Apartment Living: Landlord Issues

Living in an apartment can have its downfalls. Most of them can originate when the tenant and the landlord do not get along. Many of the landlord-tenant issues can be resolved by looking at your lease. The lease is signed by both the landlord and the tenant once everything is agreeable.

A lease is a written agreement between the landlord and the tenant and stating all of the important items that is agreed upon about living in the apartment. A lease provides protection to the tenant while living in the apartment. The lease should clearly describe the responsibilities of both the tenant and the landlord and should include the date that the tenant moves in, the duration of time that the lease is good for or how long that the tenant will remain in the apartment, the amount of the rent and the date that the rent is due. It should also specify how the rent is to be paid, either by cash, check or money order, etc. The lease will also specify the amount of the deposit that is required and what the deposit will cover and what any circumstances are that can cause the tenant to lose the deposit. Most of the time the deposit is for the first and last months rent and it can be lost if the tenant totally trashes the place when they move out. In this case the deposit will go to cleaning and fixing the apartment back up so that it can be rented again.

The lease will also specify who pays for what. It will tell the tenant if he/she is in charge of paying for utilities and/or plumbing and if the landlord takes care of the garbage removal and snow removal. It also specifies who has to pay for any repairs that may be incurred during the duration of the lease.

There may also be a statements regarding guests—especially those that stay for long periods of time. A statement on pets may also be listed. Some landlords do not want to have to mess with pets so may only allow certain pets such as fish or birds. Others may allow you to have a cat or dog, but may increase your deposit to cover costs of cleaning up pet stains that may occur during the time the apartment is rented.

Before a tenant signs the lease he/she should read it clause by clause and make sure that each one is understood. The tenant and the landlord should also inspect the apartment together and note any repairs that need to be made or anything that is wrong on the last page of the lease. This step can prevent a lot of issues from the very beginning because both will have seen the apartment and documented it from the very beginning. The lease should only be signed once it contains all the agreements made between the landlord and the tenant. And once the lease is signed, a copy should be kept by the landlord and the tenant.