Ok, I'm going to take a different slant and be the devils advocate here. If rents on new move in's can be increased that is excellent. As far as renewal rents, we all know they get amnesia about the great deal they received previously. For some reason they get “puppy memory,” not that I equate our resident to pets. This can easily go from a monetary issue to a psychological issue that increases turnover even further. Adding the valet trash service and associated costs may have exceeded what is commonly known as the "breaking point." I also agree had this been communicated as something other than justifying a service for a cost and just implemented and factored it in requested rents, it probably would have been accepted differently. By saying "we are pleased to provide you with a great service," and not saying anything related to why rents are going up might have diffused the situation.

Each property is also unique related to where this point can be based on services rendered (our perception of service) and services justified (where the resident believes they should be and what value they place on them). You say turnover is 65% and that is normal. While you may increase income by $100 (or less depending on what rents they were at on the last renewal), you may also increase expenses dis-proportionate to the improved revenue. We condition our managers to believe raising rents from increased revenue is the primary objective, when in fact it is only part of the equation. The key to maximizing NOI (not just revenue or income), is the balance of occupancy, rents, and the effect of operating expenses (including turnover costs). If I increase income annually by $800, however, my turnover increases and turnover costs (hard and soft) exceed $1,000, I have netted nothing. Even in bull markets it is easy to exceed $2,000 in turn expenses per unit. Now factor in the capital factor as you may be replacing carpets a year or two sooner because of that turnover and that number can be dis-proportionate to any perceived or realized income. I only say this to make sure during this process you monitor the cost benefit of the action. If all forty of these residents do not renew, it can have a significant impact on your NOI from increased expenses, especially if they were they longer term residents living at your community.

Now for handling the resident issue, I agree with Brent this may be asking a lot and possibly too much in a short period of time. I also like his idea of a Grandfather position to not spike turnover. Remember, we deal with peoples homes, finances, pets, cars, etc., therefore we also deal with their emotions. Timing of things like this and how they are presented can mean the difference between success and failure (or at least not as successful as desired.) Remember, at one time we did not charge for water and sewer and then we started doing it. Managers cried from the roof tops saying our residents would leave...but they did not. Then we started charging for trash and the managers again cried from the rooftops saying our residents will leave...but they did not. This also plays into market conditions and what your competitors are doing. Monitor the market, present it as a service, look at options to prevent a spike in your turnover, and I am sure you will weather this storm just like we have in the many others that came before.

I agree with Brent on the promise one thing deliver another point of view. I understand it was not intentional and perhaps the other plans are still in the works, but this little joke should sum it up. During the monologue of the Jimmy Fallon show, he mentioned the announcement of Amazon's new "Kindle Fire" meant to compete with the Ipad. His comment was: just like at Christmas when your parents give you the exact OPPOSITE of what you asked for!

He got a good laugh, but we all had that experience, it was dissapointing and most importantly we all remember it.

How I approach renewals is everyone gets the opportunity to have their apartment look the same as the new moveins - but I also tell them that their rent will then also be the same as the new move ins. That helps a great deal to put it into perspective. However, I also work with tenants when they renew, especially those that have been here a long time, and look at what we can do, some fun stuff is to upgrade things in the kitchen - hi-spout faucets, new hardware for the cabinets, paint the cabinets - we have an eye popping two tone that we do on the cabinets, (cost on all these things is low) or paint a wall, replace carpet in a room (usually living room) or add an appliance they did not have before (a few apartments still don't have a dishwasher) put new vanity lights in the bathroom - $30 or $40 at HD, etc., if we need to replace the stove, spend another $50 and get one of the really nice looking ones with the modern finish. It has worked out great, they feel special (as they should) their apartments look GREAT and they renew. On quite a few items the cost is minimal, a quart of paint and 1 hour of maintenance time, $20 for new cabinet hardware but it's always in keeping with the increase.

Oh, and by the way, I also use this as an opportunity to mention that in many instances if we had to carry the cost of utilities it would be more difficult to do these upgrades as we would have to consider that as part of the apartment cost.