Perhaps one of the scariest and most underestimated expenses when you start a new lease is the prospect of having to fork up a first and last month's rent somewhere in that first-of-many checks you write to your new, beloved landlord. But it doesn't have to be so scary. In fact, that deposit money you pay isn't even an expense, if you want to get technical about it. It's an amount of money your landlord requires to protect his or her asset - the place you're moving into. Protection from what? Essentially from you being a knucklehead and punching holes in the drywall, breaking a window or otherwise having a party that goes wrong and ends up as footage shot from a helicopter on the CNN morning news.
Let's face it: No one is deliberately a bad tenant. No one signs a lease thinking of all the destruction they can wreak on an apartment or house. But things happen. Messes and damage occur, and that deposit is a necessary instrument. But with that acceptance in mind, you can get that money back when the lease is up. And if you're like me, you'll look upon a returned deposit not only as found money, but a monetary confirmation that you respected someone else's property in a courteous manner. A check for being a good person.
Here are seven key steps to take to ensure that you'll get refunded your full deposit:
1. Read your lease/ask the landlord questions before you sign. Don't simply flip to the back page of the lease and sign without thoroughly reading through it. If some language is murky or suspicious, ask the landlord or property manager questions. There is no stupid question here. We aren't all lawyers. The bottom line to this point is to make sure there are no clauses that can unfairly bite you when it is time to move out. Take it a step further: If you can ask some of the landlord's previous or current tenants about his reputation on this, all the better. If you can't get clarification on some language in the lease contract, send it to a friend who's a lawyer. Also, have a friend who's a lawyer.
2. Do the walkthrough and document everything. And I mean everything. It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of moving into a property and not doing what is essentially a renter's due diligence first. Don't move a stick of furniture into that place before you've done a walkthrough and had the landlord or his/her agent sign off on everything you've noted. And there is no such thing as too specific. Rips in carpet, scuffs on linoleum, leaky faucets or toilets, holes in walls - anything that you could foresee being held responsible for later that was already that way before you got there - you have to write all this stuff down. Take it a step further: Got a video camera, or the means to borrow one? Landlords sometimes can be a little too scrupulous (not Auben Homes, but others) and a videotaped walkthrough will take all of the wind out of their less-than-honest sails.
3. Always pay rent on time. Even strict landlords have a several-day grace period after the day your rent check is due (which is usually on the first of every month, just to keep it simple). This one pretty much goes without saying - if you don't pay your rent and end up getting evicted or, at the very least, pay later than allowed, you're costing the property owner money. And things that cost the property owner money will eat into your ability to get your deposit back when you move out. Take it a step further: Pretend that the grace period doesn't even exist, so you won't allow yourself to be even a day late. Pay a few days early or even months at a time if you can. Trust me, it leaves you with a pretty good feeling inside.
4. Don't live like you're a 6th Century viking. No offense to vikings if any still exist outside of the guys who like to crash Renaissance fairs, but it's a good idea to keep a mindfulness of what deliberate damage to your rental home can do. Swinging from a chandelier, holding hot dog eating contests, reenacting scenes from Fight Club - all bad ideas. Keeping a damage-free lifestyle can not only do wonders for the odds of getting a deposit refund, but it's also just good practice. This is what a bad tenant can do to a place. Take it a step further: If you know how to fix a leaky sink or can handle problems as they arise without calling in repair requests, that's a plus. Just beware of making minor issues into major ones by not correctly repairing things. And by all means don't rewire the place if you aren't an electrician.
5. Get your landlord's definition of "normal wear and tear." Landlords are notorious dictionary writers. That is, they love to have their own proprietary definitions of some words or terms. "Normal wear and tear" may be the most commonly redefined term in the property-owning lexicon. Some landlords define this term as worn carpet and nail holes in the wall where your family pictures hung. I once had a landlord that replaced carpet every time someone moved out, even if they'd only been there one month and walked through the apartment on stilts. Find out early on what they'll do to the place once you leave, and you'll know in which areas you need to tread lightly and in which you can rest assured that you won't tarnish the refund of your deposit. Take it a step further: Get to know the handyman or property manager that your landlord uses regularly. He'll let you know exactly what the landlord does after every tenant moves out. (He's the one doing the work!)
6. Don't ride the midnight express. That's not a literal train. It's the name commonly given to the inexpicable force that drives a tenant to pack up and move in the middle of the night. Oddly enough (or perhaps not) the midnight express only runs at the end of every month, or when rents are coming due or have gone overdue. But if you are prone to this type of behavior, first of all, congratulations on being able to still sign a lease with any landlord who runs any kind of decent background check. More importantly, however, don't even expect that you'll ever see your deposit again. And for that matter, expect a skip trace service to find you wherever you turn up, where you'll be turned over to a collection agency for any past due rents. Take it a step further: If you're in a multi-unit complex and you hear someone else suspiciously moving out in the middle of the night, call it in to your landlord immediately. Otherwise it could be weeks before they find out, and your landlord will trust that you're on his/her side and wouldn't do the same thing in a few months.
7. Take an active role in the final walkthrough. This is the walkthrough that landlords or their agents and tenants who are moving out once the furniture and all belongings are gone, and the landlord can see their property as it will be turned back over to them. This is the time when you want to either do some hardcore cleaning or pay to have it done, repair or have repaired any damages you caused (if any), and essentially leave the place in better condition than it was when you moved in. That way your former landlord will have no cause to hang on to your deposit, especially since they will be distracted by how happy they are that all they have to do now is sign a lease with the next tenant that will move into the place and begin collecting rent again. Take it a step further: Bake your landlord cookies. Just kidding. Unless we are your landlord. We like chocolate chip.
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