Renting your first apartment? Here are several things you definitely want to pay attention to. Moving soon and need some budget friendly tips? Check out this video:
Hi i’m chelsea and i’m lauren and we are the financial diet and today we’re going to be talking about something that most of you have likely already done or are going to be doing very soon which is renting your house or apartment now renting is obviously a great option especially if you’re just starting out just out of college and are not in any position to be
Buying a home but renting is also a dynamic which can often put the renter at a disadvantage especially if they don’t know they’re right so everyone’s bound to make a few mistakes when they first start out i know that chelsea and i both did for example when i first started renting i didn’t take photos of the unit and i also didn’t ask for a receipt upon pain the
First and last month’s rent would you should always do so even though you’re likely to make a few small mistakes like that there are definitely ways to protect yourself against the bigger ways you might get screwed over the unfortunate truth is that a lot of people in the renting world do not have the best intentions and are looking out for themselves and their
Money so these are the top five ways that you might get screwed over when renting an apartment so that you can protect yourself number one is landlords overcharging or hiding certain fees so in nearly every rental situation you’re going to have to put some money down upfront this could be anything from the first and last month’s run to a security deposit to a
Move-in fee so first and foremost you want to make sure that all the fees that you’re paying are legal ones that your landlord can actually charge you in extremely competitive rental environments it’s not uncommon for landlords to charge exorbitant and even illegal fees because they know the market is so competitive make sure that you’re clear on what is and isn’t
Refundable what you can expect to get back when you move out and how fees are calculated and remember you have every right to ask for receipts and documentation of every payment that you’re making and separate from all of the actual apartments fees if you’re working with a broker like lauren and i did and therefore paying a broker’s fee remember that that fee is
Often negotiable and should always at least be asked about we linked out to a few really helpful resources in the description below which talks about the different deposits and fees you might be asked to pay they’ll help you decide if what you’re being charged is appropriate number two is the landlord or management company being dishonest about damages as lauren
Mentioned at the beginning of this video it’s extremely important when you move into a new place to take photos ideally time-stamped photos of the state of the apartment when you moved into it this is especially important if there are any damages or repairs that need to be made or old fixtures that may soon break you must keep a record of these photos because if
It ever comes down to your word versus your landlords on who damaged what you would be surprised how many landlords will lie their asses off and then claiming that you caused damages can mean anything from them withholding your security deposit to them taking you to court of course in an ideal world you would never move into a place that has outstanding repairs to
Be done but sometimes you can’t avoid it and what you must do in that situation is have a written record of telling your landlord that you demand those repairs be made along with photographic evidence that they were there it may never become an issue but if it ever does you need to be protected number three is having ineffective management or an unreliable landlord
So as a renter you’re typically not on the hook to pay for repairs needed in your place it’s the landlord’s job to make sure that in the building and the unit is both safe and comfortable to live in and having a lazy slower unreliable landlord means that those essential repairs are not getting made also depending on where you live there are often renters rights in
Place that allow you to withhold rent payment if essential repairs are not being made dealing with an unreliable landlord is difficult and malinka to resources in the description below to help you through that another thing that landlords are responsible for is giving you back your security deposit once you move out if there were no damages in the apartment that
Were your fault depending on where you live there are different guidelines on the requirement your landlord has to pay you back this deposit in a timely fashion and this should also be outlined in your lease when it comes to your rent each month as well as your deposits and fees know your rights number four really piggy backs on that previous point and it is not
Having a paper trail almost every interaction you have with a landlord or management company should be had in writing not only should all of the details of your rent your utilities of your refundable x’ of your fees be outlined in the lease any contact that you have with your landlord or management about any issues in the apartment should be happening from day
One via email or snail mail for example if you come to a time when you need to break your lease because of issues in the apartment your landlord can easily withhold your deposit if you do not have written proof from day one that you’ve been demanding repairs be made it’s up to you to prove as the renter that your landlord violated the terms of your lease otherwise
You have essentially no recourse i have definitely made the mistake or of doing all of my complaining about an apartment issue via phone and then when the time came to request my lease be broken early having no way to prove why i got lucky in the sense that my landlord was relatively cool about it and be grudgingly gave me my deposit back but i realized that if
It had gone to court i would have been totally screwed number five is having shady roommates of course landlords can try to screw you over from time to time but it’s not only them that can do damage it’s also roommates if you’re moving in with roommates that you don’t know make sure that your name is getting put on the lease asap and quite frankly even if you’re
Living with your best friend you should both be on the lease because if there’s ever an issue not being on the lease means you can do jack about it so if your name is not on the lease you can potentially get duped into paying much more than your fair share or your roommates could one day decide to kick you out for any number of reasons fun fact i’m in a facebook
Group for people buying and selling and renting things in new york and approximately once a week some poster gets screamed at because they’re trying to take advantage of naive people coming to new york by charging them about twice as much as their room in their apartment is worth so that they can basically live there for free and no matter what your pain you want
To make sure that you are not caught in the middle of an illegal sublet situation we all want to assume the best in people but the truth is that renting is often an extremely imbalanced power dynamic in which everyone involved is just trying to save a buck sometimes you look out and get a great landlord or great roommates but sometimes you can end up in a really
Messed up situation because you didn’t protect yourself so go into any rental situation knowing your rights and being prepared to fight for them so as always thank you for watching and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button and go to the financial diet.com for more bye
Transcribed from video
How You Might Get Screwed Over When Renting An Apartment | The Financial Diet By The Financial Diet
