Off Campus Housing - What questions should we ask?

axw
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:37:29 +0000

Wow, we’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to reply until now. Thank you all for your insight!

We did wind up renting the apartment originally mentioned. S1 has a lease for one bedroom and the common areas. There are 3 more bedrooms in the apartment, but none have been rented yet as far as we know.

There are smoke alarms and sprinklers, and a carbon monoxide detector (thank you to whoever corrected my mistake of referring to it as CO2). :)

S1 is not responsible for anyone else’s rent, and but did give 1 month rent as security deposit, and has a parent as guarantor.

We will be depositing money into S1’s account and he will pay rent and utilities (and buy food) with the money. He does know how to cook so I think it will all work out well.

These are garden apartments (is that a common term nation-wide?). The entire complex is student housing for the two colleges nearby, and we were told the local police will do plenty of drive-by’s.