The second resource for finding a great place in an unknown area or town is someone who already lives there. A tenant can ask friends and relatives for references. She should check with people at work, church, or her favorite restaurant for places where they now live or where they have rented in the past. Personal experience is absolutely the best and most reliable source of information. This way, if a tenant likes her relatives she can move near them; if she doesn't, she can move to the other side of town.
If a tenant cannot find someone who knows about the area, she can check for information sources in the phone book. Services like a Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, Mayor's Community Development Office, or an apartment finder or locator service will have information to make an informed choice. Every major city has a Visitors Bureau or Visitor's Center. A prospective tenant can get two or three opinions from these organizations about “quiet” residential areas and the “not so quiet” ones.
A lease does not have to be in writing; a binding lease can be verbal. This means the
agreement between the tenant and landlord was spoken or oral and never put into writing.
But no tenant in her right mind should accept a verbal lease because the agreements are
never clear. I like to ask tenants to think about what they are buying with their money each
month. Nothing but a written lease spells out exactly what a tenant is getting for her hard
earned cash. Protect yourself. Put all of your agreements in writing.
No court will believe a tenant who says, “my landlord would not give me a copy of my
lease.” The court will interpret that statement to mean, “I failed to demand a copy of my
lease before I paid the rent.” Each tenant has a duty as a responsible adult to not give up
money until she gets confirmation in her hand of what she bought. The rent buys a lease.
If a tenant does not get a copy or a duplicate
original of the written lease and the original
document is destroyed or changed, she will
have problems. She will probably never be
able to prove what she thought that lease
really said. The court will only look at the
document the landlord has with the tenant’s signature on it to decide what the agreements
of the parties were.
Many tenants believe that renting is all a matter of trust. They believe that a good
landlord/tenant relationship is one where the tenant trusts the landlord. This attitude is
foolish. The landlord doesn't trust her tenants; just look at the lease she wants the tenant
to sign. A savvy tenant will know that he and the landlord have a trust relationship when
the landlord doesn’t require a security deposit and rent is paid at the end of every month.
A leasehold relationship is not a trust relationship. Renting a home is a business
relationship. Each tenant is responsible for protecting himself.
The tenant needs to be aware of clauses which concern repairs that need to be done before
the move in and clauses which govern repairs which need to be done during the term of the
lease. If the tenant (or the landlord) is to make repairs before the move in, note them on the
addendum. See Chapter Six. All agreements between the landlord and tenant as to repairs
to be done during the term of the lease should be writing. See Chapters Nine and Ten.
According to a well known song, “[p]eople who need people are the luckiest people in the
world.” Unfortunately, most roommates wind up singing “ I'm gonna wash that man right
out of my hair!” This sentiment, of course, applies equally to women. Some roommates
share a home for a lifetime; some last only a day.
A true old saying is “if you want to really know someone, live with them.” Roommates
who want the friendship or relationship to last must enter it with the understanding that
they will be living with someone. The catch here is that no one shows their true selfish self
as well as they do at home. At home there are no niceties, no pretenses. You drink out of
the milk carton; you leave your underwear on the floor. Home is the place where you can
do what you want, when you want, and how you want. When you get a roommate, expect
them to claim the same rights.
Many people change for a short time when they begin living with someone because all
people want others to have a good impression of them. Both roommates will pretend and
be nice, but the facade won't last forever and it shouldn't. Pretense is too hard to maintain
all the time; charades are wasted on someone who has heard the other person snore. Understanding and tolerance must become the rule if a “roomie” agreement is going to
work.