If you’re on your first-ever apartment hunt, you’re soon to find out there can be some serious paperwork that goes along with the process. To help you better prepare for what otherwise might be a shock, there are some things you can do in advance of applying for a new place to live. The more you have together before you try to fill out an application, the better.
Once you find an apartment you’d like to live in, you can expect your landlord or the complex manager to ask you to fill out a fairly lengthy application. This is the first part of the approval process. The next part is a waiting game on your end. It involves management checking into your background and making a determination if you are trustworthy enough to rent a place. If it is deemed so, you’ll be asked to come in and fill out a lease and set a move-in date.
Things You’ll Need
So, what can you do to help yourself with the apartment rental application? Gather this information:
1. Social Security number – Don’t be alarmed when asked for this information. Providing your social security number is a necessary procedure so management can perform a credit check on you. If you don’t have one, get one. If you have poor credit and know it, consider lining up a co-signer or seeing if there is a way to pay an extra deposit amount to make up for credit blemishes.
2. Bank statements – These are not always needed, but it’s not out of the question for a landlord to ask. They’ll look at bank statements in addition to doing a credit report check to see if you can really afford to pay the monthly rental fee.
3. Employment verification – You will need to know who in your company an apartment manager should contact for employment verification. This is an important step in almost every apartment rental application because it proves you have a steady income. Whether it’s your human resources department or your direct supervisor that needs to be called, count on this coming up. You may also be required to present a few paycheck stubs.
4. Rental history – If this is your first apartment, you probably don’t have a history to share. Still, you can line up personal and professional references to help make the process flow more smoothly. If you have rented in the past, make sure to have dates, addresses and management telephone numbers to pass on.
5. Application fee - Be prepared to write out a check for an application fee. This fee is necessary to cover the cost of credit and background checks. Fees are usually no more than $50.
6. List of residents - The application will also ask you to provide a list of all the residents who will be living in the apartment. If there will be anyone residing in the apartment who is 18 years or older, then they may have to fill out a separate application as well.
7. Vehicles - Some applications will require you to list the vehicles of your household for parking purposes. Be prepared to provide information such as make, model, license plate number, and your driver’s license number.
8. Do some research of your own - Check your credit report before applying for an apartment to check for errors or just to access the state of your credit. If you know you have bad credit, avoid applying for apartments that you know you won’t qualify for. You don’t want to waste money on the application fee. And, if you don’t know if you’ll qualify or not, just ask the landlord about your situation and see what they have to say about your situation. Together you may be able to come up with a solution to a bad credit report.
Apartment Application Resources
If you still need a little help filling out your application, below are a few links that should help you through the process:
- A Sample Rental Application for an Apartment
- Check Your Credit Report
- Ways to Rent an Apartment with Bad Credit
- Search for an Apartment
Going from selecting an apartment to applying for one to actually signing an apartment lease is not necessarily a simple process. Managers have a right to make certain you are who you say and that you can afford the costs associated with the lease. The more information you have ready to share, the easier the application process should go. Arm yourself with the right paperwork before you sit down and fill out an application. If you do this, the process should be a breeze.
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