A quick update - we had dinner with the Landlord the other night and talked about our plans. He was planning on redoing the entire attic and putting plumbing, new windows, etc sometime in the next five years. Basically, we offered to pay for up to 10k of the cost (which may end up being +- half of the total cost) in exchange for our rent not being raised for the duration of our lease. Obviously we need to get it in writing, but this seems like a pretty good deal to me. 10k spread over 8 years is about 100 per month, which would be less than what the rent would go to otherwise, since adding an extra floor to a house would bump it up 300-500 per month, typically. What do you think? Is it a good deal?