Renting a property has its privileges and its downsides compared to owning one. If you are looking for apartments for rent in scottsdale az the market is hot right now. Having a basic understanding and maintenance knowledge of how to keep your rented premises in transcendent and clean shape is ideal for getting along with landlords, and potentially getting your security deposit back upon move out.
Remove Your Shoes Please
Why a landlord, in several cases, doesn’t return his or her former resident’s security deposit? Often, the reason is the damage to objects of the rental property, like, to the carpet.
However, by taking care of basic tenancy and maintenance precautions, residents can avoid this outcast situation altogether.
Carpets go dirty beyond repair and sometimes stained because of tracking in dirt and debris from outdoors. In order to circumvent this, live by a few simple rules during your time renting.
- First of all, take off your shoes at the door, and have guests do the same. This will reduce the dirt and stains on your carpet and prolong the life of the carpet.
- In high priority, place a couple of doormats and shoe rack right near your door.
- Often times, a friendlier request might work. Put up a notice reminding family members and guests to please remove their shoes.
- Wipe off your pet’s feet before having them back in the house, vacuuming often, making sure food, and the drink doesn’t spill on the carpet, etc. will help you preserve the carpet.
- Do you shampoo carpets? Doing so a few times a year will maintain its condition.
Arrange Furniture Away From Walls
Another way to stay on your landlord’s good side and keep your security deposit upon move out is to arrange all furniture at least 6 inches away from the walls in your rental property during your stay.
This will have a couple of benefits:
- Lessen the number of stains, smudges, and scrapes from items getting bumped into the wall.
- Easier to clean and dust daily.
- Nooks and crannies don’t get dirty behind furniture.
No Indoor Smoking
Amongst the strongest smell to remove from a property, smoke is one of them. There’s nothing worse than moving into a new place that smells like an ashtray. So do yourself, your landlord, cleaners, and future residents a favor, and keep smoking outdoors.
Connect ‘No Indoor Smoking policy’ with a friendly request to family members and guests. Not only is the foul odor of smoke extremely difficult to remove, but it can also be costly since many things like carpets or blinds will need to be replaced. Cigarette smoke also causes walls, blinds, and wood paneling to stain, meaning more work for whoever is in charge of turning your apartment or home upon move out, and more money is taken from that security deposit you were hoping to get back.
Keep It To A Bare Minimum
While it can be exciting to decorate our residence to make it feel homier, try to keep in mind that when renting, you should try to keep all decorating to a bare minimum. Be sure to look over your lease so that you know what is allowed and what is not.
Painting the walls, installing the kitchen cabinets, drilling the holes in the walls, utilizing the yard space for a small garden, and other wall decoration all might seem a good idea during your stay. But remember, all this additional work, and repairs would be done at your end suiting your decoration and living style.
You can also try to avoid having to pay for damages upon move out by refilling holes with a bit of white toothpaste or spackling and retouching up the paint. Try to avoid using heavy nails, screws, or brackets that might damage the wall, and stay away from sticky adhesive tapes and putties that seem like they might be hard to remove later.
Clean Regularly and Keep Up On Maintenance
Cleaning and maintenance during your stay – that’s the core cap for keeping a rental property in perfect shape.
This involves:
- Deep cleaning of the stove, kitchen cabinets, dishwasher, and refrigerator, etc. regularly.
- Cleansing of toilets, bathtubs, sinks, floors, and windows.
- Getting rid of large chunks of waste using skip bins.
- If any serious maintenance issue occurs, report immediately to the landlord.
This might include making sure that locks and appliances work properly, eliminating pests like insects or rodents, scheduling a carpet clean or touch up paint, re-caulking, or other repair requests, and reporting any structural damages, or things like mold, mildew, and hazards to management as soon as you notice them.
Hopefully, with a bit of luck and the above tips, moving out will be a lot easier and might even save you some money at the end.
BIO text – Shyam Bhardwaj is a professional SEO consultant and has worked with A-listed agencies including 4Point Digital, White Rabbit Marketing, and The Website Group. You can follow him on Twitter – @shyam_bhardwaj
