As a student, you might be planning to rent a room as you start a new school year. The place you choose to live will be your home for the next 1 year or longer. You, therefore, need to take time to ensure you find the perfect place, where you’re comfortable living in before you sign the rental agreement.
As you look at what is available be sure to check the following.
1. Confirm the property actually exist
You’ll probably do your search for a place online. This is a good way to look at what is on the market, but when doing so be careful because there are a lot of fraudsters online. This people place attractive advertisements showing houses in a good location and at a cheap price. When you see these ads you’re first thought will be to pay immediately before somebody else does so.
Doing this before actually confirming whether the details given are real or not could see you lose your money. The attractive advertisement will have served its purpose, which was to rip you off. I suggest you do your due diligence and ask for viewing first. You can do the viewing in person or if you’re in a different city you can organize how to do so online. If the person who placed the ad is not willing to show you the property there could be a problem.
2. Look at the location
Most people will always consider the location of the place they plan to move to. This is because they want a house that is close to hospitals, supermarkets, school, their offices, etc. When you look at the location also consider noise pollution in the area and security. You don’t want to stay in an area that is too far from your school or the security is wanting.
3. Check the rent
Another thing that is just as important to consider is what you’ll pay. When given the rent price confirm that it is within your budget. If it is within what you were looking to pay that’s good, but you need to go further and ask if gas, internet, water, and other utility bills are part of the rent or not. If the bills are not included find out how much they cost and determine if you can still afford to pay all the costs for the room. If you can’t look for another place.
4. Confirm the real condition of the room
I have already warned you about fraudsters you might encounter as you search for your accommodation. Another common problem you might face when renting is the room you choose may not be as good as it appears online.
The person advertising it may say the place is new or recently renovated, only for you to find out later that the renovations were done years back. The place could be in poor condition and since you may have signed the agreement online there is nothing much you can do.
That’s why I insist that you must view a property before paying for it. If you’re far away and can’t do this in person there are companies that can do the viewing for you at a fee. When you do the viewing you’re sure of what you’re paying for.
5. Do your research on the landlord or property agency
There is nothing as bad as a landlord who is constantly harassing you or doesn’t fix things fast. There are many bad landlords and property agencies with really bad reputations about how they treat their tenants.
You want to avoid such landlords. So do online research or talk to people who have dealt with the landlord or agency to know what they are like. Doing your research you might find that they don’t return deposits or include hidden costs in the lease agreement.
To find suitable accommodation you can visit HousingAnywhere.
That’s it! I hope this article helps you as you look for where to move to next.
