MOVING INTO A NEW APARTMENT? KNOW ALL THE COSTSWritten by dan the roommate man
When you move in to a new apartment, landlord may charge you more than first month's rent. Before you sign lease, make sure you understand exactly what you're going to be charged, and get it in writing.Security Deposit: This is mini-landlord insurance. The deposit is equivalent to about one to two month's rent and can cover anything from a broken window to stained carpet. At end of your lease, landlord will conduct an inspection and see whether or not he or she needs to use any of money on anything damaged beyond normal “wear and tear” during your stay. State law may only use security deposit for three purposes: unpaid rent, damages and for cleaning stains or any excessively dirty area. The landlord cannot use it to repaint apartment to make it look more inviting for next tenants. (That's illegal). Cleaning Fee: Since landlords cannot legally use your security deposit for basic cleaning purposes, some of them choose to include a cleaning fee in your lease. Last Month of Rent: Some landlords ask for last month's rent in advance. This way, if you break your lease without first consulting your landlord, he or she has 30 days to find a new tenant before he or she needs another rent payment. If you're a good tenant, and don't break your lease, then you'll save yourself trouble of having to worry about getting together your last month of rent. (This can be really helpful when you have to deal with all costs of moving out!) Unlike security deposit, this charge is non-refundable. Pet Deposit: This, too, is a form of mini-landlord insurance typically running somewhere around $300.00. The pet deposit is used to cover any wear and tear caused by your pets. Some landlords also ask for a 'pet fee' once a month ($20-$50) to cover cost and inconvenience of lovely pooper-scooping duties. Renter's Insurance: You aren't required to get insurance, but it is HIGHLY recommended. It's incredibly easy for an unusual character to walk through complex unnoticed. New people are in and out of apartments all time, so you don't have same security that a homeowner does. With that in mind, you ought to invest in Renter's Insurance as protection against theft, water damage and fire.
| | MORE TRUE COLLEGE ROOMMATE STORIESWritten by dan the roommate man
So it's my fifth (and final) year of undrgrad and I am planning on getting my own place; but right before that happens I get an opportunity to rent a house for a total of $750 month, and this includes utilities. Well, no shit, I'm going to go for it. All I have to do is find two roommates. Well I met some dude (we will refer to him as CrazyBones) in a class semester before. He seemed a little off, but overall we got along and we had been in touch that summer and coincidently he needed a place to stay and he had met someone (we will call him DnD for Drunk and Desperate) who needed a place to stay and this set up worked well at time.Less than a week into semester, CrazyBones decides that he doesn't need to go to class anymore. So this, along with fact he doesn't have a job, provided ample free time for him to sit around in sweat pants and be an all around scrub. As a few weeks went by I could just tell by some small actions and a glint he had in his eye something was definitely not right in this guy's brain. But I'll spare small details and go straight to shit. So it all starts one night when we threw a party. Everything is going fine until about 11pm when one of my buddies says that CrazyBones just ran half party out because he yelled at whoever was in earshot that they were all essentially worthless because they weren't paying attention to his crappy attempt a freestyle rapping (mind you he is 6,4 250 or so lbs and a goony looking white guy). I took this with a grain of salt and continued having a good time until about 4am when some dude comes into basement all bloody and says I need to take CrazyBones to hospital. oh, shit.....Well apparently two had gotten in a massive fight in CrazyBones' room and there was blood everywhere and a window was broken and his hand was sliced up pretty bad. So I drive him to hospital and I wait in lobby as he is being attended to. And after about an hour he comes out having stole a bunch of hospitals crap saying they were taking too long and he was going to deal with it himself. He disappeared next morning and eventually subsided a few days later fixed up. I don't know and don't want to. Maybe a week or so after that I come downstairs to find all furniture we had had (which was mostly his) he moved to basement, where he set up shop and reversed lock so only he could get in. At this time he is hanging around some pretty shady people (he always did, but these were even worse) going in and out of house. All he is doing is hanging out in basement and maybe he would run an errand or two during week. Mind you he isn't going to class and has no job. And there are empty bottles of prescription pills everywhere.
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