10 Amazing things to note when renting an apartment
Before you embark to inspect a house or engage a house agent kindly ask the person to send you pictures or videos.
This will help best by matching what you are expecting with what the agent will show you physically and in return, it will save you a lot of stress and time.
I understand most agents don’t like sharing pictures because either the apartment is not up to standard, they really don’t have any available apartment or they want you to pay for registration forms or inspection fee first.
However, before you pay for registration or inspection, kindly ask the following questions below.
1. TOTAL PACKAGE
This is a very important question to ask when renting an apartment. You need to know the yearly cost of the apartment, How much is for the agreement fee?
How much is commission or agent fee?
You also need to know how much is for caution or damages?
These knowledge will enable you know what you will budget for renting the apartment and the rental cost of the following year.
2. TILES
Some prefer their apartment tiled while others don’t. When renting an apartment you need to ask you agent if all the rooms are tiled or just a small portion of the room is tiled.
Most house have just the toilet, bathroom and kitchen tiled while some has all the rooms tiled.
This question is very important.
3. RUNNING WATER
A lot people prefer to rent an apartment that has running water because most of the activities in the house requires water and it can be so tiring to source for water on a daily basis.
So you need to inquire about the availability of water supply and choose that which suits your budget (pocket).
4. ELECTRICITY
When looking to rent an apartment you need to make some findings about the electricity in the given location.
You need to ask questions like – Is the house connected to electricity supply?
Does the area have regular power supply?
These and many questions will make you know more about the electricity supply in that area.
Talking about electricity, You also need to ask about the kind of meter they use in the house. Is it prepaid meter or normal meter? Are they also arrears or old debts on the meter?
How many individuals or flats share one meter?
5. DISTANCE TO THE MAIN ROAD
You need to know how much is transport fare from the residence to bus stop? This is very crucial.
Try to know whether the place is further inside a street from the bus stop they mentioned.
Some days ago I went to a place and the cost of bike from the popular bus to my destination is 300 naira and higher in some seasons.
6. Is the owner or landlord living in the compound?
Some people don’t like living in the same compound with the Landlord.
So it is best to know whether you would be living with your landlord or landlady in the same compound.
As for me, once it is a good & nice apartment I don’t have any issues with whether landlord is living there or not.
7. Is the building under a developer?
Houses under developers are either expensive or they keep increasing rents every year and this is really not good especially for those that have relatively fixed income for years.
My vast experience with house hunting has enabled me to develop these questions or guidelines.
You can ask or add more to it and I hope the questions helps in your current or next house hunt.
Please feel free to ask these questions before agreeing to register or going for inspections with your house agent.
Don’t forget to share with your friends and family.
You can also add yours in the comment section as it is a learning avenue for all.