Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI Ask your landlord to lower your rent A boom in apartment building is giving tenants the power to demand lower rent from their landlords Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI By 2026-05-13T08:24:01.233Z A few weeks ago, Marco Bario texted his landlord with an unusual request. Bario and his wife, Tracy Neill, rent a four-bedroom townhouse in Frederick County, Maryland, about an hour outside Washington, DC. When they got the place in June 2024, they felt lucky to find respite from a sizzling rental market. Recently, however, they'd noticed comparable rental homes in the area going for hundreds of dollars less — some landlords were even cutting asking rents in a desperate bid for tenants. With their lease renewal date fast approaching, Bario posed a simple question to his landlord: What would he consider a fair monthly rent for the next year? The text kicked off a cordial but pointed back-and-forth.…