Apartment Showings

[bainsidhe]

Ok now I'm wondering, why must you move out before the end of month if you are in fact paying the whole month? What "wonderful" people they sound like. /sarcasm

[siead_lietrathua]

Ok now I'm wondering, why must you move out before the end of month if you are in fact paying the whole month? What "wonderful" people they sound like. /sarcasm

most apartments seem to work that way. as long as you have all your stuff gone by the last day of that month, you are complying with it. they just dont want the moving truck pulling up the first of the next month to get your stuff out, since that is time you haven't paid for.
really, it isnt an unreasonable request either. unless they have been evicted, most people find their next place to live before giving up their current one. a great rule of thumb is to arrange it so your last month in old place overlaps your first month in new place, giving time to arrange hydro/water/etc to be turned on and cut off, pack and move and unpack, without having to rush everything. there shouldnt be a reason to need the old place right to the last day unless it's poor planning. :/ just my opinion.

[Jetfire]

When I moved from my Apt to my Condo, I was planning the closing and moving to be over the Easter weekend, so I ended up paying the April Rent, but I didn't mind (I had arranged my first full Mortgage payment to be deferred until June 1st to handle moving costs). The peace of mind from knowing I didn't need to rush to be out in a weekend was more than worth it. As it was, I was sick as a dog that weekend, so most of the heavy lifting up and down the 5 flights of stairs was done by 2 coworkers who offered to help. Other than all the books and other stuff I had packed and moved into basement storage the weeks/months before and had already started carting to the condo over the week before that weekend.

Then again, since it was my first move in 7 years, I was very meticulous about making sure I had all the details right. I even tried to schedule for my cable to be cut off long before they could even schedule it. (I tried in November to schedule the cut off for mid April; and she could only schedule up to 3 months in advance, so I had to call back later.) Everything went smoothly, other than my RRSP account's address not being updated, even though I was using that account to lock in my new place and had been talking with her through the process.

[Nekojin]

Las Vegas (and perhaps all of Nevada) has some interesting rules with regard to breaking a lease. If you break a lease, you're responsible for the remaining balance... up until they lease the apartment (or whatever) to the next tenant. So if you break a lease with a year to go before the lease is officially up, you could be liable for a full year's worth of rent... but more likely, they'll find a new tenant within a month, and you'll end up being on the hook for a month or less!

I had that happen once. I was part of a group apartment, a nice 3BR apartment within walking distance of UNLV. I wasn't on the lease at first, but everyone else moved out and I wanted to stay. At the time, I was able to maintain the apartment by myself, and I figured I could get sub-tenants fairly easily. So we went in, modified the lease by taking everyone else off it, and me on it, and off I went.

Three months later, I was out of my spiffy job, and the only tenants I'd gotten had been utter deadbeat losers. I had to move, and was stuck for it. The apartment complex sent me a nastygram trying to get me to pay the balance of the lease. I did a bit of research and found the law referenced above. I sent them back a polite letter pointing out the law (which they already knew, of course - they were counting on my ignorance), and agreed that I'd pay the balance actually due to the point that they leased the apartment again. I never heard from them again.

That's not the only time that I've had a litigious threat disappear the moment I showed that I knew what I was talking about. But that's a story for another day. =^_^=

[blas87]

I only lose out on 6 days (wait, there's 31 days in May, right?).

My electricity and water and cable TV is included in rent, so the only call I had to make was to have my internet shut off, and naturally have my mail forwarded.

Hmm, the apartment below me is sitting there, empty, probably at least until sometime next week or the week after.

I guess they see it as losing money, despite the fact that they pay for the utilities whether someone lives there or not.

[wolfie]

I only have a deadbolt, and they have obviously, a copy of my key they use to get in.

Haven't actually seen one (just heard about it), and it would only work when you're home, but there is a device that attaches to the thumb knob, and has a weight on a lever. The key can't develop enough torque to lift the weight, so the lock can't be opened with the key. Alternately, with a layout like my apartment (door opens inward, outside corner of 2 interior walls lines up with the latch side of the door), a "space saver" cargo bar (can be set to any length between 4 and 8 feet, unlike the regular kind which has about a 6" range of travel) between the door and the end of one wall (itself braced by the other wall forming the corner) would block the door from opening.

[Snowbird]

Door jams work, though some complexes put a clause against them in the lease. I was in a complex that thought it was nifty to declare their need to enter my apartment whenever they felt like it, as long as they gave "24 hour notice", which, like Blas' case, was never actually 24 hours, always dropped off after 5pm, expecting entry at 9am the next day. That company took to changing security companies so often, requiring fire alarm inspections so much, I think I acquired a permanent twitch.

The worst was in a worn down place, each building of the complex bought out by single private owners, and the one lucky enough to buy my building decided that he was going to use showing my apartment as a good way to get away with some funny business with the government. He wasn't expecting me to be home when he showed the place, getting a surprise when he brought in a government official checking out his address validity for, get this, his gun selling license.

I don't know if he was planning on living in my place after I moved out or if he was trying to get a cheaper license than one he'd have to get (he lived in the big city, I was in the burbs), but I think I spoiled it all for him when I stood around, looking confused as to why he was using my dinner table for his office, and then asking, as they left, if he planned on showing the apartment any more that day. I got the official glare of death for that, but he never asked to show it again. He just tried to tell me I owed him for the carpet, which was already ripped up and shabby when I moved in, and noted on the lease. He was a piece of work!