Moving into a new apartment should be exciting, a beautiful view, and a great space to host friends. The curtain colours match the couch. It is spacious enough for your plants, the kitchen is stunning. Bathroom big enough for a shower and a bathtub. It is all great to move into an apartment, with excitement, you’ve signed all the legal documents. You imagined where you would display everything, even your wine rack.
We all have different contracts with our landlords or house agencies. Some contracts prefer the tenant or new ownership to take care of any issues found in the resident after six months. Usually, it is enough time to find any concerns regarding the place. This article will tackle difficulties that might happen after moving into your dream apartment. Helpful tips on dealing with them as well.
The roof and walls tell me they are waterproof?
It might come across as a stupid question, In honesty, it’s critical to know. There is no such thing as a stupid question. It will save you from a lot of problems and save you a few bucks along the way. I came back home one night to find my apartment flooded, from the evening rain. My assumptions thought it was coming from the ceiling, yet there was proof of watermarks from the wall. Two weeks later, the rain poured again. The same situation happened. The inspector came to the conclusion that it was the window and the balcony, which were leaking water. We got painting contractors to paint the walls in the apartment. The water was coming through the bricks. Over time, due to heavy rain or strong wind, the outside bricks and mortar will create a pathway for water, which will be stored inside. The pathway is so small one might not be able to see it. When it is full, the water will find a place to move. Usually, it will push through the walls of the house and start leaking.
- Balcony with tiles should be waterproof, every two years if it does not encounter too much rain.
- Windows should be resealed every five years. Often (maybe every two years) you need to check if there are cracks around the window surface.
- The roof should be investigated twice a year, just to make sure water is navigating away from the house. Sometimes, it’s best to remove anything growing on the roof, they too can cause damage. In case of damage, make sure to hire the right roof replacement contractor.
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The average utility bill during the seasons.
The good thing about the modern age. It is the technology which allows us to track our utility bills. Great. What happens if it’s your first time in the neighbourhood? In my previous apartment, the utility bill was included in the rent, which meant it was a once-off payment each month. The new one was the total opposite. Everything was prepaid, I had to budget for it. Certain apartments have solar panels on the roof, which will help hot water for the apartment, not enough to supply 100% of the hot water.
The rates vary during the seasons, summer electricity usage is low, and water usage is high. In winter, it was the opposite. You need to know which service provider or the best texas commercial electricity provider the building makes use of and when is the correct time of the month to purchase the utilities to get discounts. Finding a more affordable paying channel. The service provider website, where you enter your banking information, the retailer, or your banking app. For me, I found the retailer much cheaper. There were no additional fees for my transaction, just the VAT and the amount I needed to purchase.
Are the pipes working?
The kitchen drains are the worst, they might not have been cleaned in years. All of a sudden, your beautiful kitchen is flooded, one afternoon while having friends over. Have a plumber check all the drainage in the house. It’s very important to do so. You have no idea what the previous tenant let loose in the toilet or the shower drainage.
For me, it was the shower drain. The water did not move as fast, as usual, a good drain cleaner from the local retail store would do.
A clean drain will not just make you feel comfortable yet bring peace to your apartment. A drain pipe should be checked once a year. It all depends on the volume usage, which should not be a problem. Right!
Those black spots are mould, they need to go.
Leave the window open, let the airflow, which will help with humidity. Do not fall for this trick. It does not work well to a degree. You might get an apartment where the previous tenant only dealt with the mould by cleaning it with baking soda and water then removing the material with a brush or a sponge. You might think that is the right way. Temporarily, it might work, not in the long run.
You will end up doing the same activities every three to four months. The best solution is to get a paint which is resistant to mould. Waterproof companies can help. They know exactly which paint the apartment will need, They can also spot where the mould will grow in the house. Or if you are a DIY person, there are paints which can help. Moulds feed off oxygen and water, Ask your local hardware store for mould-resistant paint. Mould is very dangerous for your health. It’s advisable to deal with them before it spreads all over.
In my case, mould was growing in the shower and the bedroom. Both rooms’ walls had the same colour, so I ended up painting both rooms, which was very economical.
Is the view permanent?
Let’s say the view was the main reason you chose the apartment, or it was in the top two, a year later apartment blocks are being built which takes away your view. First, it will reduce the value of the apartment if you ever want to sell, or it will take away that beautiful peace of mind you had in the morning when drinking your beverage while staring at the view of mountains or landscape.
Ask your real estate agent what the plan is for the neighbourhood, in terms of development. They should be honest, it’s their business to know what the plans are because they will be involved in sailing the properties.
If they don’t know, which should be shaky, is to head over to your local government website and research development plans in your area, they usually have a ten to thirty-year plan. There might be a lot of information for you to digest before getting the right answer. Another technique is to hop on your search engine and make use of keywords like “developing plan in…” “The future of…” you will find blogs or newspaper articles with headlines which will match the search results. Often they have better tea than the local government website, there will be rumours, locals will be expressing themselves in the comment sections.
I was truly unlucky after moving to my new apartment. A year and a half later, two blocks of flats were in development just across the road from my building, taking away my view of the beautiful mountains. Then more developments of flats started up the road. Waking up each morning for six months with the sound of construction workers drilling or trucks driving up and down. Enough to make one mad or move out.
Conclusion
If I knew then what I know now, I would not have moved to my dream apartment. Simply because of the view, that was my main reason for purchasing the apartment in the first place. That is an exterior problem, it cannot be controlled. If I knew that my beloved view would be gone in a year, the deal was not going to advance. That is a lesson I have learned the hard way.
Yes, there are small issues which should not affect our decision-making, the noise of children in the corridors or playing in the park, the noisy neighbour who plays loud music on weekends. This should be tolerated. The apartment you choose to stay in needs to be the one for you, where you feel it was designed with you in mind. So every detail needs to be investigated before you sign the lease or move in.
I hope this article helped, in any way possible. You might be lucky to move into an apartment or house with less difficulty than I experienced when moving into my apartment in 2020.
