Recently I met Mr. William after a long time. He was my school mate. In fact he came to seek some advice about his dispute with the leasing agent as a renter. I really found that my friend is mostly ignorant about the responsibilities as a renter. Actually he thought that all the maintenance of the rented house would be done by the leasing agent and the maintenance staff.



I politely requested him to read the rental agreements on which he has signed. I asked him to read twice the agreement to get familiarization with the terms and conditions. I told him in clear terms that as a renter he has well defined responsibilities and the leasing agent as well have responsibilities in an apartment which is rented out.

Now let us see what the renter responsibilities are.

It is your responsibility as a renter to maintain the apartment and the surrounding area, including the interior area, the deck or patio portions. Keeping cleanliness of the surroundings and the interior are the major responsibilities. Also some minor items like replacement of light bulbs, cleaning of clogged toilets and keeping tidy the walls and floors are also need to be done by renter.

Renter is not supposed to do any alterations in the home for his convenience. Also he should not take up activities like painting, repairs of attached appliances or any portion of the apartment structure. If you find difficulty in doing minor repairs, you can get the support of the maintenance staff.

Societal responsibility of the renter includes keeping the public area clean and tidy and also you should not do any harm to the public properties. Also see that you are not indulging in littering, vandalism and also make sure that you are not failing to show common courtesy to other tenants in the apartments.

Failing to do the duties as a renter, you will be inviting fines or other penalties under the rental agreement.

What are the responsibilities of the leasing agents?

As per the rental agreement, the leasing agents will be responsible for all kinds of major repairs. These can include painting, maintenance of the plumbing pipes, structural repairs, repairing the home appliances which started malfunctioning and correcting any failure of electrical systems.

The maintenance staff and the leasing agent need to interfere if the tenant faces difficulties in using public utilities. These can include the unavailability of heat or hot water to the apartment. The maintenance of the common areas, including the landscaped lawns and walkways, are the responsibility of the leasing agents. Maintenance staff should keep the whole area neat, clean and tidy.

If the renter and leasing agent know their responsibilities, then there will not be any chance of dispute among them.