Based in South Korea · Sources checked October 11, 2026.
A free month of rent can make moving cheaper than renewing, but only if it still wins after mandatory fees and moving costs are counted. In our fictional example, the new apartment comes out just $75 ahead over the first year, and a single $100 surprise would erase that edge. Your own answer depends on your lease terms, local law and real quotes.
Headline rent is only one line of the bill, as homeowners learn when escrow raises a fixed-rate mortgage payment.
Two offers, priced in full
Our fictional tenant pays $1,850 a month in base rent. The current landlord offers a 12-month renewal at $1,950 plus a mandatory $50 monthly fee, with no concession. A new building offers a 12-month lease at $1,850 plus $75 in mandatory monthly fees, and credits one month of base rent in month 2, when the fees are still due. We assume a written credit that the tenant earns and never repays.
| Item | Renew | Move |
|---|---|---|
| Base rent, monthly | $1,950 | $1,850 |
| Mandatory fees, monthly | $50 | $75 |
| Usual monthly bill | $2,000 | $1,925 |
| Free-rent credit | None | $1,850 off month 2 |
| Movers | $0 | $1,200 |
| Application and admin fees | $0 | $250 |
| Cleaning and utility setup | $0 | $300 |
| Old-lease overlap, 15 days | $0 | $925 |
| 12-month total | $24,000 | $23,925 |
The $925 in the table is 15 days of old rent owed after the new lease starts, on top of the new rent, prorated at an assumed $1,850 ÷ 30 a day; your lease decides how proration works. We assume no extra old-lease fees or incremental utility costs during the overlap; add any that actually apply. Refundable deposits are left out because they're assumed to come back.
Year one: moving saves $75
Renewing costs 12 × $2,000, or $24,000. Moving costs 11 months of base rent at $1,850, 12 months of fees at $75 and $2,675 in one-time costs, for $23,925. Over the year, the lower monthly bill saves $900 and the credit saves $1,850. The one-time costs absorb $2,675 of that $2,750, leaving $75.
If a listing quotes a "net effective" rent, check what it leaves out. Spreading the free month across the lease gives an average base rent of $1,695.83 ($1,850 × 11 ÷ 12). With fees, it's $1,770.83, still before moving costs. Counting everything, the first year averages $1,993.75 a month, just under the renewal's $2,000. Yet 11 of the 12 bills are still $1,925; the month-2 bill is just the $75 in fees.
That margin is thin. One extra $100 expense, such as a higher moving quote, turns the $75 saving into a $25 loss. If the tenant loses the credit, moving costs $1,775 more than renewing.
Year two: a scenario, not a forecast
Suppose the tenant stays a second year either way, fees don't change, and there's no new concession or second move. Neither landlord has promised a renewal or a price; the percentages below are test inputs, not predictions or legal limits. Use only fees and rent increases allowed under your lease and local law.
If both base rents rise 3%, renewing means $2,008.50 plus the $50 fee: $24,702 for year two and $48,702 over 24 months. At the new place it's $1,905.50 plus $75: $23,766 for year two and $47,691 in total. Moving comes out $1,011 ahead, since the lower bill keeps saving in year two.
Now hold the renewal at 3% and vary the new place's increase. At 8%, its base rent reaches $1,998, year two costs $24,876 and two years cost $48,801, so moving costs $99 more. Moving stays cheaper at 0%, 3% and 5% (by $1,677, $1,011 and $567) and costs $543 more at 10%. The result flips somewhere between 5% and 8%.
| Scenario | Renew | Move |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | $24,000 | $23,925 |
| 24 months, new place +0% | $48,702 | $47,025 |
| 24 months, new place +3% | $48,702 | $47,691 |
| 24 months, new place +5% | $48,702 | $48,135 |
| 24 months, new place +8% | $48,702 | $48,801 |
| 24 months, new place +10% | $48,702 | $49,245 |
Cash up front is a separate test
Assume the new landlord wants a refundable $1,850 deposit before the old $1,850 deposit comes back, and the renewal needs no deposit top-up. If everything is due by the same date, the mover needs $6,450: $1,850 in first-month base rent, $75 in fees, the $1,850 deposit and $2,675 in one-time costs. The renewer needs $2,000 by then. The month-2 credit comes too late to help.
That $6,450 is a timing snapshot, not an extra cost: all of it except the refundable deposit is already in the totals. A full refund of the old deposit is an assumption for the math, not a guarantee, and you can't spend it until it arrives. Any final nonrefundable deposit deduction is a real cost, as is interest paid to bridge the gap or forgone on cash tied up in deposits. Count each once, separately, if it applies.
What the Invitation Homes case shows
In September 2024, the Federal Trade Commission alleged that Invitation Homes, a single-family home landlord, advertised rents that left out mandatory monthly fees and unfairly withheld security deposits. The September 24 announcement described a proposed settlement. The company neither admitted nor denied the allegations. The court order entered on September 27, 2024, defines its "Total Monthly Leasing Price" to include recurring mandatory fees, requires clear fee disclosures and limits deposit deductions. It applies to Invitation Homes and parties covered by the order. These are case-specific requirements, and they show why the full monthly price is the number to compare.
The FTC's advice for renters fits either choice: get mandatory fees in writing, photograph the unit at move-in and move-out, and ask for an itemized list of any deposit deductions.
What this example leaves out
Utilities and renters insurance are assumed equal at both places, with no penalties. Differences in commute and time off work, borrowing costs, lease-break fees, clawbacks of the free month and lost deposits are left out; any of them could change the answer.
Your rights as a tenant usually come from your lease and from state or local law, the CFPB notes, so check your lease and the rules where you live on notice, auto-renewal, early exit and concessions rather than assuming one national standard. For help, the CFPB points renters to legal aid or a local bar association and to HUD's housing counseling program.
Before you sign
- Get the free-month terms in writing: which month is credited, what conditions apply, whether fees are still due that month and whether you'd ever repay it.
- Ask both landlords for itemized offers listing base rent and every mandatory fee.
- Get a written moving quote and firm dates for both leases.
- Compare total cost, then check the cash due before any deposit comes back.
- Weigh safety, accessibility and location alongside the numbers.
This article is general education, not legal or financial advice.
Sources and method
Sources checked October 11, 2026:
- Federal Trade Commission, "FTC Takes Action Against Invitation Homes for Deceiving Renters, Charging Junk Fees, Withholding Security Deposits, and Employing Unfair Eviction Practices," press release, September 24, 2024.
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgment, and Other Relief (PDF), FTC v. Invitation Homes Inc., No. 1:24-cv-04280-SEG, entered September 27, 2024.
- Federal Trade Commission, "FTC says Invitation Homes was anything but inviting," consumer alert, September 24, 2024.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "Your tenant and debt collection rights," last modified February 20, 2026.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "Help for renters," last modified December 12, 2024.
Method: Fictional figures in USD, measured from the first day of each option's next lease. Assumptions: one written, earned and unrepaid credit; fees paid every month; overlap prorated at $1,850 ÷ 30 a day; refundable deposits excluded and fully returned; in year two, the tenant stays under either choice with unchanged fees, no new concession and no second move. Averages are rounded to the cent.
Prepared with AI assistance; sources and illustrative calculations were cross-checked.
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