What should I look for in a rental home and what should I ask the potential landlord before moving in?

Answer 1

1. What is the rent? What is the Deposit?
2. What utilities are included in the Rent? What utilities do I have to set up? Do you assist in setting up utilities?
3. What are the rules for property upkeep? Is it my responsibility to mow the lawn? Do I have permission to plant flowers? Am I allowed to put up a playset in the yard?
4. What requirements are there for home maintenence? Do I have permission to paint/wallpaper? Do you take care of repainting/carpet cleaning? If so the frequency.
5. How long have you been trying to rent the property?
6. What are the closest schools? Shopping? Hospitals?
7. Do you have/had any problems with insect infestation in the home? (ex. roaches, ants, water bugs)
8. What is the crime rate for the area? Has this property ever been raided by the police or murder investigation?
9. Why are you renting this property?
10. Do you do automatic bank account deductions?
11. Are pets allowed? If so, is there a deposit? If so, how much?
12. What rules do you have for tenants?
13. What requirement do you have for leasing opportunities? What is the least amount of time that I could rent the location and the maximum?
14. Do you have any questions for Me?
15. What were the last major repairs and upgrades that were done for the property?

Answer 2

There is obviously a system of checks and balances you need to keep in mind when researching your rental property.

How long do you plan on staying? How much are you paying per month towards rent?

If you aren't staying long, it may not be worth it to perform extensive research.

That said, there are things you should ask your landlord and things you SHOULDN'T ask:

Ask if you are allowed to make any alterations- will you incur penalties or fines if you paint the walls, put holes into them, or install different faucets?

What about the outside? Are you allowed to landscape as you wish? Are you responsible for keeping any bushes and hedges in tidy order?

Will the landlord provide preventive maintenance for you, or is that your responsibility? Are you in charge of replacing filters, fixing leaky sinks, replacing dead garbage disposals, or will your landlord handle all of that?

Will your landlord have rights to enter the premises at all times, or will you have the sole key? It may be creepy for you to come home and find him or her lurking about, claiming to "check up on things"- but then again, they may be completely legit and honestly checking things.

Are there any noise ordnances in the neighborhood? Even if you do or don't plan on being a loud neighbor, it's nice to know if your potential neighbors tend to party at 4:00 in the morning.

You shouldn't ask your landlord about the neighborhood- who is going to say it's a crime infested slum? Instead, take a few hours at different times of day, and on different days- to drive through and observe for yourself.

Check the police blotters to see if your neighborhood appears frequently or at all.

AND ABOVE ALL, make certain the terms of ending your rental agreement are clear- if you decide to move out after going nuts before your year is up, you should know what you need to do as far as squaring things away with your landlord.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Why rent a home when it's better to purchase a home at basically the same rate. FYI-most rental homes that are in a neighborhood where people own their homes is looked down upon. Might want to see if the majority of the people in the neighborhood...own or rent. Could make all the difference on how comfortable you will be.
Slumlords are a dime a dozen as well.

Answer 4

In my opinion the landlord is a major factor in renting. Talk to other people who have rented from that person and ask:

Does he make repairs promptly?
Do you get your deposit back?
Does he make unannounced visits and invade your privacy?
Does he frequently go up on the rent?
Is he easy to talk to?

Have a contract that specifies:

What the rent is and how long the rent will be that amount.
What happens to the deposit when you move?
What happens if you want to move, like how much notice you
have to give and is it in writing or what.
What repairs are covered by the landlord and what kinds of
things you will be responsible for.
Conditions about having pets.
If you share the rent with roommates, who is actually
responsible.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

What is included in the rent? (eg, is the council tax or water bill included?)
Are children or pets allowed?
What are you allowed to do in the house? (eg, can you put up shelves/build a conservatory/run a home business from the premises?)
Are there any rules about smoking?
What are the neighbours like?(you might want to meet them before moving)
What are you responsible for? (are there already appliances? Are you responsible for replacement of furniture, etc. which has been left there by the landlord?

Answer 6

Safe Neigborhood, Clean House with no pest, Payable Rent, What is the history of the house. You should want to konw who has lived in that place before you moved in and what type of people they were. Check to see if the landlord is responsible, and will fix any problems their are with the place your renting.

Answer 7

Check the neighborhood, not only at the time you are visitng, but at night and over the weekend.

Ask the landlord about pets (most throw a fit about it) and what is the policy if something breaks down (like the toilet)

Answer 8

Well if you are like me then you like to personalize your space... so be sure to ask your new landlord if you will be aloud to paint. Nothing crazy of coarse. Oh ya one other tip, request the average gas and electric bills from utility co. Gas can some times be extremely high and could set you outside of your budget.

Answer 9

Heres 1 question to ask the landlord...are pets allowed?

Answer 10

Ask to see it first before signing the lease- This happened to me- I was so excited to get this cute little house they said I couldn't go inside yet because the owner was working on it so I went ahead and signed the lease and we moved in the whole house was nasty and covered in roaches. They wouldn't do anything about it so we wouldn't pay rent and left.