Very few people actually read their entire lease before signing it and moving into their new apartment or house. Ideally everyone would read the fine print before signing a lease, but at a minimum it’s a good idea to ask a few key questions.
Below is five questions I would recommend asking before signing on the dotted line:
1) What are the circumstances in which I can break the lease early?
This is very important. Try to get the following language added to the lease, if is not already included:
Lease can be broken early in the event of:
- Job Loss
- Home Purchase
- Job switch to a different city/state
This leads us to the next question…
2) What are the penalties for breaking the lease early?
In our current apartment we got stuck with crappy terms. Not only do we have to give a two-month notice if we are breaking the lease, we also have to pay a one-time fee of two month’s rent. We switched to a month-to-month lease since we are looking for a house, but would not have to worry about this if we had just made sure there was a break-lease clause included for a home purchase. Unfortunately, at the time a home purchase was not on our mind.
3) How often is carpet/appliances/etc. replaced?
Some apartments will replace carpet every five years. Others will keep carpet for “at least” five years. The fact that the owner of the house/apartment needs to make the updates is a blessing and a curse; you don’t have to worry about paying for upgrades, but the likelihood of getting things updated are slim. Make sure you know the policy before moving in, or you may be trying to find a new place the very next year.
4) Has there been any major repairs recently? What were they?
Something to check out is whether the apartment has had to make major repairs. Has there been mold issues? Leaky pipes? Water coming through the ceiling? How were these issues dealt with? Getting management to deal with these issues can be a challenge, so it’s best to know about the issues before moving in.
5) Has there been any bug or rodent issues? How were they dealt with?
Bug and rodent problems can really be a pain to deal with. I’ve had to deal with this issue, and it’s not fun knowing there are mice running around your house. Ask whose responsibility it is to deal with rodents (they should say it’s their responsibility, if not, don’t sign that lease!) and make sure it’s in writing. I had a friend in college whose house became infested with mice. The landlord did a bad job of ridding the house of the rodents and the issue blew up. It did not end pretty, as her roommates and her moved out and sued the landlord.
These are just a few questions you should consider asking. There are many other terms that should be clear from the lease (can you go on a month-to-month lease after you are there for a year? Where can guests park? etc.). Make sure you understand what you are signing because once you sign you are bound to the lease, as bad as some of the terms may be.
What other questions would you recommend asking?
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Photo by Christopher Sessums
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I like the idea of getting a house buying clause written in. I got lucky and both of my moves coincided with the ends of my leases.
@Money Life and More Month-to-Month lease starts tomorrow. Extra $75/month…
I would also find out about quiet hours and who is above or below you if you don’t like noise.
It sucks that you have to pay an extra $75/month to have that month to month lease but if you end up finding a house soon it won’t matter too much. When we bought our home we were renting month to month and we ended up losing our security deposit which was $400 but we worked it into our purchase agreement that they would reimburse us for that. You seemed to have covered the most important issues to leases. I can’t think of anything that you didn’t cover.