Renewing the leasing agreement with your landlord is always a dilemma, especially if you don’t plan to live in this unit for the entire 12 month period.  What if you already know that you need your apartment for just the next several months and then you need to vacate?  Will your landlord let you stick around for the next several months without signing a full year-long lease?  To find out, you need to contact your landlord or property manager and see if there’s an option to convert to a monthly rental agreement, rather then commit to a one-year lease.  If there is such an option, ask how much extra would it cost you on a monthly basis. Generally, landlords will impose a much higher rate to tenants who tend to go month-to-month without signing a long-term rental agreement.  Usually, one must expect a $100-300 monthly increase.  Even though you’ve been a good paying tenant, you may think it’s a ridiculous pricing increase.  Can a landlord impose such a huge price increase? Would this fall under some kind of hidden price discrimination? Sadly enough, it is considered a rather normal practice in this rental industry and has  nothing to do with a discrimination factor.  Every landlord has a right to create and implement a tiered rental structure based on a rental agreement. Anyone signing a longer lease would have a lower rental price vs. someone going month-to-month. Landlord is usually always taking a chance on losing on rental income, if they’re not locking someone in for 12 months.  If a tenant decides to vacate after a couple of months, a landlord may incur other advertising expense, cleaning or repair costs, especially if a short-term tenant causes some damage. Your best best is to contact your leasing manager or landlord and attempt to explain that you have a great history of paying your rent and see if he would allow you to stay with your unit for a few more months and at a lower rate.  Also, for more information, you can contact your local fair housing program or visit http://www.housing.org