Renting an apartment or home can be a great way to have shelter without getting tied up in some of the major costs and commitments involved in owning a home. If you decide to rent a home, follow these ten must-do tips in order to protect yourself from getting ripped off.

1. Ask about the length of the lease, the amount of the rent, and the amount of the deposit before writing a check for an application fee or providing a deposit. If any of these things are deal breakers, you want to know about them ahead of time.

2. Be sure that the lease indicates that water service is provided, or that water service will be billed at standard community rates.

3. Don't ever sign a lease on the spot. Bring the lease back to your home and carefully read it. If there's something you don't understand, ask about it before you sign any sort of leasing agreement.

4. Always be sure to add a clause to your apartment lease that gives you the right to terminate the contract before the provided expiration date if your circumstances in life change.

5. Many leases renew automatically unless you specifically tell your landlord that you will be leaving.

6. Make sure that you are present when the move-in inspection occurs and point out everything that you see that's wrong with the apartment. In addition, take photos before you leave in case they accuse you of damaging the apartment.

7. If your landlord doesn't give you your security deposit back, you can sue them in small claims court to regain the money that is rightfully yours.

8. It's okay to rent from a private owner, but there's always the danger that you might not have the option to renew your lease, or that the owner might have their home foreclosed on.

9. If your landlord doesn't respond to any of your maintenance request, send them in writing. If the landlord still doesn't respond to any sort of breakdown that makes you unable to live in the apartment, say the heater's broken, consider paying for the repair yourself and deducting the amount from your next month's rent.

10. If you're going to be evicted, make some arrangements to move your possessions out of the house, either to a storage location or to a friend's house. You don't want your stuff sitting on the front lawn for anyone to take.

Learn more about this author, Matthew Paulson.
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