Renter’s Advice and Resources

A lease option gives would-be buyers the chance to purchase a home, apartment, or condo space after renting it for a certain amount of time. There’s usually an extra fee paid at the beginning of the lease term that will allow you to enter into the lease-purchase option. Lease-purchase options are sometimes offered when the housing market is slow, in part to entice people who may not otherwise be interested in or capable of purchasing a home. Depending on your situation in life and your home-owning aspirations, a lease-purchase option may be appropriate for you. Some of the pros and cons of the lease-purchase concept are covered below. Some agreements put part of your rental payments toward the purchase price; others might only give you first option to buy if the owner decides to sell the property. Keep in mind that the situation will vary with individual contracts and agreements, so make sure you understand the full terms of the deal before signing anything.

So you’ve got a new job in a different town, or maybe you’re moving in with your significant other. Perhaps a flight of fancy has gripped you and you’ve decided to embark on a whirlwind journey across the world. Regardless of the reason, you need to move out of your apartment, and you want to find someone to sublet your apartment for the remainder of your lease term, or for as long as you’ll be away from the apartment. What do you need to know and do in this situation? The following tips will help you create a successful sublease experience.

Unless you’re a real estate lawyer, a landlord, or you just like reading over lease documents, the legal terminology in your lease might not be used in your everyday vocabulary. Terms such as buyout clause, sublease, and termination could help you break your lease, if you know how to use the legal jargon to your advantage. Here are a few general terms to help you through your lease.

You’re sick and tired of the sewer running through your apartment, your neighbors and their pets won’t stop running around above you, your car has been broken into twice within the last month, and all you want to do is just leave your apartment. Too bad you still have 6 months left on your lease. Before you threaten your landlord with leaving him with an empty apartment, make sure you know these 3 tips when you break you lease.

If your apartment building has been affected by a devastating natural disaster, the last thing you want to do is deal with paperwork and repairs. The good news is that, since you’re a tenant, these stressful responsibilities probably rest with your landlord. The bad news is that you’re at your landlord’s mercy regarding when repairs will be finished, and you’ll be affected by any mistakes made in the reconstruction process. What do you need to do after a disaster, and what kind of assistance can you obtain? Here’s a quick list of important deeds to be done after a natural disaster:

Ah, the security deposit… a financial burden when moving in, a blessing when moving out. There’s a reason it’s called a deposit—because you put money down only to cover excess damages that you might cause but, you’re almost guaranteed to get it back. Unless you cause extreme damage that your landlord can prove was your fault and existed after you moved out but before new tenants moved in, you deserve to have your deposit refunded in full. Normal wear and tear on the apartment is to be expected. However, some landlords won’t make the effort to get your money back to you unless you ask for it. Beyond making sure that your crazy friends don’t trash your apartment or that the kitten you’re secretly hiding in your room doesn’t claw up the carpet too badly, here are some steps to take to ensure you get your security deposit back.

Your rent is steep and you want to alleviate the financial burden by letting someone sleep in the guest room or a corner of the living room. One of your roomies suddenly bailed or moved on to an exciting job opportunity in another state. Your or your roommate’s significant other is moving in (a big step!). Whatever the reason, you’re taking another big step—adding a roommate to the lease. What factors should you consider when doing so? How much might your landlord raise the rent? This article gives a brief overview of the options available when adding a roommate to the lease.

Desperate times call for… desperate measures

Your apartment is so awful that you need to get out now. The management, however, really doesn’t want to let you go. Maybe it’s because you’re one of few renters left who actually pay rent and/or don’t sell drugs out of your apartment. Whatever the reason, you’ve gotta go—but it ain’t gonna be easy. Here are some highly unadvisable—wholly unadvisable, really—ways to get out of your apartment lease.

Your apartment at “Buena Vista Village” looks out on a junkyard, is infested with roaches, your next-door neighbors are running a meth lab, your upstairs neighbor is a professional tap-dancer, your carpeting still smells like the urine of the previous tenant’s cats (which she definitely wasn’t allowed to have), your car has been broken into three times in the past month, and there are bullet holes in one wall of the complex that haven’t been covered up in the whole time you’ve been there.