Considering all potential things that will affect your standard of living when looking for a place to rent is important. As a renter, you should be looking for a variety of things in an apartment, and should hold your (potential) landlord to reasonably high standards. First time renters are often taken advantage of by landlords because they do not know what their rights are, or what is a reasonable request:

Maintenance

Here are things that you should ask current tenants about, and what you should expect when it comes to maintenance from a reasonable landlord.

• Maintenance requests should be resolved, or at least attempted to be resolved, within 24 hours of the landlord receiving the complaint (If you send an email at 11pm don't expect a repair the next morning. For emails and voice mails it is reasonable to start the clock from the nearest business hour after the message was sent ).
• Weekend Maintenance issues arrive often come up on the weekends. You may be able to get a maintenance issue resolved on the weekend, even if the complex does not consider it to be an emergency. So ask them if they perform maintenance on the weekends for non-emergencies.
• Emergencies: The apartment should maintain an emergency maintenance line for hours that it is not open. Issues can come up 24 hours a day. Your broken heater will not turn on at 10:00pm by itself when it is zero degrees in the winter. Keep in mind that even in a management office that maintains good hours, you are much more likely to have an issue when the office is closed than when it is open. You should ask about 24 hour emergency maintenance.

Previewing the Place

• You should be able to see the apartment before you sign your lease, or at least see a preview unit. It is important to know exactly what you are getting before you rent.
• Insist on a properly dimensioned floor plan You need to know how your possessions will fit into your apartment. If you can't tell how big a room is, it is not properly dimensioned on the floor plan. Some floor plans show furniture such as couches, in order to make the apartment look spacious. Such furniture is usually quite a bit smaller than you would find in the real world, and the small scale of the furniture is used to deceive you. You should know the dimensions of all walls, not just one or two. If they do not provide a dimensioned floor plan either bring a tape measurer when you visit, or request they take measurements and send them to you.
• Check for damage. There should be no signs of mold, water damage, poor maintenance, or pest infestations. Be sure to look around the faucets and window sills. Note that many complexes will simply paint or caulk over damage or mold, rather than repairing it. Look for this. Examine the wall, ceiling, and floors for signs that damage has been patched over. Look for variations in the paint and texture.
• Check for thin walls if you plan on renting a duplex or apartment.
• Noise level: walk by at night and see if you can hear noise from the apartments. If you can, this may not be the place for you.
• Provided appliances should function well. Check to see how modern the appliances are; many places in Ithaca have appliances that date back to the 1970s or earlier.
• Space within the apartment should be sufficient to live comfortably. You probably need a certain amount of closet and shelf space. You also will likely need enough space to cook, study and live. Avoid complexes that do not provide this. Keep in mind that doors reduce the usable area within a room.

Examining the Landlord's Leasing Practices

• Ask for a copy of the lease if you are interested in getting the place. Its not nice to be completely set on getting a place and then find out there is something really sketchy in their lease. Its best to see it as soon as possible. If you are down to a couple of places you like, reading the lease for both places may help you decide.
• Lease Period: You may be able to lease for periods greater than or less than 12 months. It is important to ask about this because you may end up moving out one year and if there is a considerable gap between the two leases, you will not have a place to live until you are able to move into your new place, and will be forced to find a place to store your belongings. Asking the landlord extends leases for small periods before you would desire to move out is always a good idea.
• Be sure that you can sublet. Most students leave Ithaca over the summer, so be sure that you aren't going to be stuck paying full price for the remaining 3 months.
• Don't succumb to pressure. If you start early enough you should be able to look at many places before committing. Do not rent from a manager who attempts to pressure you into signing a lease before your ready.
• Ask if you can switch to month-to-month after your lease is up. This gives you much more flexibility in when you move out, although you may have to pay more for month to month. If it is more expensive try and calculate the difference between the money you may lose from moving out early versus the extra money you will be paying per month on the month to month lease.
• The apartment should be ready for occupancy on the day that your lease begins. You are paying for it. You have a right to occupy it. If the apartment can not have your unit available on time, they should not be starting your lease on that particular day. Insist that your lease begin on a day when they can reasonably have renovated your apartment.

Other Things to Do

• Ask the current tenants at the complex how they like living there, and what issues they have had. Do this without an apartment manager around, so that you can be assured of getting a truthful answer.
• Consider shopping for an apartment with friends. It is more difficult for a manager to make a promise that they can't keep if you have witnesses.
• Always take photos when you move in and move out. This is important for documenting any prior damage to the apartment, and can help you if you get into a dispute over your security deposit.
• Post your experiences on the Ithaca Wiki. Be sure to include your positive experiences too. Good complexes and managers should be rewarded. Bad ones should have a hard time attracting tenants. Keep a log of your issues and how they were resolved. Consider posting your log on the Ithaca Wiki in order to hold managers accountable (and to reward good ones!)