issuance of contracts and issuance of receipts, for the declaration before the SAT, have changed. This will probably be transferred to the end user”, explained Leonardo González, Real Estate analyst at Propiedades.com.

yuridia.torres@eleconomista.mx