Renter's Digest
As the oh-so-short summer slips into a long-drawn-out winter, there is a quick change that we see overnight. This change is affectionately called moving, and is everyone's worst nightmare, particularly renters.
Being a renter myself and now working in Property Management, I see the precarious position of living in a property that is putting (probably gourmet) food on someone elses table and allowing them to be snowbirds in the winter and gorge on Bellingham in the summer. Having no property myself to speak of, I am going to take this time to be on the side of the renter. Even though my fiduciary responsibility is to the property owner blah blah blah. THAT being said, I'd like to do a little contribution to renters everywhere and give you my checklist for protecting yourself and your precious assets: your security deposit.
At Move-In
1. That condition checklist is the most important document you will fill out this year. Its more important than your term paper and even more important than your marriage certificate. Go through each area of your new place and mark EVERY single THING you see that is not up to perfect standards, and use generic terms, but give a few specific examples. Try to take something that LOOKS like it could get worse, such as, a crack in the kitchen linoleum (will be a gap when you move out). Basically you are documenting what is going to be worn and torn, and anything that isn't solidly sealed, smooth, white, signed, delivered is important to put down.
2. As a part of your documentation, take pictures of big problem areas and turn them in to be on file with your condition checklist.
During Tenancy:
1. Report maintenance, particularly accumulating mold, water spots, something tearing etc. This communicates your own involvement and care of your residence.
2. Please, take some damn responsiblity if you were drunk one night and tried to balance yourself on your towel rack and it ripped out of the wall. Fix it if you can. Its actually kindof fun to google maintenance solutions and fix something yourself. Use your God-given mind in this area.
3. Keep it as cordial as possible with your property manager. Be the first to call, not your mom. Lemme tell you my dating pool has been severely cut down by all the mothers who call for their sons, AS IF THEY ARE ON THE LEASE. Get a life mamacita.
At Move-Out:
1. Clean everything really well. Imagine if you were moving in and you had to put your precious belongings on someone else's funk. I used to think this wasn't that big of a deal, but after seeing how 75% of people live, it IS a big deal. Obviously this is not such a big deal if your property management company gave you a crappy deal upon move in or has an automatic cleaning service written into the security deposit agreement.
Here are the main areas that are typically forgotten at move out, that will make a checklist go from clean to dirty in one fowl checkbox:
Under stove bottom drawer
under stove top and on the sides
top of the refrigerator
under the crisper drawer inside of refrigerator
baseboards and outlets
blinds
window tracks and
exhaust fans
2. When you receive your security deposit check back, ask for an itemized list of what you were charged for and if there is a question in your mind, talk to the property manager. It is important to challenge the gray areas, because inspections are done by the human eye and mistakes can be made (although, they are the professionals, and you DID live in that funk for a year no questions asked). Sometimes normal "wearin and tearin" needs to be deciphered against "negligence".
Hope this is helpful. I have people tell me how much they hate property management companies and I admit, its a hard business. But then I have even more people lie, yell, bitch, and be generally irresponsible with themselves and their affairs. Just be legit and communicative. And always always document. And remember, you don't catch any bees with vinegar.
Being a renter myself and now working in Property Management, I see the precarious position of living in a property that is putting (probably gourmet) food on someone elses table and allowing them to be snowbirds in the winter and gorge on Bellingham in the summer. Having no property myself to speak of, I am going to take this time to be on the side of the renter. Even though my fiduciary responsibility is to the property owner blah blah blah. THAT being said, I'd like to do a little contribution to renters everywhere and give you my checklist for protecting yourself and your precious assets: your security deposit.
At Move-In
1. That condition checklist is the most important document you will fill out this year. Its more important than your term paper and even more important than your marriage certificate. Go through each area of your new place and mark EVERY single THING you see that is not up to perfect standards, and use generic terms, but give a few specific examples. Try to take something that LOOKS like it could get worse, such as, a crack in the kitchen linoleum (will be a gap when you move out). Basically you are documenting what is going to be worn and torn, and anything that isn't solidly sealed, smooth, white, signed, delivered is important to put down.
2. As a part of your documentation, take pictures of big problem areas and turn them in to be on file with your condition checklist.
During Tenancy:
1. Report maintenance, particularly accumulating mold, water spots, something tearing etc. This communicates your own involvement and care of your residence.
2. Please, take some damn responsiblity if you were drunk one night and tried to balance yourself on your towel rack and it ripped out of the wall. Fix it if you can. Its actually kindof fun to google maintenance solutions and fix something yourself. Use your God-given mind in this area.
3. Keep it as cordial as possible with your property manager. Be the first to call, not your mom. Lemme tell you my dating pool has been severely cut down by all the mothers who call for their sons, AS IF THEY ARE ON THE LEASE. Get a life mamacita.
At Move-Out:
1. Clean everything really well. Imagine if you were moving in and you had to put your precious belongings on someone else's funk. I used to think this wasn't that big of a deal, but after seeing how 75% of people live, it IS a big deal. Obviously this is not such a big deal if your property management company gave you a crappy deal upon move in or has an automatic cleaning service written into the security deposit agreement.
Here are the main areas that are typically forgotten at move out, that will make a checklist go from clean to dirty in one fowl checkbox:
Under stove bottom drawer
under stove top and on the sides
top of the refrigerator
under the crisper drawer inside of refrigerator
baseboards and outlets
blinds
window tracks and
exhaust fans
2. When you receive your security deposit check back, ask for an itemized list of what you were charged for and if there is a question in your mind, talk to the property manager. It is important to challenge the gray areas, because inspections are done by the human eye and mistakes can be made (although, they are the professionals, and you DID live in that funk for a year no questions asked). Sometimes normal "wearin and tearin" needs to be deciphered against "negligence".
Hope this is helpful. I have people tell me how much they hate property management companies and I admit, its a hard business. But then I have even more people lie, yell, bitch, and be generally irresponsible with themselves and their affairs. Just be legit and communicative. And always always document. And remember, you don't catch any bees with vinegar.
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