FOR INDEPENDENT SELF-STORAGE OPERATORS

A move-out costs the gap, not the rent.

Every existing-customer rate increase comes down to one number nobody has: how many move-outs it can cause before it stops paying for itself. The reason the guess runs low is that a lost tenant is priced at their rent — but the unit does not sit empty, it re-lets at your street rate, which is usually above what a long-tenured tenant is paying. Put a real group of units in below and see what a move-out actually costs, and the churn rate the increase would have to survive.

How much can I raise rent on an existing storage tenant? — the worked example in full

Compare: this calculator vs. SiteLink, or this calculator vs. pricing a move-out at the tenant's rent.

The units you are raising

One group of comparable units — same size, same in-place rent, same tenure band. Mixed sizes are separate runs; averaging them hides the cohort that should not be raised.

What you expect to happen

The second figure is the assumption the whole decision rests on, and no arithmetic can supply it. Enter what you believe; the panel tells you how wrong you could be and still come out ahead.

What a turnover costs you

Your own lease-up time and turn cost, from your management software. These three are what make a move-out expensive; the street rate above is what makes it cheap.

The same decision at other increases

The row in bold is what you entered. Read the break-even column as a question: do you believe more than that share of this group would leave over that much a month?

IncreaseNew rentBreak-even move-outsValue over the horizon

A bigger increase buys more from everyone who stays, so it can absorb more move-outs — but the response it provokes grows too, and this tool does not model that. It prices the decision; the churn is yours to judge.

Move-outs this increase can absorb

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Press “Price this increase” to see what it can absorb.

Common questions

How many move-outs can a rate increase absorb?

Far more than most operators assume, and this calculator gives the number rather than a feeling. On the worked example the page opens with — 42 units at $118, a 15% increase, a $149 street rate, 45 days to lease up and a free first month — the increase stays profitable until it causes a 60.8% induced move-out rate on top of ordinary churn. That is 25 of the 42 units, against the 2 or 3 an operator would actually expect. The reason the tolerance is so wide is that a vacated unit does not stay vacant: it re-rents at the street rate, which is above what a long-tenured tenant is paying.

What does one move-out actually cost me?

Not the rent. On the worked example a tenant who leaves costs $272, not the $1,772 of rent and tenant-protection income they would have paid over a year. The $272 is four terms: $238 of rent lost while the unit sits empty for 45 days, $149 for the free first month the replacement tenant gets, $45 to clean the unit and re-lock and re-list it, minus $160 because the replacement pays the $149 street rate rather than the $135.70 the leaver was raised to. That last term is the one nobody carries in their head, and it is negative — it makes the move-out cheaper — for every unit whose in-place rent sits below street.

Should I raise an existing tenant above my street rate?

It is the point at which the arithmetic turns against you, and the calculator flags it. Below street, a move-out is cheap because the unit comes back at more than the leaver was paying. Above street, the same move-out is expensive twice over: you lose the tenant and you re-let at less than they were paying, so the re-rent term flips from a credit to a cost and the break-even move-out rate falls sharply. There is also the part no arithmetic sees — a tenant who checks your website finds a cheaper unit at your own facility, which is the version of this decision that ends up on a review site.

How often can I raise rent on existing tenants?

That is a question for your lease and your state, not for this tool, and the answer varies: month-to-month storage leases typically permit an increase with written notice, and the required notice period, delivery method and any cap are set by the lease terms and by state self-storage statutes. This calculator makes no determination about what your lease permits or what notice you owe — it prices the increase you are considering, assuming you have confirmed you may make it. Check the lease and your state’s self-storage act, and ask a lawyer if the answer is not plainly written.

What move-out rate should I expect from a 15% increase?

Nobody can tell you that from outside your facility, and a tool that pretended to would be guessing with your revenue. Induced churn depends on tenure, unit size, what the competitor down the road is asking, how the letter is written and how much slack the local market has. What this calculator does is turn the guess into a threshold you can judge: instead of asking how many will leave, ask whether you believe more than 60.8% of this group would walk over $17.70 a month. That is a question an operator who has sent increase letters before can answer, and it is a much easier one.

Does this work for a facility with mixed unit sizes?

Run it once per group. The arithmetic is per-unit and the inputs are per-group, so a 10x10 cohort at $118 and a 5x5 cohort at $64 are two runs, not one — their street rates, lease-up times and tenant tenures differ, and averaging them hides exactly the cohort that should not be raised. A facility-wide answer is the sum of the group answers, and the groups that fail are the ones worth knowing about.

What if a vacated unit does not re-rent?

Then the increase stops being cheap, and it is the input that moves the answer most. Everything above assumes a vacated unit comes back — after 45 days, at street rate. In a soft market a share of them simply sit, and that share is a separate question from how long a lease-up takes. Set it and watch the break-even: on the worked example, dropping the re-rent share from 100% to 80% raises the cost of one move-out from $272 to $581 and cuts the break-even move-out rate from 60.8% to 28.5%. The turnover cost is still charged on every vacated unit, because you clean it out, re-lock it and list it whether or not anyone takes it. If you do not know your own figure, run it at 100% and again at your worst month and see whether the decision changes.

Is any of this uploaded?

No. There is no account and the page makes no network requests — it runs entirely in your browser. Your rents, your street rates, your unit counts and the answers worked out from them are never sent anywhere and never appear in a usage count. The optional counter records only which features were used and the day, stored on your own device, and it switches itself off for browsers sending Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.

Is this legal, tax, or financial advice?

No. It is arithmetic on the figures you type. It makes no determination about what your lease or your state’s self-storage act permits, what notice a tenant is owed, what a unit is worth, or whether an increase is a good idea for your business. Verify every figure against your own management software, your lease, and a qualified professional before you send an increase letter from it.