I’ve always either lived with family or in a home that I owned but now I’m looking to rent. How do I go about this? Internet searches? Realtor? I don’t know. I have a small well-behaved dog who is coming with me and I’m sure this makes things a bit more difficult.
I don’t even know what I don’t know!
Remember that a lease is a negotiated contract. Read it before you sign it. You can only get changes made BEFORE you sign, and you should get any changes/requests made IN WRITING ON THE LEASE - verbal stuff doesn’t count.
I have, on occasion, changed a lease from “no pets” to “list of allowed pets” (“two cats”, “small dog”, etc.) by offering an additional security deposit (about $50 per animal last I did it) and a written promise to fix any damage in the lease itself. But, again, you have to do this BEFORE you sign, and made sure that change appears in any subsequent renewal. However, landlords don’t have to make any accommodations for you in this manner. You can ask, but getting isn’t guaranteed.
Inspect the premises prior to rental. Take a camera of some sort with to record anything dodgey prior to signing so you aren’t later blamed for pre-existing issues. Hang onto any documentation of issues.
Test every electrical switch and piece of plumbing. Make sure everything works. Bring something small you can plug into outlets to make sure they work. Turn on faucets, flush the toilet, etc.
Take pictures or recordings of everything. Have everything in writing that is not on the lease. Receipts for any monies paiid signed and dated by both parties. Checks And money orders are good receipts. With purpose written in the memo area. Visit the house/ apartment at different times of day if possible . Check police calls in the area(you can do this on line). IANAL buy I watch the People’s Court on TV:D
On top of the excellent advice above, make sure you keep all original signed copies in paper form. File them away in a safe and secure location (i.e. safe, safe deposit box, etc.). You can scan them and save them, but DO NOT THROW AWAY the originals. If a legal issue comes up, scanned copies may not be good enough.
I got my full security deposit back because I kept my originals. The slimy landlord doctored the forms and scanned them in to his computer, then tossed them. He claimed I didn’t adher to the agreed upon notice when I told him I was moving out. The original lease said 30 days notice. He had changed it to 60 days.
HIS Lawyer told him to pay up.
I would make sure there is wording in the lease somewhere that states if X (X being mainly plumbing or AC) doesn’t get fixed with in 3 business days, then the rent gets prorated.
My best renting experiences have been in large, professionally managed buildings. My building right now has enough people to retain a full-time maintenance staff, and there is enough traffic in and out that management isn’t worrying about nickle and diming you. Repairs happen on the same day, and it’s great.
Most cities will have a website outlining tenant rights and providing help film resources.
Figure out who is going to take care of maintenance. I’ve rented entirely from small-time, independent landlords, and how things get fixed is one of the big factors that affects your quality of life. When you visit an apartment, ask about how various emergency repairs will be handled. Hopefully the landlord can give you the name of a plumber, carpenter, handyman, and/or property manager that can take care of emergencies within a few hours, and other repairs in just a day or two. Be very wary if they say they handle fixes themselves, or have some family member or friend-of-a-friend. It might be OK, but generally the part time amateur maintenance guy won’t do a great job and won’t be able to fix things very quickly. Run away if you get the impression that the landlord is gonna take a week to find the absolute cheapest guy on Craigslist…
I second the suggestion to take pictures on the day you move in and again on the day you move out. Make sure that they are dated. This is your defense if the landlord withholds money for damage. If the place isn’t spotless, be sure to capture this in the photos.
If/when you move out, count extra time to come back and clean. It doesn’t have to be move in ready, but if you leave crap behind, some landlords will charge you disposal fees.
Take time to read the contract. My daughter’s contract put in it that each student was responsible for up to $150 for carpet cleaning, on a ~1000 sq ft 2 bdrm place with maybe 400 sq feet of carpet. Guess how much he charged each student? Ridiculous to charge $600 for carpet cleaning, but we couldn’t fight it after the fact because it was in the contract.
Many landlords charge additionally for pets, sometimes up front, sometimes monthly and sometimes both. For instance, my daughter had to pay $250 up front for an additional deposit on damage + $25 non-refundable each month for the cat her MIL gave her.
Look at the contract before putting nails in the walls.
Get renter’s insurance. Your landlord doesn’t have the ability to insure your belongings, even if he/she wanted to. It’s usually very reasonably priced. If the place burns down, or gets flooded, or whatever, this will cover replacement value of your clothes, computers, ipods, big screen tvs, etc.
Pay your rent on time.
If parking is an issue in the area you buy, look for a place that throws in a dedicated parking space.
Where to look for apartments varies on where you are and what you’re looking for. It used to be that the Classifieds was the place to look, but the internet has changed all that. Call an agent in the area you’re targeting and ask what going rates are. They should know the market.
If you’re looking for affordable apartments, stay away from areas immediately surrounding colleges, as rates are usually sky high around universities, because parents are subsidizing their kids.
That being said, if you need roommates to help pay the rent, then staying closer to a university or big employer will help you find roommates, as most have a bulletin board for folks looking for roommates.
This is a very good point. Usually you can get it from the same company that has your car insurance.
Always a good idea to read the contract beforehand, but if you do get into a dispute or a case where you don’t think something is fair, look up the laws in your state and city.
I know that the above, for example, is not legal in California. A landlord can’t charge more than actual reasonable costs for damage/cleaning, they have to itemize costs and include receipts or reasonable estimates, and they can’t charge at all for “normal wear and tear”.
It appears that it’s not legal in Ohio either (although PunditLisa’s daughter might be in some other place).
In some cases, you’re stuck with what you agreed to. In others, the law will invalidate any part of the lease that doesn’t conform. Knowing which is which can save you lots of money.
Be careful of scams.
Scammers are breaking into vacant homes, changing the locks and renting them out. A friend of mine almost got taken this way, and the scammer had listed the house on Zillow.
There should be some kind of public record you can look up to see if the person renting you the house is the actual owner of the house.
Also, the entire lease was a huge red flag. One of the items in it was that the landlord could stop by anytime without notice and if there was so much as a dirty dish in the sink the tenant wasn’t keeping the property up and could be evicted.
If, for some reason, you won’t be able to pay your rent on time SAY SO BEFORE THE DUE DATE. Be specific as to why (severe illness, accident, some sort of emergency, whatever), state when you will pay the amount due, and DO THAT, including any or all late fees incurred.
If you pay the rent on time and in full the vast majority of the time, something exceptional occurs, and you do the above you’ll be a much better situation than otherwise. Stuff happens, we all know that, but show you’re a responsible human being and the landlord won’t need to chase and it will go a long way towards continued good relations.
In Ohio, there is a form you fill out upon moving in. Basically a list of each room where you document pre-existing damages. Be very picky with this form. If you can see where nail holes have been fixed, and the lease states no nails, make sure you can prove they were there, so dated pictures. I’d go so far as to say have your pictures printed, and turn them in with this list.
An apartment manager pointed out some very minor damages to my parents, asking if they wanted them fixed. Small chip on the outside corner of a wall where someone had banged it with furniture. Tiny burn hole in the carpet. My parents did not put the damages on the form, since the woman knew about them - and they got charged for them when they moved.
I’d also suggest that once you decide on an area, drive through it a couple times, different times of day to see what’s going on. You can check with the police for a list of crimes in that neighborhood, but if no one has complained about the nightly crowd of people drinking in the neighbor’s yard, you’d never know.
Decide ahead of time what you want from a place. If you rent a house, yard work and snow removal are probably not handled by the landlord. Top floor apartments are quieter overall, since no one is “walking on your head,” but they are harder to keep cool in the summer. Ground floor apartments are cooler in the summer, but that goes for winter, too. Ground floor apartments also run the risk of neighbors looking in your windows.
Thanks for all the good info so far!
In most US States, you can check the state or county records for the actual owner of the property (the taxpayer). In many/most locations, those records are easily available online.
I agree with you. However, our attorney disagreed. She said that carpet cleaning was written as a separate component of the contract from the security deposit and if we had issues, we should have stricken it from the contract before we signed it.
Nonetheless, she did draft a letter quoting the Ohio Revised Code and asking for the money withheld to be refunded. She included the pictures I had taken on move-in day showing that the carpet had not been cleaned prior to the girls moving in. The landlord never responded. Our alternative at that point was to sue him in small claims court. However, my daughter had moved to another state and had just started a new job, so that would have required taking off work. We declined to take further action. But it still rankles me.
Find out about utilities like heat, electricity, and water. Find out what’s included in your rent and what you have to pay for. Find out the average payments if possible. Find out who you make payments to and how often you make those payments. And find out who you call in case of an emergency involving any of those utilities.
Find out about garbage. Is there a pick-up or do you have to bring it somewhere? Is there a fee? Are there limits on how much you can throw out or what can be included? Is there mandatory recycling?
Find out about cable and internet access.
Find out who maintains the lawns and grounds. If you live in an area where it’s an issue, find out who shovels snow.
As soon as you find a place call the electric company to arrange for power to be turned on. Also, call the cable company and schedule an appointment for connection, do this as soon as possible since it can sometimes take a while for an appointment. Call the water company to see if a deposit is required. Stop be the post office to fill out a change of address form, or see if it can be done online.
When deciding on a place, ask the landlord how much it typically costs to heat/cool the place. They should have a general idea. A lower rent is not a deal, if the heating/cooling costs are high. If the landlord pays the utilities, find out if you can control the thermostat. I wouldn’t want to live in a place where I couldn’t control the temperature.
That surprises me. My understanding of leases (contracts in general) is that any portion that’s contrary to the law is not enforceable. And in most places the allowable agreements are pretty narrow. But I’m not a lawyer, so I could easily be wrong.
That doesn’t surprise me. If you’re going to put a bullshit charge in the lease, no reason to just give it back in response to a letter. I’m sure that shady landlords everywhere rely on the fact that it’s a hassle (and somewhat daunting) to go to court.
Can someone tell me the secret to getting a rental agent to call, email, or text me back? This is very frustrating.