"Let me know" is a rubric for our readers' stories. Every week we launch a survey and are waiting for your comments. The most interesting of them fall into articles and collections.
Last week, one of our readers asked us to share tips for those who are looking for a rental home. Our other readers have sent us some useful life hacks and told us about their experiences. We publish!
First you need to decide on the area, the number of rooms and the cost that you can pull. Most often on aggregator sites like "Avito", "Cyana", "Yandex Real Estate" there are filters with which it is convenient to sort the desired options.
If we are talking about finding housing abroad, use local sites. In Armenia, for example, there is a List for this, in Kazakhstan — "Roof", in Georgia — My home. In addition, there are many groups on VKontakte and Telegram with ads for finding and renting apartments.
A life hack from an apartment nomad: you can go to groups in the spirit of "Blacklist * city name*", look through the rental posts and write to the people on whose behalf they were published. In this way, you can get to the owner and get an idea of this or that apartment.
The only downside is that publications in these communities are often anonymous. But you can find, for example, separate discussions on rent.
It makes no sense for scammers to post posts with bad apartments in such groups. Therefore, they are usually not found there.
If you have friends in the city where you moved, it is best to look for housing through them. Throw a call to your buddies — maybe they or their friends are just looking for tenants.
It is worth being afraid of the understated cost of rent, excessive scrupulousness of the owner and mysterious "additional conditions".
Sometimes, during a period of high demand, apartments are deliberately put up cheaply. However, because of this, you may become a victim of "bidding" ‑ when many potential tenants come to view and the realtor will offer each of them to name their price. As a result, they will be handed over to the one who pays more .
If everything else in the apartment suits you, it makes sense to call the ad and ask directly: "Why is it so cheap?"
When meeting with the owner, pay attention to how he behaves. In the future, you will have to interact with him a lot. If he says: "I can come to the apartment whenever I want without warning you," — this communication is unlikely to be successful.
It is easier to contact an easy and open person than to bark with a hypocritical pedant because of a scratch on the wallpaper.
It happens that an apartment is offered for rent at a good price, but with reservations. For example, they set a condition that before arrival the tenant will need to make repairs at his own expense. Or, during the entire stay, take care of an elderly relative in the next room.
Sometimes there are ads like "I will rent a studio to an attractive young girl. 2,000 rubles a month and a little feminine warmth." All this should be avoided.
Please note if the apartment is for sale. Perhaps the owner is looking for new owners for the living space, and in parallel wants to make money on rent until a buyer appears. In this case, you may find yourself in a situation where you will be told: "Check out within a week." And if it turns out to be legitimate under the contract, you really will have to urgently look for new apartments.
Even if you communicate with the landlord through a realtor, it is important to insist on a personal meeting. The owner must come to it with a passport and real estate documents.
If the intermediaries do not allow you to see the owner, this should cause concern: perhaps the true owner does not know that his apartment is being rented. Therefore, in no case do not give money to anyone before signing the contract, meeting with the owner and handing over the keys.
Once I got caught by scammers: I came to the agency, made a payment, signed a contract. I was told: "Call after lunch. We will show you the available apartments." I called — the connection was cut off, and then the subscriber became unavailable at all.
Everything went much better when I agreed to meet immediately with both the agent and the owner of the apartment, who had documents confirming the ownership in his hands.
There are agencies that employ conscientious people. Therefore, in order not to get into an annoying situation, it is worth reading reviews about a particular organization on independent aggregators in advance.
The condition of the apartment, the infrastructure and the area are, of course, important. But in addition, when renting a house, it is worth carefully reading the contract, without being afraid to ask the owner questions, even if they seem to you stupid.
Most likely, in the first month you will have to pay more than the agreed amount. Often landlords request payment immediately for the first and last months of residence.
And if the owner uses the services of a realtor, then, among other things, it will be necessary to include in the receipt a commission of 50-100% of the monthly amount. The owner can enter into the situation and allow the deposit to be paid in parts, but this does not always happen.
The owner of the apartment must have documents for it. Ask them to provide them and check the data with your passport. If there are several owners, everyone must sign the contract. Or one of them in the presence of powers of attorney. All certificates must be requested and carefully checked.
The presence of a contract is a prerequisite. If possible, all everyday problems and ways to solve them should be spelled out in it.
A mandatory clause is that the rent should not increase every month. For example, I have written: "No more than 1 time a year and in the amount of no more than 1,000 rubles." It is also advisable to add to the document the conditions for visiting the apartment by the owner: how many times a year, at what time, by what prior arrangement. Otherwise, especially distrustful will come every week without warning.
Also indicate what is included in the monthly payment: a fixed amount or a fixed amount plus payments by counters.
Pay attention to the situation in the apartment — does it correspond to the pictures attached in the ad? It happens that the owner photographs the housing with all the necessary furniture and appliances, and then takes them out. It is important to clarify whether everything remains in your use. If not, it makes sense to bargain. Even an ordinary microwave oven slightly increases the rental price.
Also check the electrics and plumbing. At first glance, the apartment may look good if you don't know that the toilet sometimes leaks, and the light bulbs in the kitchen constantly burn out.
If you have a pet, the search for an apartment becomes more complicated. However, it is not necessary to exclude options in which "no animals" is strictly specified. If you are sure that your dog or cat is behaving well, try to negotiate with the owner and offer him your full financial responsibility for the damage that your pet can potentially cause.
Owners are often cunning and do not tell the whole truth about the contingent living nearby. Therefore, in addition to inspecting the apartment and talking to its owner, you can talk to your neighbors yourself, find out if they like their neighborhood, whether it is quiet, whether someone is making noise at night.
Grandmothers at the entrance are your strength. They will most likely not mind telling you about the owners of the apartment you are going to rent.
It is also worth paying attention to the year of construction of the house. If it was recently commissioned, there is a chance that neighbors will actively make repairs.
