Living in a rental offers several benefits, including personal freedom. However, challenges arise especially when it comes to decorating your living space.
Beware that rentals have restrictions when it comes to making alterations, and if you’re not careful you could easily violate your lease agreement. For these reasons, it’s important to identify what you can and can’t do to your unit. Here’s a list of things you can’t do in a rental.
Damage the Rental with Accessories
As a renter, you should avoid accessories whose installations need any kind of damage to the rental. Therefore, avoid hammering nails into the walls and remember to restore the initial fixtures properly. This way, you won’t incur costs once your tenancy agreement is up.
Typical lease agreements stipulate that you need to restore the unit to the same condition it was when you first moved in. Beware that the failure to do so could result in a deduction of the security deposit and possibly extra fines.
While you might want your rental to feel like a home, remember each nail hole from a curtain rod or hanging picture eventually takes its toll on the rental, fundamentally changing it from its initial pre-move state.
Landscape Modification
If you rent a property with a garden or yard or reside in a complex with an outdoor mutual area, it might be tempting to exercise your green thumb.
Low-impact activities such as weeding gardens typically don’t arouse landlords’ fury and might even generate an appreciate reaction, especially when there’s no groundskeeper or gardener on the payroll.
However, doing aggressive activities, for instance, removing shrubs, plants, removing and trimming trees without consent could be problematic. Depending on the nature of the alterations and local law, your landlord may be within his or her right to charge you whatever it takes to restore the grounds to their initial state.
Host Long-Term Guests
Anybody who stays at your rental that isn’t listed on the lease is considered a guest. Bear in mind that a temporary guest becomes a long-term one when he or she takes up residence on your rental without obtaining permission from the owner or manager.
Long-term guests may be a friend who spends most of his or her time at the property or a family member who’s in town for a prolonged visit. Remember, such guests can become a liability to a manager or landlord when they fail to uphold the property rules and conditions in the lease.
While a long-term guest isn’t necessarily a negative thing, they must be held accountable for the lease terms and property conditions and the only way of enforcing this is by having them sign an addendum including them to the lease.
In the event that your long-term guest declines to sign an agreement, the landlord might need to evict you.
Hang Framed Pictures
Light-duty wall hooks can leave small holes in a drywall while heavier-duty mirrors, pictures, and other decorations could produce greater damage, especially if they’re jarred loose accidentally.
Landlords usually fix holes by applying fresh painting or spackling over the area. To prevent damage, replace framed decorations with posters.
Final Thoughts
Living in a rental can be exciting and simultaneously offer various benefits. However, it’s important to recognize the associated restrictions to avoid unnecessary charges in the future. Fortunately, this list will prove invaluable and shed light on things you shouldn’t do to your rental, especially if you’re a first-time renter.
For more information on what you can’t do to your rental, contact us at Apartment Agents or leave a comment.