If you are looking for a room to rent, it is already a well known fact that Roomz.asia team has got your back. Our Roomz + services give support to the landlords by helping them manage their units and we also help tenants find their ideal rooms, but over the time we realized that sometime tenants need more direction and friendly advice as they often unknowingly find themselves in a tricky situation and blame the world for not paying more attention. So here we go.
Location
When you are looking for your ideal room as a tenant you have to know what you are looking for. Sometimes rooms might seem ideal to you but do not get carried away with the temporary impact of the seemingly nice impression.The most important thing to think of is the location and how much it suits you. Is your stay close to the public transport if you don’t have a car or does the room/unit come with the parking space. In case it doesn’t you will have to spend more on renting the parking space. In case you use public transport you need to think how far is is from your workplace or university and how much do you need to spend monthly on traveling to and fro. If you are careful about your finances as we believe most of us are, it is very important to pay attention to your transportation costs.
Utilities
Make sure the location you are staying in provides you all the neccessary shops and services you might need in your daily life. It could include 99 Speedmart, hair saloon, markets, home appliances shops or even a 24-hour dining place for those desperate situations when stomach starts howling in those wee night hours and the fridge is empty. All those will start to matter once you actually move in.
Inspection 1
Now heading on to more specific stuff. Whenever you look for a place to stay, it may all seem ideal on the surface but you need to make sure you inspect your apartment/house in much closer details. We had a case where one of our tenants was 15 minutes away to sign the tenancy agreement before he realized that the unit he already previously checked was much dirtier and poorly maintained than he had initially believed. This means that whenever you are checking out a potential place to stay, don’t be afraid to inspect in details all the rooms, check the cleanliness, rust, water pipes, electricity, and don’t be afraid to ask the landlord or the existing tenant about the condition of the place pest control situation, etc. After all this place is the place that you are going to stay in for a longer term so it is of your interest to make sure that the place is livable.
Make sure you inspect everything in details before you move in. Once you sign the contract the deal is sealed.
Inspection 2
Same principle applies to the whole building where your apartment is. Sometimes there is no point to rent an apartment that looks maintained or maybe even renovated in a building that’s on the brink of collapse. Okay, we are being a bit dramatic now, buildings won’t collapse for sure but they can be really poorly maintained. The management office might do a very bad job, facilities could be unmaintained or in need for serious renovation, the whole place could also be a big home for rats and roaches etc.
Evaluation
Okay, now that we have a good location, nicely maintained building and an apartment served, it is time for you to meet and evaluate your landlord. Landlords will most probably ask you a lot of things about yourself which is to be expected as they need to know who they are letting in to stay in their property, but you can also ask back the same questions to make sure landlords are not playing you in any way. Ask about their job, family, the number of properties they manage, the future plans and reasons why they are renting out the apartment untill you are convinced that you want that person to be your landlord.
Signing
The last but definitely not the least thing you should pay attention to is your tenancy agreement. Sometimes tenants get overly excited and sign whatever papers they are given without any proper scan of what they are really signing. Make sure all the clauses within the tenancy agreement you are signing are acceptable for you and remember that you have the right to ask the landlord to review, amend and change the contract you are signing. This means that you have the right to ask the landlord to put some clauses to protect yourself as well and not just the property you are staying in. If the landlord guarantees monthly or weekly cleaning services, or that he will bear any repair costs, make sure it is stated in the agreement as well.
Finding a place to rent is like finding a job and meeting the potential landlords is like going to a job interview. It always seems as if they are the ones who have to choose you but don’t forget that you also have a freedom of choice and that the main reason for you talking to them is to secure a good choice and a better life for yourself once papers are signed and hands are shook.
