Once upon a time, well, I mean about a week ago, a young girl had a car stacked full of boxes and duffel bags, and was ready to move into her new apartment for the entire school year. I was ready to go with a backpack on my shoulders, butterflies in my stomach who refused to stop flying, and I was eager to get to the apartment complex and start getting settled in. Moving is already difficult enough with the anxiety and all of the heave-ho, to and fro but I was extra anxious thinking about how I was going to be going to school in the middle of a pandemic. When I got there, trying to go through tiny alleyways and find parking was hard enough, but all of the stairways were tucked away behind a wall of inconspicuous brick. The building itself was huge, resembling a motel with the square floor plans and the wooden bridges connecting the exterior hallways from one side to another. Walking up the old, wooden stairs and then wandering around for five minutes, I was trying to find the correct unit. It was door after door of the same kind, with dozens and dozens of units all lined up. When I had finally found my unit, I opened the door with a grin of excitement and my heart pounding in my chest.
Only to be met with a toilet that's in the bathtub.
Yeah, the bathtub. Like upside down in the bathtub.
There's a dark, gaping hole in the floor where the toilet was supposed to be installed.
There was off colored paint that was flaking off the wall, scorch marks in the closet sized kitchen, a bed frame that's entirely broken on one side of the bed, the shower doesn't work either and not the last nor certainly not the least, there are LIVE ROACHES in the bedroom.
This was a living nightmare. No one wants to deal with this kind of situation during move-in day, the unofficial start of the school year. And although it's resolved now, if I had taken some steps before signing the lease, I could have prevented myself from ever even needing to deal with this extremely stressful situation. Of course, everyone had told me to do some of these things, and I (loosely) did but if I had paid attention, move in day would have been a lot smoother for me.
1. Read the lease. Before you sign it.
https://unsplash.com/photos/GJao3ZTX9gU
Everyone tells you this, and it's true. No matter how pressed for time you are for a place to live, it's really essential for you to read the lease entirely and understand everything that is on it before you sign. A contract is legally binding, you're basically going to be stuck there if the lessors didn't violate their contract. Reading the contract allows you to avoid weird clauses as well as staying informed on what the policy for quiet hours is, or if you're supposed to get the carpet professionally cleaned before you move out, when your lease starts and ends, as well as policy on noise disturbances.
2. Go see your apartment before you sign the lease.
I don't care if they have photos of the apartment. I don't care if they have videos of the apartment. I do not care if there is a 3D virtual diagram on the website. You have to see the apartment in person. Go on an apartment tour. Of course, in some situations, it might be difficult to go see it, especially in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, if you can, schedule a Skype call or some kind of virtual call where they can show you the apartment in its current state. If it's currently habited, ask if you can see another uninhabited unit in the same building.
The idea is that you want to see what the actual area is like. A person's living space hugely affects their quality of life, as well as their mental health. Having somewhere clean, safe and quiet is of the utmost importance to your sanity. Being there physically is the best, because you can scan the area for any sort of discrepancy. You can hear if any frat boys are parting nearby, or if there's a busy street nearby, or see if the floors are dirty and how big the unit really is. Aside from reading your lease, this is the most important thing that will prevent you from having a nightmare apartment experience.
3. Do your research
https://unsplash.com/photos/FlPc9_VocJ4
Make sure to do your research on your lessors -- all the way down to who is going to be the manager for your building. No one wants to be under the care of a landlord who truly doesn't care about actually making your apartment livable, or who never responds to emails or texts. Google the company, their employees, their linked-ins and social media. Google reviews from every site that you can, go on social media to see if you can find their page and people talking about their experiences.
4. Talk to people who have leased with them before
https://unsplash.com/photos/rsznnAGAbZ0
The more recently they lived there, the better. If you can talk to someone who has the experience of living there, you can learn what it is actually like living there without actually suffering and being forced to be stuck there. Talking to people is another way to research the place you're going to be living in, but a really important way that some people forget to do. Check with your friends, ask around on social media, and be an advocate for yourself because you don't want to be stuck with a toilet in your bathtub.
P.S. Remember that it's illegal for lessors to move you into an uninhabitable apartment.
https://unsplash.com/photos/UDjMUFXdG_o
If you're ever in a situation like me, it's illegal for your lessors to move you in without your apartment being habitable. You signed a lease that said you get whatever's in it, including a proper bathroom. A lot of college students can be taken advantage of by lessors because they prey on them for being broke and not having legal literacy, but just remember that it's completely illegal for them to let you move in if it's uninhabitable.
Of course, don't take this as actual legal advice. Refer to a professional legal counsel as well as look up your housing laws in your county, state and country before making any sort of claims. Be prepared and informed. I'm including this in my article because prior to my boyfriend's mom informing me of this, I would have just bit my tongue and lost my mind. I would have forced myself to stay in a completely run down and uninhabitable apartment because I thought that the lease meant that I was contractually obligated to stay there.
Searching for an apartment is time consuming, and it's a lot of effort. But if you do the extra work and make sure you do all of these steps. especially the first and second, then you'll be much happier living in a safe and clean space with attentive and responsible landlords. It's worth the stress of having to move to two different places on move- in day. The start of a school year is stressful enough without adding "get a new toilet" to your to-do list.
