Dear Babe: Lower my Rent

Is this a new "How Not to Get Fucked By Your Landlord" column?

Because if so, that would be an awesome column.

I tried this once before, and bastardly landlord said no, so I found another apt. within a week and was all moved in within 30 days of making the request. The new place was both bigger AND cheaper AND had a yard. Suck it, ex landbaron.

Assuming the apt. is covered under rent control, as most in SF are...

A landlord risks resetting the base rent if s/he made this agreement. Of course, none of this matters if the tenant never goes to the sf rent board, but if the tenant did, then any "discretionary increase" in rent would be ruled an unlawful rent increase.

To get around this back during the dotcom crash in the early 1990s, some landlords in town would slip some Benjamins under the door as a rental rebate on a monthly basis.