Guide
What to do — and what to never do — in the first three days after a rent increase notice.
Hour one: do not sign anything, do not agree to anything on the phone, and do not throw the envelope away. Photograph the notice and the envelope (the postmark is a date, and dates are the whole game).
Day one: compute the percentage yourself. Write three dates on the letter: the day it was served, the day the increase starts, the day your lease term ends. Most defective increases announce themselves on that one page.
Day two: run the checker and save the verdict. Then read your lease’s increase and renewal clauses — the lease is the contract every statute argues with.
Day three: if the verdict gives you a rung — coverage, amount, notice, timing — the first move is a letter, on paper, with proof of delivery. The kit’s letters exist because the first written response sets the record everything else is judged from.
Never stop paying rent over a disputed increase without advice; an eviction filing harms you even when you win. Never pay the new amount “under protest” without those words in writing — silent payment reads as acceptance in several jurisdictions. And never let a court paper’s deadline pass while you negotiate by phone: a summons outranks every letter in this building.
Rules checked October 2026