Living off-campus can either be a rewarding experience, or an extremely harrowing one. I found that out this past month, when my three roommates and I moved into and then out of our off-campus house in a span of 12 days. The mistakes that we made leading up to the termination of our lease varied, from not knowing the condition of the house before we moved in, to not reading over the lease thoroughly, to experiencing problems with our older upstairs neighbors. I want to offer advice to rising sophomores and juniors about how to deal with the off-campus housing process and what they can do to make their off-campus experience as easy as possible.
My Experience
After spending the initial 48 hours at our new home moving in, decorating, gardening and patching up the extremely run-down house, we started to realize that some of the problems we were encountering were not problems that we alone could fix. When our landlord neglected to fix these problems, the first thing that we did was call in a city inspector to verify that we were correct in our assumptions that the house was not up to code. After receiving the results from our inspection, we learned that the house was in violation of 23 codes for housing in Boston. We petitioned to terminate our lease and our landlord agreed and reimbursed us.
My Advice
1. Check the condition of the house. Our biggest mistake was that we did not check the condition of the house before we signed the lease. When we arrived the first day to find holes in the wall, missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and leaks in our water pipes, we were shocked. Make sure that you have your house or apartment inspected prior to signing. If it has not been inspected recently, get in touch with the City of Boston or your realtor and request an inspection. It will save you time and stress.
2. Read your lease thoroughly. We did not read our lease well enough and missed some of the most important parts. Before you get involved with an off-campus house, be sure to have a list of questions ready for your realtor. We did not ask questions prior to signing the lease and were surprised when, for example, our oil bill came out to be $1,000 dollars a month instead of the expected $50 dollars. One of my roommates, Hannah Moore, a junior at BC, could not stress reading the lease enough. She said, “We are 20 years old. We don’t know anything about reading leases or renting houses. Have someone who knows what they are doing check, and then double-check the lease.”
3. Know your neighbors. While the four of us occupied the downstairs apartment, we did not realize until we had already moved in that above us lived 35-year-old adults. One upstairs resident even left cat food on our front porch every morning, attracting the streets stray cats. Make sure that you know whom you will be living with prior to signing the lease so that you can make arrangements with them about how the living situation is going to work. Nick Casale, a junior and current off-campus resident, also suggested, “Walk around and meet your neighbors…upstairs, downstairs, across the street and next-door. It will make a world of difference if you are familiar and friendly with them if you run into a conflict.”
Boston College has an Off-Campus Housing office in Maloney Hall, where students are welcome to drop in with questions about living off campus. Visit the Off-Campus Housing office where Rosemary Kann, a student receptionist in the office, says the information is available online. “For off-campus housing, there is a whole page online dedicated to students. There is information for new renters, and an accessible roommate finder. We try to make it as accessible as possible for a student wanting to live off-campus.”
Finally, do not stress about choosing a house. No, it may not be your choice to live off-campus, but at BC, it has become a rite of passage. Students long for junior year so that they can have their own place with their friends, a place where they can be on their own. With being on your own though, comes great responsibility, as my three roommates and I learned. I hope that this advice will help make your off-campus experience far less disastrous than mine!
Sources:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/resl…