Warning Signs for People Looking to Rent

If you are looking to rent a house or apartment, you must be very careful that you pick both a good landlord and a good property. There are warning signs for people looking to rent which must be seen before you sign a lease and lose any rent payments. Here are six common signs that there will be trouble at some future date.

Over Eager Landlords

One of the first warning signs for people looking to rent is a landlord very eager to get it rented and will take the first handful of cash they can get. Usually this means one of the following is true; the landlord is trouble and needs money, the neighborhood is trouble, the unit has a bad reputation (which you will find out when people come looking for former tenants).

Long Time Period Between Tenants

Ask when the last tenant lived in the unit. One warning sign for renters is when the apartment or house has been empty for more than six months. This is a sure sign that the apartment or house has problems. Either the landlord is extremely picky about how tenants live, or no one wants to live there.

Multiple Tenants Within Two Years

Another warning sign for people looking to rent is when a unit has had more than two tenants within two years. If an apartment has changed hands many times within recent history this means there is a problem with the landlord or the neighbors. If it is the landlord it is a sign that the landlord is either intrusive, harasses tenants or evicts for even minor violations. If it is the neighborhood that means the neighbors are intrusive, or there is criminal activity within sight of the unit.

Problems Getting Utilities Hooked Up

Before you actually hand over rent and lease, get the name of the last tenant. Call the utility companies to check if there is money owed from the address you are looking at. It may not sound fair, but if a utility company has had problems with the address previously they may request a deposit first or not even hook up utilities until the previous bill is settled.

Signs Of Insect Problems

A sure warning sign for people looking to rent is signs of past insect problems. Look for stained windows (indicating bug spray in large amounts), tiny brown spots or drips on walls (which indicates flies), spider webs in corners (if they're still there so are the spiders), signs of insect carcases (if you see more than one ant, wasp or roach there is a colony already there).

Rodents

Look for little brown or black specks in corners, drawers, cabinets, or near doors and windows. If you find these, you also have either rats or mice. Again, these guys don't come in groups of one or two.