Lease Renewal in the Philippines: Do You Pay a New Deposit, and How Much Can the Rent Go Up?

Lease Expiring in the Philippines: Only Three Outcomes, and the Fork Opens 60 Days Out

An expiring lease has exactly three endings — renew, move out, or convert to month-to-month — and the fork that decides which one you get usually opens about 60 days before the expiry date.

Standard Philippine residential leases run one year, whether the unit is a condo, an apartment, or a house. Buried in the contract is a notice clause requiring written notice of intent some number of days before expiry, commonly 30 or 60. Everything in this guide sits on top of that one clause, so pull out your contract and confirm the number before reading further.

• Renew: both sides sign either a renewal addendum or a brand-new contract of lease. The deposit rolls over; you do not re-pay it.
• Move out: serve written notice within the notice period, then work through the move-out sequence to recover the deposit in full. The last two sections cover this.
• Month-to-month: let the annual term lapse and continue on a rolling monthly basis. You gain flexibility and usually pay a premium for it, and the landlord can typically end it with 30 days notice. Reasonable for a genuine transition — a pending home purchase, an uncertain posting — and covered in short-term and monthly rentals in the Philippines.

The worst outcome is doing nothing at all: no written renewal, no written notice to vacate. Your position then depends entirely on the contract's default language, and that language varies enormously. Some leases auto-renew for another full year on the same terms. Some convert to monthly at an increased rate. Some treat silence as abandonment and require you to vacate on the expiry date. Do not gamble on which one you have.

Lease Renewal Notice Period in the Philippines: Open the Conversation Before the Listing Goes Up

Straight answer: raise it 60 to 90 days before expiry, roughly a month earlier than your contract technically requires. This is not about politeness. It is about leverage.

At that point the landlord has not yet called a broker, has not photographed the unit, has not listed it, and has not started calculating a vacancy period. You are negotiating to keep a reliable existing tenant. Wait until the unit is listed and inquiries are coming in, and you are suddenly being priced against the open market. Same apartment, completely different conversation.

• 90 days out: mention informally that you intend to stay and ask whether terms will change. Commit to nothing, counter nothing. You are just putting the signal out.
• 60 days out: send written notice of intent to renew — email is fine and creates a record — and lay out your terms at the same time. Hold the current rate, or accept a modest increase in exchange for a new aircon unit, repainting, or a plumbing fix.
• 30 days out: sign. Leave this final month for notarisation, building registration, and the possibility that talks collapse and you need to find something else.

The reverse is also true: if the landlord has not raised the subject of an increase by 30 days out, do not remind them. A great many small Philippine landlords only think about raising rent because a broker or a friend prompted them. Quietly renewing at the existing rate is entirely legitimate.

One overlooked complication: if your lease address also anchors a visa filing, a bank statement address, or a company registration, a failed renewal costs far more than moving expenses. In that case push the timeline earlier still, and read how to get proof of billing in the Philippines and how a lease supports a business permit address alongside this.

Security Deposit Rollover: Do You Pay a New Deposit When Renewing a Lease in the Philippines?

No — not in a normal renewal. The deposit you paid at move-in is still sitting with the landlord. It functions as a performance guarantee, and it does not reset to zero because a new document was signed. It rolls over. If a landlord tells you to pay two fresh months of deposit now and wait for the old one to come back at move-out, stop and ask for that in writing with an explanation.

The common Philippine structure is one month advance rent plus two months security deposit, though one-month and three-month variants exist. Your contract governs. There are only three situations where a top-up is legitimate:

• The deposit was drawn down during the term. A late rent payment covered from the deposit, or a repair deducted mid-lease. The balance now sits below the contracted level, and restoring it at renewal is fair. Ask for an itemised written statement of what was deducted and why.
• The rent increased, so the deposit base increases with it. Deposits are set as a multiple of monthly rent. If rent moves from A to B and the deposit is two months, you top up (B−A)×2 — not a full B×2.
• A brand-new contract rewrote the deposit clause. Watch for renewals that quietly move the deposit from two months to three. That is a new commercial term, open to negotiation, not an obligation.

A related question that comes up constantly: can the deposit be applied to the final month's rent? Generally no, and you should not want it to. The deposit exists to cover damage, unpaid utilities, and cleaning at move-out. Consuming it early removes your own cushion, and — more practically — leaves you with zero leverage on the day you hand over the keys and need the landlord to issue a settlement statement. Withheld deposits are the single most common rental dispute here; what to do when a landlord will not return the deposit covers the recovery path.

Can My Landlord Raise the Rent? The Rent Control Act and Increase Limits in the Philippines

The answer splits in two. The Philippines does operate a rent control regime, but it only covers residential units whose monthly rent falls below an official threshold. The mid-to-high-end condos most foreign residents occupy generally sit outside it, which means the increase is whatever the contract and your negotiation produce.

For units inside the covered band, both the rent threshold and the permitted annual increase are set and periodically reviewed by the responsible government body, and they have been revised more than once over the years. Use the current official announcement for the actual figures — do not argue with a landlord using numbers you found in a years-old forum post. To work out whether your unit falls inside the band at all, compare your monthly rent against the threshold in force that year; how much rent can legally increase in the Philippines goes deeper.

Outside the band, what you need is not statute but anchors. Four of them carry real weight at the table:

• Comparable listings in the same building. Screenshot three to five currently listed units of the same layout, noting size, exposure, and whether they come furnished. Nothing else is this persuasive.
• The landlord's cost of vacancy. Finding a new tenant typically means a broker commission — one month of rent is the common market convention — plus weeks of viewings, cleaning, and repainting. Simply walking a landlord through that arithmetic softens a lot of increase demands.
• Your payment record. On time, never late, deposit never touched. Say it out loud. It has value.
• The actual condition of the unit. Aircon overdue for cleaning, an ageing water heater, mildew on a wall. These are not complaints — they are the raw material for converting a price increase into an increase-plus-improvements deal.

A realistic note: rents across BGC, Makati, Ortigas, and Alabang have trended upward in recent years. Demanding zero increase may not be achievable; aiming for a modest increase paired with concrete improvements usually closes cleanly and does not risk blowing up the relationship.

How to Negotiate a Rent Increase in Manila: Six Levers That Work

Something counterintuitive first: with Philippine landlords, arguing on principle is the least effective approach, and giving them a reason why not raising the rent is the better deal is the most effective. These six are ordered by how reliably they land.

• 1. Trade term length for price. Convert a one-year lease into a two-year lease at the current rate. This is the easiest yes you will get, because what landlords dread is repeating the tenant search annually. A softer variant: two years with a small increase in year two, which spreads the rise thin.
• 2. Trade payment terms for price. Offer six or twelve months paid up front in exchange for holding the rate. Extremely effective with cash-flow-constrained individual owners. Only do this if the landlord is verifiable and the lease is notarised — otherwise you have concentrated all the risk on your side. Read Philippine rental scams and traps before committing funds.
• 3. Fund a small improvement yourself. A new aircon unit, a water filter, curtains, proper window screens. Anything that stays with the unit is an asset upgrade for the owner. Trade it against part of the increase and both sides feel ahead.
• 4. Take on minor repairs. Offer to handle small maintenance below an agreed peso threshold without bothering the owner, in exchange for a flat rate. For landlords living in another city or abroad, this is worth more than you would guess.
• 5. Make your alternatives visible. Do not threaten — state. You looked at other units in the building, here is what they ask, you would rather stay but the number has to make sense. Demonstrated optionality outperforms any amount of emotion.
• 6. Talk to the right person. If everything has gone through a broker or the building admin, politely ask to confirm terms with the owner directly once. Intermediaries often have an incentive to see rents rise and contracts re-signed. Owners frequently just want the unit occupied.

Two things not to do: stalling to force a concession — that backfires badly under a short notice period — and settling verbally without documenting it, which the next section addresses.

Renewing the Rental Contract: Lease Renewal Addendum, Notarisation and Stamp Tax

You need something in writing. A verbal renewal is not a renewal. Two formats are equally valid; pick whichever suits the parties:

• Renewal or extension addendum: one or two pages referencing the original contract by date, stating the new term, the new rent, how the deposit is handled (rolled over or topped up), and confirming all other terms carry forward. Ideal when little has changed.
• A fully re-executed contract of lease: the whole document again. Compare it clause by clause against the old one. Re-execution is precisely when terms get quietly altered — check the deposit clause, the early-termination penalty, the maintenance responsibility split, the escalation mechanism, and any newly inserted association dues or parking fees.

Three supporting steps:

• Notarisation. Strongly recommended. In Philippine practice, an unnotarised and unregistered private lease can be challenged by a new owner if the property is sold or mortgaged mid-term. A notarised contract is far stronger evidentially. Notary fees are modest and set by the notary under prevailing rates. For larger amounts or unusual clauses, have it reviewed first — see hiring a lawyer as a foreigner in the Philippines.
• Documentary stamp tax. Leases are among the instruments subject to documentary stamp tax, and the contract normally allocates who bears it. Rates and computation follow current BIR rules — do not copy an old formula off a blog. Separately, residential rental income above an official threshold can attract VAT, which is one genuine reason some landlords push for increases. The applicable threshold follows current BIR issuances.
• Update the building registration. In a condo, file the new contract with the property management office to refresh tenant registration, access cards, the parking slot agreement, and vehicle sticker validity. A classic own-goal is signing the renewal and then finding the access card deactivated. If you are also moving units, arrange the gate pass in advance — see condo move-in and move-out permits.

Do not forget utilities: whose name the accounts sit in, whether anything needs transferring, and whether any balance is outstanding. Setting up utilities in the Philippines covers the mechanics.

Not Renewing? Getting the Full Security Deposit Back in Six Steps

When you decide to leave, there is one objective: recover the deposit in full. Most Philippine deposit disputes are not caused by bad faith. They are caused by the two sides never having created a shared record of what the unit looked like at handover. Follow these six steps and most disputes never form.

• 1. Serve written notice within the notice period. State plainly: not renewing, lease end date, planned handover date, and a request to schedule an inspection. Keep the sent copy.
• 2. Dig out the move-in photos and inventory. Whether you documented condition at move-in and signed an inventory list is often decisive. If you did not, start photographing the current state today.
• 3. Run a pre-inspection two weeks before the end. Walk the unit with the landlord or building admin and have them list what they consider in need of repair. The value here is time: you can hire your own tradesperson cheaply instead of having the landlord deduct at their quoted price.
• 4. Settle every utility account. Electricity, water, internet, association dues, parking. Pay through the final day and keep receipts. Unclear final utility balances are the most-cited reason for deductions. If your electricity bill looks wrong, diagnose it first — see why a Philippine electricity bill suddenly spikes.
• 5. Photograph and film everything on handover day. Every room, appliances powered on, meter readings, keys and access cards changing hands. Keep the timestamps intact.
• 6. Insist on a written settlement statement. Deposit held, itemised deductions, net refund, refund date and method. Do not hand over the keys without it.

On timing: contracts typically specify a refund window, commonly 30 to 60 days, to allow final utility bills to post. If yours is silent, agree a specific date at handover and write it into the settlement statement. If the refund never comes, the deposit dispute playbook applies. If instead the landlord is the one ending the lease early, a different set of rights is in play — see when a landlord terminates your lease early.

Six Renewal Traps, Starting With the Handshake Deal

• 1. The verbal renewal. The landlord says keep going, same as before, and you simply stay. Three months later the property sells and the new owner gives you a month to vacate — and you hold no document covering the current term. This is the single thing this guide most wants to prevent.
• 2. Being asked to re-pay the full deposit. Covered above: in a normal renewal the deposit rolls over and only shortfalls are topped up. If a landlord insists otherwise, ask for the reasoning in writing.
• 3. Clauses changed during re-execution. Early-termination penalties, maintenance responsibility, and escalation formulas are the three most commonly altered. Compare line by line, not just the rent figure.
• 4. An increase announced at the tail of the notice period. Ten days before expiry, a large increase lands and you must choose between accepting and scrambling for a new place. The defence is section two: open the conversation 60 to 90 days out and keep the initiative.
• 5. Forgetting everything the address is tied to. Visa filings, bank and card statement addresses, company registration, the school's records for your children, vehicle stickers. Update them all after renewal.
• 6. Negotiating price only, never condition. Renewal is the one moment each year when you hold leverage. Aircon servicing, water heater replacement, window screens, repainting — write them into the addendum now. It works far better than ten phone calls after you have already signed.

If you are weighing a renewal against a move, it is worth revisiting location and terms together; the full Philippine rental process is the right starting point. And if you would rather have someone handle the landlord, the building admin, the notary, and the utility transfers on your behalf, our settling-in service can take it on.