Additional clauses, know what you are signing for What could be more important than a checklist when it comes to renting a property, the lease of course? It is a binding legal document and one you will be putting your signature on. While most leases will be pretty straightforward it’s the additional clauses you have to watch out for. Every lease will have information such as the address of the property, the length of the lease, the amount of rent due and security deposit, all things you will know before you decide on whether to rent the property or not. But what a lot of leases will also have is additional clauses that could have a major impact on your wallet and lifestyle. Penalties There may be penalties for late rent, so if you have ever been paid late, you need to know what sort of penalty you will incur if your rent is a few days late, depending on whether you are dealing with the owner or the manager of the property, you might be able to negotiate a ‘no penalty’ grace period of 48 hours. It’s in your best interest to ask. Painting and alterations The lease may stipulate what you are and are not allowed to do in terms of decorating and altering the property. I once signed a lease which stated that no tick tack was to be used on the walls, I wasn’t sure what tick tack was and didn’t ask only to find out later when it came to get my deposit back, and to pay to repaint some of the walls. So if you think you might want to paint a wall or put up some shelves or hang pictures, be sure you discuss exactly what you will and won’t be penalised for. Repairs Have you ever phoned the landlord after someone broke a window in the property, only to have him or her tell you it’s not his or her problem? To avoid this situation before you sign the lease find out what maintenance the landlord will be responsible for and what you will be responsible for, so for example if someone tried to break the front door in, will they replace it or will you have to hammer wood across the door until payday? Also, ensure that a time period is stipulated for repairs, you don’t want to sit with a broken geyser for a week before your landlord fixes it. Policies What are the policies for subletting or having roommates or partners? A lot of landlords get very iffy about more people staying in the property than what is stipulated on the lease. If you have a job where travel will be involved and sometimes have people looking after your home, ensure your landlord knows about this, and is fine with it. You don’t want to return home to an eviction because the landlord discovered you were subletting your home while you in Europe for work. The same thing goes for roommates, if you decide to get a roommate or your partner moves in, will the landlord be fine with this? Full disclosure on both sides will save both of you time, money and tears if there is a problem in the future. Your landlord is a person, just like you, and most problems can be resolved before they appear just by communicating and being open, so make sure before you sign your name on the dotted line, you know exactly what you and your landlord are entering into.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 09:09:36 +0000
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