Now that you’ve chosen your ideal off-campus rental, you’ll need to consider various tasks that need to be completed both before and after your move-in. This applies whether you’re inhabiting your new home in the fall or later in the academic year.
Ohio State University’s Student Life department has extensive information on its website for students who are preparing to live off-campus or already do. This can be found on the pages devoted to the Willie J. Young, Sr. Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement department. The information, while targeted at OSU students, also can be helpful to students at other colleges and universities with a high number of students who live in off-campus apartments or rental houses. That includes Ohio University, 80 miles down U.S. Rt. 33 in Athens.
Prepping for Your Move-In
The website offers a helpful bullet point list of tips for students transitioning to off-campus housing. It includes:
• Make sure you arrange a time and day to pick up the key to your new apartment or rental house. Consider asking the property manager or landlord to accompany you on a walk-through of the rental in advance of moving your furniture and other belongings into the place. According to apartments.com, “During a move-in walk-through, the new tenant (with or without the landlord or property manager) walks through the property to check for any potential issues that need to be fixed. It’s also the time to make note of any issues that existed prior to their arrival.”
• Arrange utilities, including electric, water/sewage/trash, natural gas and Internet, among others. In most cases, the tenant is obliged to set up utilities. That should be sorted out at least two weeks before the assigned move-in date. The utilities may ask to see certain documentation that confirm your identity and ability to pay. It’s usually a good idea to ask the landlord or property manager if you can have the most recent tenant’s contact info. You might be surprised at how much helpful information the prior occupant of your rental can provide.
• Figure out and then arrange how you’re going to move your furniture and other stuff – whether with a friend’s pickup truck, the back of your parent’s SUV, or a rental truck. Do this well ahead of time, so you’re not stuck at the last minute without any practical way of hauling your belongings.
• Arrange for renters insurance. Check out a different blog on this site for more information about this type of insurance. It can save a lot of heartache and headaches if your apartment gets burglarized, catches fire, or is beset with some other damaging incident.
• Determine if you’ll need to arrange for a parking permit on campus. This, of course, will mainly depend on how close you are to campus (whether at Ohio State, Ohio University or wherever). Each institution will have its own web page explaining this process.
• Make sure your new apartment or rental house is equipped with fire-safety equipment, including but not limited to a fire extinguisher and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors on each floor. Each room should have an easy way to exit the dwelling in event of a fire.
• When you move in to the new place, take time to document any problems you detect with the apartment, its furnishing or fixtures. You can use a move-in checklist to do this. Copy and submit to the rental property manager or landlord within the first week of your lease. This prevents you being held financially responsible for damage or other problems that you had nothing to do with. As part of this, photograph any problems to create visual evidence. This process actually benefits the landlord as well as yourself. It eliminates confusion over who did what. Email both the checklist and any accompanying photographic evidence to the property manager. This creates a time stamp for when it was sent.