Before rening an apartment, make sure you don’t take issues for granted. In almost all cases, unless your landlord is a particular kind of crook, landlord issues start with a simple miscommunication. People sign a lease thinking that certain issues are covered, and they aren’t. This isn’t a big surprise, really. Most people only give a cursorily read of their lease before they sign it. This is especially true if you’re renting from a major corporate apartment rental company that has a very official and legal looking lease. They can’t really slip anything outrageous in there because they rent to too many people who know the law. The problem, in most cases, comes up when you rent from an individual who draws up their own, and probably not even legal, lease. An individual with no law training doesn’t know to put everything under the sun in a lease. I once signed a lease that was a single page and was made on Microsoft Word. And guess what? It turned into the worst landlord/renter relationship I ever had. Common disputes come up over utility bills, who is responsible for fixing things, the amount of notice that has to be given to move out and a hundred other things. The only thing a renter can do to protect themselves is to make a comprehensive list of questions to ask and GET THE ANSWERS IN WRITING! You have to protect yourself, no one is going to do it for you.