NEW YORK — While many costs have come down for small businesses, rents remain high and in some cases are still rising, forcing many owners into some uncomfortable decisions.

“Every time the rent goes up, we have to raise prices to keep up with the cost,” said Adelita Valentine, owner of HairFreek Barbers in Los Angeles. “But with the cost of living, it makes it difficult on our customers.”

Other owners are choosing to be late on payments or seeking out new locations where the rent is lower. A few are pushing back against their landlord.

Although inflation is easing, it remains a top concern for small businesses.

According to Bank of America internal data, rent payments per small business client rose 11% year-over-year in July. That’s more than twice the increase for renting and owning a residence, a metric known as shelter, according to the government’s monthly consumer price index. That figure rose 5.1% in July.

And although the situation has improved since the height of the pandemic, a survey by business networking platform Alignable of more than 6,000 small-business owners found that 41% could not pay their July rent on time and in full. And 52% said they’ve encountered rent spikes in the past six months.

The rent for Valentine’s barbershop rose to $4,000 in January from $3,600 in December, the fifth increase in the past eight years. She had to raise the price for her cuts from $35 to $40.

Two months ago, she moved locations for a cheaper $3,200 rent, but her space is smaller now and she sees fewer families coming in. After the price increase, “a lot of people can’t afford to take a whole family to get haircuts,” she said.

Standing firm against a landlord sometimes works.

Janna Rodriguez has run her home-based The Innovative Daycare Corp. in Freeport, New York, since 2018. When she first signed her lease, she paid $3,500, plus costs like landscaping and maintenance. In 2020, the pandemic began, and her landlord raised her rent to $3,800 and made her start paying half of the homeowner’s insurance. Last year, the landlord raised her rent to $4,100, plus the additional expenses.

Rodriguez raised her prices for the first time, by $10 a child per week, to help offset the rising rent.

This year she pushed back when the landlord wanted to raise the rent again.

“I said to them, if you do that, then I’m going to find another property to move my business to, because at this point now you’re trying to bankrupt a business, right?”

It worked — so far.

For others, negotiating a late payment is an option.

Nicole Pomije, owner of Minneapolis-based The Cookie Cups, which makes cookie kits for kids, has a 4,000-foot office space along with a warehouse where she develops her line of baking kits. Her rent rose 10% this year to $4,000 monthly.

Several months in the past couple of years she couldn’t pay rent on time. The landlord has been amenable to later payment.