Before Signing an Apartment Lease

E.:

You have more than one question here so I'm going to break it down:

CONTRACT -
* I have no personal knowledge of self-eviction. I don't know Arizona state rental laws.
* Before you sign ANY contract - read it THOROUGHLY. If you don't understand it - ASK questions.

Electric bill:
EVERYONE is different. Even if we had the exact same apartment - I may want to keep my house COLD and keep the thermostat set at 65 degrees. You may want it HOT and set it at 78 degrees. Or you may not use it at all and open the windows and use fans.

You have have other items or appliances that use more electricity than what I have.

I would ask the land lord if they plan on upgrading the appliances to energy efficient ones any time soon.

COST TO RENT:
Again - I don't live in Arizona and I don't know what is typical rent. I know that a 2 bedroom here in Fairfax county is $1,200 a month. So $600 sounds REALLY "cheap".

SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD:
Call your local police station non-emergency number and give them the address and ask about crime in that area. You can (or should be able) to check in your local newspaper too in the crime section - I know ours comes out weekly and reports crime in our county.

Bottom line - if you aren't getting a good feeling for the "new" place (old building and old appliances) I would continue to look around. You don't state why you are looking to move - to save money - be closer to school or what - for me it would help to know why you want to move - but that's ME.

I don't know what self-eviction means either, but I assume it's that the lessor voluntarily left the premises either before or at the end of the lease period.

As for the tenant suing the apartment complex, you can go to the court yourself and look at the file and read the complaint and then you'll know for sure what is going on.

As for the rent amount, I have no idea what rents are in your area so I can't say one way or another if a $600 rent might mean an unsavory neighborhood or simply because the building and appliances are old. You will have to check out the neighborhood and make that call yourself.

And as for the electricity, no one is going to be able to tell you what it will run. People in your area can tell you a ball park figure of what they pay, but yours may be more or less depending on a number of factors such as how low you set the air conditioning; whether people are home during the day (it is amazing how much more your electricity bill is if someone is home during the day versus the home being empty during the day. Daytime electricity, at least here, costs more than nighttime electricity.

Good luck. I hope it all works out for you.

You can get a pre-paid electric. That's what i had when I lived in Awatukee. You get a card and you can load money on it as you need.

I just wanted to mention to fill out the walk through sheet thoroughly for every room. Stains on the carpet, marks on cabinets or counters, condition of bathroom, walls, door frames, go down the list and keep a signed copy. That way if they try to come after you when you leave you have that to show.
Also, I don't know how your electric company works but sometimes they require a deposit (ours gives it back if you make payments on time after a year) and depending on whether the electric is on or off you need to schedule them to come out and sometimes the turnaround is a few days.
There is some kind of website with crime stats but I don't remember the name. If I find it I'll come back and post it. Good luck!

If the manager told you there was an eviction then the manager is lame. I wouldnt move there if I was you.
I'm an apartment manager and you dont share that info with applicants.
If you think the appliances are old don't bet on getting any new ones..... the manager has nothing to do with what the owner of the building decides to spend.
In my complex I would not show 4 units to anyone, I would show the unit that has been empty the longest and that would be the one you would get. If they showed you FOUR empty units that is a RED FLAG that there is a problem there and they are desperate for tenants.

You can call the local utility company and tell them you are considering renting an apartment and give them the address AND the apartment number. They can tell you the average monthly bill for that unit. You might want to have the exact number of each of the apartments you are looking at. They are not telling you this is how much YOUR bill will be but how much the past tenant averaged. They may have had numerous computers, ran the dishwasher 4 times per day, watched TV 24 hours per day. They may also have been very fugal and the bills just run high. You'll need to find out the amount then consider which one you'd like.

I can tell you that as far as the electric goes, you can always call the electric company, give them the address, and inquire about what the average usage and costs were for the prior year. They usually have it on file for potential budget billing options. However, that doesn't mean that yours won't be different. My usage in the house that I'm in currently is different between me and the prior owners. Also, even the simple fact that we had a warmer spring then normal has had an impact too.

I don't know about anything else though.