american tower corporation and subsidiaries notes to consolidated financial statements 2014 ( continued ) 7 . derivative financial instruments under the terms of the credit facility , the company is required to enter into interest rate protection agreements on at least 50% ( 50 % ) of its variable rate debt . under these agreements , the company is exposed to credit risk to the extent that a counterparty fails to meet the terms of a contract . such exposure is limited to the current value of the contract at the time the counterparty fails to perform . the company believes its contracts as of december 31 , 2004 are with credit worthy institutions . as of december 31 , 2004 , the company had two interest rate caps outstanding with an aggregate notional amount of $ 350.0 million ( each at an interest rate of 6.0% ( 6.0 % ) ) that expire in 2006 . as of december 31 , 2003 , the company had three interest rate caps outstanding with an aggregate notional amount of $ 500.0 million ( each at a rate of 5.0% ( 5.0 % ) ) that expired in 2004 . as of december 31 , 2004 and 2003 , there was no fair value associated with any of these interest rate caps . during the year ended december 31 , 2003 , the company recorded an unrealized loss of approximately $ 0.3 million ( net of a tax benefit of approximately $ 0.2 million ) in other comprehensive loss for the change in fair value of cash flow hedges and reclassified $ 5.9 million ( net of a tax benefit of approximately $ 3.2 million ) into results of operations . during the year ended december 31 , 2002 , the company recorded an unrealized loss of approximately $ 9.1 million ( net of a tax benefit of approximately $ 4.9 million ) in other comprehensive loss for the change in fair value of cash flow hedges and reclassified $ 19.5 million ( net of a tax benefit of approximately $ 10.5 million ) into results of operations . hedge ineffectiveness resulted in a gain of approximately $ 1.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2002 , which is recorded in other expense in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations . the company records the changes in fair value of its derivative instruments that are not accounted for as hedges in other expense . the company did not reclassify any derivative losses into its statement of operations for the year ended december 31 , 2004 and does not anticipate reclassifying any derivative losses into its statement of operations within the next twelve months , as there are no amounts included in other comprehensive loss as of december 31 , 2004 . 8 . commitments and contingencies lease obligations 2014the company leases certain land , office and tower space under operating leases that expire over various terms . many of the leases contain renewal options with specified increases in lease payments upon exercise of the renewal option . escalation clauses present in operating leases , excluding those tied to cpi or other inflation-based indices , are straight-lined over the term of the lease . ( see note 1. ) future minimum rental payments under non-cancelable operating leases include payments for certain renewal periods at the company 2019s option because failure to renew could result in a loss of the applicable tower site and related revenues from tenant leases , thereby making it reasonably assured that the company will renew the lease . such payments in effect at december 31 , 2004 are as follows ( in thousands ) : year ending december 31 .

$ 106116: 2006: 106319
2007: 106095
2008: 106191
2009: 106214
thereafter: 1570111
total: 2101046

aggregate rent expense ( including the effect of straight-line rent expense ) under operating leases for the years ended december 31 , 2004 , 2003 and 2002 approximated $ 118741000 , $ 113956000 , and $ 109644000 , respectively. .

Questions:
what was the aggregate rent expense in 2003?
and what was it in 2002?
what was, then, the change over the year?
what was the aggregate rent expense in 2002?
and how much does that change represent in relation to this 2002 rent expense, in percentage?

Answers:
113956000
109644000
4312000
109644000
3.9%