You will need to give Notice to Vacate or Sublease.

Giving Notice to Vacate is extremely important. Remember you have signed a binding contract to pay the rent for your room or apartment. Most properties require 30-60 days’ notice that you will be leaving the property when the lease ends. If you don’t give the notice as required by your contract you will have to pay the extra rent. This can be a big expense at a very inconvenient time. Read that contract again!

If you need to move out of your apartment before the lease ends you will need to sublet or relet the room/apartment. You should expect to pay a subletting fee. This process differs from property to property and the details should be in your contract. Read it again!

Renter’s insurance is an important thing to consider when renting an apartment. Some properties require their tenants to carry renter’s insurance for liability reason. Depending on the policy, renter’s insurance can cover damage to the apartment or your personal belongings. Most renters’ insurance policies are very inexpensive and can be easily added to your auto insurance.

The qualifying process is used by apartments to help ensure their new tenants are able to pay the rent. This just means that you qualify to be a tenant, like you qualify to be a doctor. You don’t need years at medical school though. What you need is the following information:

Monthly Income. You need to be able to prove that you can pay the rent. Your monthly income should be three times the monthly rent. If your room costs $500 a month your monthly income needs to be at least $1500 before tax. You’ll need proof of this, so your last 3-5 pay stubs are really useful to have.

Credit Check. Don’t be scared. It’s just making sure you don’t have any debt already. No one wants you to move in if you haven’t been paying the rent on your old place. They also check that you didn’t damage the property. Students don’t exactly have a good reputation for taking good care of a property, so this will be checked.

Rental History. This is simply a check withyour previous landlord to make sure you were a good tenant who paid the rent on time and that you haven’t been evicted from the previous property.

Criminal Background. No one wants to live somewhere unsafe. Apartments generally don’t allow people with a felony or a violent misdemeanour on their record rent in the building.

A cosigner can help you get your first apartment. A cosigner is literally someone who meets the qualifying standards for the apartment and who can also sign the lease. University students often have their parents as co-signers. The cosigner will have to show that their income is anywhere from 3-6 times the monthly rent. It’s important for the cosigner to know that they are entering a binding contract and that they are responsible for paying the rent if the tenant does not pay. Furthermore their credit could be affected by a broken lease.

If you do not meet the qualifying standards, yes. However, there are fair housing laws and you cannot be denied housing be denied based on race, sex, etc From the HUD website – “Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), as amended, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18), and disability.” In a nutshell – Fair Housing Laws prevent you from being denied an apartment for any other reason than not meeting the apartments qualifying standards. Apartments may not discriminate against potential renters.

Yes. You must read the document very carefully before you sign it and make sure that you agree with all the terms. If you have a cosigner make sure they do the same. Breaking a lease can have very negative impact on your credit and your ability to lease an apartment in the future. If you have a problem with a lease contract consult a lawyer for assistance.

Many apartments include some of the utilities with rent. However, even in individual leasing situation, one person can be left as the sole responsible party for a utility bill – often the electric bill. The utility company charges for the entire apartment so roommates will need to decide who is going to be responsible for setting up and paying that bill. Once again, if your name is on the bill, you are ultimately responsible for the entire apartment’s bill and failure to pay can affect your credit.

Roommate Matching is really useful in this situation. You will fill in a form where you will give your preferences for a roommate. If you are working on your thesis and need a lot of quiet time you won’t want to be matched with someone who plays loud music at 4am. Similarly, if you are allergic to cats you won’t want to live with someone who has four. The questions will usually also cover issues like smoking, cleaning, pets, drinking, and study habits. You will also have the option to say if you want to be matched with male or female roommates.

Individual Leases: Most common for apartments for university students. Each room in the house is leased separately. You may be matched with other students who you have not met. Each roommate is legally responsible for their individual rent. So if the apartment costs $2000 a month but your room costs $500 a month you are only responsible for your payment of $500. This is great for students as you are not liable if your roommates fail to pay the rent.

Another advantage to individual leasing is that it is usually significantly cheaper to rent a room in an apartment with many rooms than an apartment with one room. This is because you will be sharing common areas and bathrooms as well as expenses such as gas and heating.

Conventional Leases: When an apartment is rented out as a total unit. There is only one lease signed rather than each roommate signing an individual agreement. Each residents listed on the lease is responsible for the terms of the lease. This means if your ex-BFF leaves the apartment without paying the rent, you would be responsible for the monthly rent on the entire apartment.

You need to find out what leases are available, the cost of the process, the cost of utilities, and how to get help if you need it. Off campus student housing is available and moving into your first apartment can be a really exciting time. Meeting new roomies and having your independence is one of the best parts of being a student.