How Landlords And Students Can Have The Best Relationship

By Alexandra Brown on December 6, 2014

This article is brought to you by the Uloop Housing search service. Ready to make the move off campus? Search through the Uloop housing listings to find your next apartment, condo, town home, or house.

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A lot of different implications come along with living off campus. Being an upperclassman and living in an apartment rather than the dorms requires grocery shopping, commuting to class, and other responsibilities that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

Oftentimes, responsibilities include paying rent on time, adhering to rules laid out in your lease, like not having pets, or not painting walls, and reporting problems you encounter to your landlord as they occur.

Having to report to your landlord can oftentimes be stressful. With the necessity of contacting your landlord in the event of a problem, or for some other reason, obviously, getting along with them is preferable. But what if your landlord is extremely strict, or just a difficult person in general?

Knowing how to deal with difficult personalities is always something that will come in handy in this situation, and in life in general.

One major thing you can do to ensure an efficient, professional and generally good relationship with your landlord is to be the ideal tenant. Obviously, before anything else, you’re going to want to be as perfect a tenant as possible.

This would entail paying your rent on time, to avoid further problems, following all the rules included in your lease, and making your landlord aware of any problems you encounter, as they happen.

Let your landlord know about serious problems as they occur. When maintenance issues occur in your apartment or house, like the refrigerator light goes out, or paint is chipping, or windows won’t close properly, it’s important to let your landlord know as soon as possible as the problems are happening, so they don’t get worse.

Also, it’s important to give your landlord as much time as possible to deal with the problem, to minimize the chances of it getting even worse. You want to be considerate of them just as you want them to be considerate of your concerns and requests.

You will also want to be clear and reasonable with your requests, be reachable and approachable (although they may not be), be respectful, and put yourself in their shoes. Be the tenant you would want to have if you were the landlord. Being this kind of tenant will most likely maximize your chances of having the best relationship possible with your landlord.

image via http://theweek.com/

Another thing you can do to keep up an acceptable relationship with your landlord is to pay your rent on time. Why give them one more thing to nag you about? This seems like an obvious rule of thumb, because when you go through your lease before signing, you’re convinced you’ve memorized that the rent is due on the 15th of every month.

How hard could it be to drop off that check, only one time per month, and at the same time every month nonetheless? Well, you will be surprised at how quickly that date approaches every month, and when you have other things going on to worry about, it’s easy to let it slip your mind.

However, it’s important to remember that paying rent on time is what you agreed to in your lease. Set a reminder on your phone, mark it on your calendar, and remind your roommates! Your landlord at least deserves this. Not doing so could lead to all sorts of conflicts that are easily avoidable if you do this simple task.

You’ll also want to be easily contacted by your landlord. If you want to have a good relationship with them, you need to be approachable, and, more importantly, reachable. You can’t expect for your landlord to get back to you about problems or other issues if you aren’t able to ensure that you’re reachable, either via email or phone, and capable of getting back to them. No one likes a flake!

Communicating clearly is also essential to maintaining an efficient relationship with your landlord. You can’t expect them to meet your every need if you’re not clear about what you specifically want. Be concise, and to the point, to avoid confusion and further delay.

Another thing you can do is to remember that your landlord is a person, just like you, so you should put yourself in their shoes every once in a while. How would you want your tenants to act? Probably with respect, politeness and consideration. We’re all human.

Not being careless is a major way to stay on good terms with your landlord. Do your part by cleaning up after yourself, and taking proper precautions to avoid potential damage that could occur. By this I mean keeping up parts of your place that could become dirty, moldy, and otherwise require immediate attention from your landlord.

Following this advice can ensure that you’ll have the best, most efficient relationship with your landlord.

Make your next move easy by finding a place to live near campus using the Uloop Housing search service full of students needing Roommates and Sublets or people ready to rent you a great Apartment or House.

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