Movins Guide Law Continued from Page 2C make some effort to clean. Otherwise the landlord1 may bill you for clean ing and repairs in excess of the de posit. Aside from taking pictures that document your good-faith efforts, you should arrange a joint walk through. 3) Joint walk-through. Bring two copies of an inventory sheet. You can get a sample inventory sheet from the Rental Information Office, located in EMU Suite 5. One purpose of the walk-through is to get the landlord to confirm that spe cific things and areas are being re turned in an acceptable condition. An other purpose is to have the landlord commit to an upper limit on the chaiges that he or she will deduct from your deposit. Ideally, you’ll reach an agreement with your landlord that any remaining work should not cost more than a cer tain number of dollars. You’ll write that down on the inventory report, and you will both sign it. You will then keep one copy for yourself. If you reach that sort of agreement, the landlord may be able to cut you a deposit refund check on the spot. 4) Deposit refunds and accounting statements. The landlord is required to give you your deposit or a written ac counting for however much of it the landlord keeps within 31 days of the termination of your tenancy. You should keep a copy of any re fund check, any accounting state ment and the envelope they were de livered in. The postmark is often crucial evidence as to whether the landlord complied with the statutory timeline. If the landlord doesn’t return the de posit or the accounting on time, he or she owes the tenant twice the amount withheld. If you think your landlord has with held too much of your deposit or as serted unreasonable charges against you, make an appointment at the Legal Services office. 5) Breaking a lease. If you have to move out at the beginning of summer but your lease runs until the end of summer, make an appointment with Legal Services. We may be able to help you. (HINT: If you think you’re going to have to break a lease, it’s a good idea to start advertising for potential replace ments right now. It doesn’t cost much, and it might save you three months’ rent.) Starting a tenancy If you’re signing a new rental agreement for the summer, read this now. If you’ll be signing a new agree ment next fall, cut this out and read it then. 1) Choosing a place. Ask around. Before signing an agreement, try to talk with the previous tenant or the neigh bors and see what they think of the landlord. Find out about any prob lems, including bugs, mice, abuse of privacy, etc. If you have questions about a particular landlord, feel free to call Legal Services and find out what kind of history the landlord has with us. I discourage renting a room in a landlord’s house or next door to a landlord. The rent is often less, but there can be a lack of privacy. Similar ly, be cautious about living above, be low or next to property managers. 2) Application/screening fee. If the landlord takes an application/screen ing fee or a holding deposit, keep any and all written explanations provided concerning those payments. If the landlord takes such payments and does not provide adequate disclosures, he or she owes you the payment plus $100. 3) Rental agreement. Read before signing it. Be clear whether it is a month-to-month or a term lease. Un derstand that if you commit to a term lease, you’re potentially liable for many months’ rent if you have to break the lease. Understand that if you ac cept a month-to-month lease, the land lord can kick you out for almost any reason at all by providing 30 days no tice. 4) Get it in writing. Any assurances that your landlord makes that are im portant to you should be in writing. Have it added to the rental agreements and initialed by all parties. If the land lord is taking any deposits or fees, ask what they’re for. If the written agree ment doesn’t say what they’re for, add an explanation and have it initialed by all parties. 5) Roommates. Review the room mate survival manual down at the Rental Information Office (or look at its homepage: oregon.uoregon.edu/~rio/). Understand that co-tenants are joint ly liable for things. That means that if one of you Hakes out, skips town or bums the house down, the landlord can sue whichever tenant has the most money for what his or her co-tenant did. Understand also that co-tenants are “co-adventurers.” That means that if you vacate during the middle of a lease term, you still owe your co-tenants your share of the rent until they re place you. And they don’t have to replace you at all if they can’t find a new person with whom they get along. 6) Move-in inventory. Do one! Do a move-in inventory to protect yourself from being charged at the end of the tenancy for problems that existed when you moved in. One common complaint I hear is, “My landlord’s charging me $300 for cleaning. But I cleaned before I moved out, and the place was a pigsty when I moved in.” Technically, you’re only liable if you don’t return the premises as clean as you received them. The problem arises when there is docu mentation of the premises condition at the end of the tenancy, but not at the beginning. Do an inventory at commencement. Be thorough. Be picky. Get the land lord to sign it. KEEP A COPY! If anything is dirty enough that it will show up in a picture, take a pic ture. If you have to spend time clean ing, keep a log of your time and re ceipts for any cleaning expenses. John Davidson is a former attorney in the ASUO Legal Services office. 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