Existing tenants are most of your revenue. They are also the part of the business most independent operators change least, because raising someone's rent feels risky and the tenant is paying on time.
The risk is smaller than it feels, and the cost of never doing it is larger than it looks. Here is how to do it deliberately.
Why tenants tolerate increases
Moving out is work. A tenant has to find a unit, pack, move and unpack, and for most of them that effort is worth more than a few dollars a month. That switching cost is why an existing tenant can be moved toward the market rate more gently than a new one can be won at it.
It is also the reason to start new tenants at a competitive rate. Win them at a price that gets the rental, then bring them toward the market over time.
Decide who gets an increase
Do not raise everyone by the same amount on the same day. Three things are worth sorting on. How long they have stayed: a tenant who has been with you three years has shown they are not shopping. How far below the market their rate sits: a tenant paying $119 when new tenants pay $142 has the most room. And what is happening in that unit size: if the size is nearly full, you have more room to move.
The market rate you measure against comes from checking your competitors, so do that first.
How much
I would start modest and learn. A small, regular increase is easier on tenants and easier for you to measure than a large one every few years. Pick a group, apply an increase you are comfortable defending, and watch move-outs for the next two months. If they barely move, the next group can take a little more. If move-outs jump, you have found the limit for that group. I do not have a safe percentage to give you. It depends on your market, how far below it the tenant sits, and your lease and state rules, which is why the move-out math below matters more than any figure I could quote.
The very large increases are where operators get hurt. The further a tenant's new rate climbs above what a comparable unit costs down the road, the more likely they are to do the sums and leave.
Do the move-out math first
Say you have 100 tenants paying an average of $110. A 6% increase adds $6.60 each, which is $660 a month, or $7,920 a year. The new rate is $116.60. Every tenant who leaves because of the increase costs you $116.60 a month, plus the weeks the unit sits empty.
So it takes more than five move-outs out of the 100 before the increase leaves you worse off, and that is before the empty weeks. If your last round caused one or two, you are well ahead. If it caused eight, it was too steep for that group.
How to tell them
Give plenty of notice and say it plainly: the new rate, the date it starts, and why, in two sentences. A tenant who hears from you well ahead and reads a clear letter is less likely to be annoyed than one who spots it on a statement. Check your lease and your state's rules for the notice you must give, because they vary.
Be ready for the phone call. Some tenants will ask. Decide in advance how far you will go, such as holding the rate for a long-standing tenant who asks, and let whoever answers the phone say yes without checking with you.
Keep it regular
The aim is a rhythm, not a one-off. Review who is due on a schedule, such as every few months, so that no tenant drifts far below the market and no increase has to be large. Keep a note of each round: who got it, how much, and who left. Within a year that record tells you more about your tenants than any article can.
Done well, this is the quickest way to lift RevPAU, because it applies to every occupied unit rather than only the next move-in.
The thinking here, including why tenants tolerate increases and how to sort who gets one, draws on AJ Osborne's Growing Wealth in Self-Storage.
I operate self-storage facilities across the Midwest. The figures above are illustrative, not taken from my own facilities, so check them against your own numbers.