If there is any damage to the unit when you move in, DOCUMENT IT. Take photos and make sure they’re dated.
If something breaks while you live in the unit, and you can’t fix it easily yourself, REPORT IT. Make the landlord deal with it.
Document what the unit looks like when you move out, before the final inspection–because landlords can and will try to fake damage. Have proof of what damage was yours, if any, and what damage was not.
Landlords will try to fuck you out of every penny you have, including in ways that are horribly illegal. Don’t let them.
A landlord MAY NOT keep your deposit over ‘normal wear and tear’. They may ONLY collect on something that is YOUR FAULT. They cannot charge for carpet wearing down or needing a new coat of paint after a few years, or the furnace needing a replacement because it’s old. They can charge you for punching a hole in the wall that you never fix, or spilling paint on the carpet requiring a specialized cleaning or replacement. And they may ONLY keep what covers the repairs (If insufficient, then and only then may they keep the whole deposit, as in your deposit did not cover the damage you caused).
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AS A TENANT. You landlord MUST return your deposit unless it was damage you directly caused, and ONLY the amount needed to fix the damage, and not one penny more.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.