What To Expect When Sub-Leasing An Off-Campus Apartment

By Jessi Stickel on November 12, 2015

When you have had enough of the dorm life in college, it’s time to look at other housing options.

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One of the options is off-campus apartments. If you are searching for an apartment in the middle of the school year for the spring semester, you will most likely have to sub-lease someone’s apartment. When students graduate in the fall semester or study abroad in the spring semester, they resort to sub-leasing their room in their apartment, which is where you come in.

Knowing What You’re Looking For

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When you’re looking for an apartment to sub-lease, it’s important to do your research online before you actually go searching on the street. After you find the location and apartment complex you are interested in, look online at the different features you like best; this way you can compare and seek out what you like and dislike within an apartment you go and view.

Sometimes when you just go look at an apartment, you can be overwhelmed and not think about what you should be examining within that short amount of time. If you go through an online website, like Uloop, you can also try to narrow down what type of roommates you would want by gender, sometimes even major.

Looking at the Apartment & Meeting the Sub-leaser

Once you come into contact either through email or phone with someone that is sub-leasing their room/apartment, you want to find out as much information about the apartment and/or roommates as possible before setting a meeting to look at the apartment.

Information such as, if it is a corner apartment, how many bathrooms it has, if it has a washer and dryer, if people share a single room, how many roommates live there, things along those lines. These questions can save you time of even going to see the apartment, if the answers do not meet the standards you are looking for.

After you decide you are interested in the particular apartment, you need to set up a meeting to look at the apartment. I would not go to view an apartment alone; you don’t know this person, so definitely take a friend with you.

While you are viewing the apartment, check for how clean it is, how big the room you will be staying in is, the features of the room (big closet, close to bathroom, windows), how big the bathroom is (counter and cabinet space), and the view the apartment has can be a bonus factor as well.

It is a weird situation for you and the sub-leaser to be in because you are going to be taking over his or her room, so it’s not important to get to know them considering they will not be living with you. The sub-leaser is basically selling the apartment and his or her roommates which is sort of an awkward situation.

Meeting the Roommates

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If you do decide that you like or are satisfied with the apartment itself, the next step is to meet your potential roommates, which is oh so very important. You should look for people or students that have a type of personality you can get along with. If you are a quiet or reserved person, you don’t want to live with a bunch of partiers that will be making noise all night, every night.

When you do meet the roommates of the sub-leaser, you should try to get to know their personalities and habits. Ask them questions like, if they are morning or night people, if they are in the apartment often, if they use the kitchen or common area frequently, when they usually take showers, etc.

Make sure that your schedules will not clash too much to be an inconvenience all of you. You also want to make sure they have similar cleaning habits as you. If you are a little messy and rarely get around to cleaning, you may want to find someone that is not a clean freak, which could cause frustration between the both of you.

The Final Step

Once you narrowed your choices to one apartment and are satisfied with the apartment features and roommates it is time to sign the lease, making your residency final. Normally you would meet the sub-leaser at the office of the reality, he or she would sign over the lease and you would sign the lease for the agreed time span. You also normally will need to pay a down payment at the time and possibly an application fee.

Then it is official, you just sub-leased your first apartment!

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Other Tips

After signing the lease, you should get some information from the sub-leaser and roommates before actually moving in. Information such as the bed size (for sheets/comforter), if you need to bring supplies like, a trash can (for room), plates/cups/silverware, pots and pans, curtains, mirror(s), paper towels, toilet paper, detergent etc.

Make sure you are prepared as much as possible before moving in to avoid any extra stress.

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