Good news!:

My landlord not only renewed my lease, but he did it without raising the rent at all!

I had written him a quick note since my lease is up on Sept. 15th and I had said I'd love to renew, and I'd appreciate it if he could keep the raise in rent down, if at all possible, since I know the city was probably jacking up his taxes.

I also mentioned how I always got my check in by the last day of every month for the first of the next and how I'd been picking up glass and trash from the backyard and front area, as well as how I'd made material improvements to the apartment that would benefit future tenants (weatherlining all doors, drywalling a small hole in the closet, raising the clothing rod since it was sagging in the middle, installing a curtain rod and putting a nice curtain over the door-less closet).

He said it was no problem, he'd keep it the same, since he prefers to hold on to good tenants.

Score!