What Are The Responsibilities of a Tenant?Written by dan the roommate man
s a tenant, you have many advantages over homeowners... you don't have to mow lawn, or paint house, or repave driveway. It may seem like you haven't any responsibilities above and beyond getting rent check in on time... but you do.Through landlord-tenant laws, you are required to do several things: # Keep your apartment or house safe and sanitary. # Dispose of trash and garbage in a sanitary manner. While your landlord will usually maintain outside of a rental unit (depending on lease) you are responsible for interior. Failing to keep rented unit clean could result in loss of your security deposit. # Keep all appliances that landlord provides in good working order. # Keep electrical and plumbing fixtures clean and use them properly. If any of these fixtures break, it is your responsibility to contact landlord. Your landlord is responsible for keeping these things in good working order, and unless they've broken because of your carelessness your landlord is typically responsible for making repairs. # Not damage apartment or permit your guests or visitors to do so. # Not disturb other tenants. You have your right to quiet enjoyment, and so do other tenants. It is landlord's responsibility to make sure that noise/comfort level of other tenants is appropriate, and in order to do this, he or she will want you to help them out.
| | Lease Up? Here's How To LeaveWritten by dan the roommate man
When leases end, landlords typically continue to rent home or apartment on a month to month basis until one of parties indicates otherwise. If you want to end lease and you want to keep most of your security deposit, you will need to make transition easy on your landlord.Let Your Landlord Know Your're Leaving: Just because you know you're planning to move at end of month doesn't mean your landlord does! Look at your lease to see how many days notice you must give your landlord before you actually leave. Once you’ve determined this, you will need to provide your landlord with a written notice of your intentions. If you do not let your landlord know you’re leaving, you could end up paying for another month’s rent. For a sample of a notice to vacate, click here. Clean Up The Apartment: In order to get as much of your security deposit back as possible, you’ll want to leave apartment looking as clean as you possibly can. The less landlord has to do to prepare your apartment for new renters - more likely you will get your security deposit back. For example, if you painted any part of apartment another color, ask your landlord if he plans to paint it back to original color. It may be less money for you to paint it yourself than for him to take money out of your deposit. Also, cost of renting a steam cleaner (available at most grocery stores) might be cheaper than what your landlord will charge in cleaning fees. For some helpful cleaning tips, check out this cleaning tips forum. Ask Your Landlord To Do A Walk-Through Inspection: You might want to video tape this walk through if you’re worried about landlord claiming damages after you’ve already moved into another apartment. Otherwise, you can just walk through apartment and write down any damages you two see. If, for some reason, your landlord refuses to walk through with you, send a letter asking landlord again, and make sure letter includes a paragraph stating date that he or she refused to walk through with you. Later, if landlord makes deductions from your deposit for damage that was not present when you left, was not as severe as landlord claims, or which you would have repaired yourself (at a lower cost), you have a basis to dispute amount of deductions.
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