Every landlord in Dhaka knows the temptation. A neighbour lets a flat for a little more, a broker suggests pushing the asking rent higher, and the arithmetic looks simple: more rent, more income. Yet experienced landlords will tell you the arithmetic is rarely that simple. A flat that sits empty for two months, or a good tenant who leaves over a sharp increase, can wipe out a whole year's worth of aggressive pricing. Fair rent is not generosity. It is good business.
The starting point is the local market, not the landlord's costs or hopes. Asking prices give the clearest public signal of what tenants are actually being asked to pay in an area. Estate News tracker figures, which are asking medians from listings rather than completed transactions, put Gulshan at Tk20,000 per square foot and Dhanmondi at the same level, Banani at Tk13,888, Uttara at Tk12,500, Bashundhara Residential Area at Tk9,865 and Mirpur at Tk8,700. Those are purchase asking prices, not rents, but they explain why rents differ so sharply between areas: the capital tied up in a Gulshan flat is far greater than in a Mirpur one, and tenants in each area are paying for a different bundle of location, building quality and amenities.
Within any area, though, the spread is wide. A well-maintained flat with reliable water, a working lift, secure parking and a responsive building management will command more than a similar-sized flat in a tired building on a noisier street. Floor, light, ventilation, the age of fittings and the condition of common areas all matter. A landlord who prices without walking the flat as a tenant would — checking the lift, the water pressure, the stairwell at night — is pricing blind.
Count the real costs before naming a figure
Rent is not profit. Before setting a figure, a landlord should list what the flat actually costs to hold and let. Service and maintenance charges are the most obvious item, and they vary enormously by building. Then there are repairs between tenancies: repainting, plumbing fixes, appliance replacement and the small works that make a flat presentable again. Vacancy is a cost too, and it is the one landlords most often forget. A flat empty for six weeks between tenants loses more income than a modest rent reduction would have cost over a year.
Tax is the other item to handle in general terms rather than guesswork. Rental income in Bangladesh is taxable, and the treatment depends on the landlord's overall income and circumstances. A landlord should keep records of rent received and expenses incurred, and take professional advice on what is deductible and what must be declared, rather than assuming a rule heard from another landlord applies to them. The point is not to produce a precise tax figure here — individual circumstances differ too much — but to insist that tax belongs in the calculation, not as an afterthought.
An illustrative example shows why. Suppose, purely for illustration, a landlord lets a flat for Tk40,000 a month. If one month a year is lost to vacancy and turnover, and maintenance and repairs absorb the equivalent of another month, the effective annual income is closer to ten months' rent than twelve. A landlord who set the rent by dividing annual costs by twelve, without allowing for vacancy and repairs, has overestimated income by nearly a fifth. The figures are illustrative only, not market data — but the lesson is real: net rent, not headline rent, is what matters.
The tenant relationship is part of the price
A good tenant is worth more than a slightly higher rent from a stranger. Tenants who pay on time, look after the flat and stay for several years save the landlord turnover costs, re-letting effort and vacancy risk. Landlords who treat renewal as a chance to extract the maximum possible increase often discover the opposite: the tenant leaves, the flat stands empty, and the replacement tenant negotiates harder anyway.
That does not mean rent should never rise. Costs rise, buildings age, and a rent frozen for five years while service charges climb is not fair to the landlord either. The fair approach is gradual and explained. Give plenty of notice, link the increase to something the tenant can see — rising building charges, a major repair, the general movement of rents in the area — and keep the increase within a range the tenant can absorb without feeling pushed out. A tenant who understands why rent is rising is far more likely to stay than one who receives a sudden demand.
Communication matters in smaller ways too. A landlord who answers maintenance complaints promptly, who fixes a leaking tap before it becomes a stained ceiling, and who is clear about what is included in the rent and what is not, builds the trust that makes renewal a conversation rather than a confrontation. Written agreements help both sides: they should state the rent, the payment date, the deposit terms, the notice period, who pays for what repairs, and how increases will be handled. Verbal understandings, however friendly at the start, are where most landlord-tenant disputes begin.
Renewal practice that keeps both sides steady
At renewal, three questions should guide the landlord. First, what are comparable flats in the same building and nearby buildings actually asking now? Second, what has the flat cost to run in the past year, including the items that do not appear in a monthly statement? Third, what is the cost of losing this tenant — vacancy, repainting, broker fees, and the risk of a worse tenant? If the honest answers suggest a modest increase, make it modest. If they suggest holding the rent steady for another year in exchange for a longer commitment, that can be the better deal.
New landlords sometimes ask whether they should price high and negotiate down. In a soft market that strategy backfires: the flat lingers in listings, gathers a reputation for being overpriced, and eventually lets for less than a realistic initial price would have achieved. Pricing fairly from the start, and being willing to move a little for a strong tenant, usually lets a flat faster and for a better net result.
None of this requires a landlord to undercharge. A well-kept flat in a sought-after area deserves a strong rent. Fairness here means alignment: the rent should reflect the flat, the building and the area as they actually are, cover the real costs of ownership, and leave both landlord and tenant able to plan ahead. That is the rent that gets paid, renewed and, over years, earns the most.
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