Photos By: Freepik

Wear And Tear Considerations

Natural wear and tear will transpire over time as you live in an apartment. Here’s the thing: décor, lifestyle, and pets can also contribute to wear and tear. If you’re going to get your initial deposit back on an apartment, you’ve got a threshold of reasonable wear that you shouldn’t go beyond. This is a lot easier to conceive than to achieve. In this article, we’ll go over some decorative tips that will help make your apartment an expression of you without making it so you lose your deposit.

Strategic Means Of Hanging Pictures

A lot of wear and tear has to do with pictures or paintings hung on walls. You bang in a nail and hang the picture. Well, if you do that very often, it’ll leave holes in the walls, and your landlord will see them on inspection of the apartment. It may be better to use putty if you’re dealing with a poster or something. If you can’t use putty, there are wall hangers that have less of an impact than nails. Also, you might consider simply leaning your picture or painting against the wall from atop a piece of furniture. This way it’s easy to move, it doesn’t damage the wall, and it’s appropriately situated to attract the eye.

Rugs, Rugs, Rugs

A big place you’re likely to lose your deposit has to do with floor stains. As soon as you move in, you want to find rugs and throws which cover the totality of the apartment flooring. You can usually find enough options in this regard at the local Walmart to get the job done cost-effectively. True, you don’t necessarily have to use rugs everywhere. Have one for your feet at the apartment’s entrance. Place one under the dining table. Another one can go under the sofa and coffee table. These are the areas you’ll be using the most, and which have the greatest propensity to stain. If you can get options that totally cover the floor of the apartment, that’s not a bad idea, but it can cost enough that what you save in terms of deposit remuneration, you lose in terms of rug costs. So there’s definitely a balance to be achieved here.

The Actual Move

If you’re moving a bunch of furniture yourself, that’s awkward and can be collaterally expensive. What do you do when you have to teeter that dresser in on your own and it ends up punching a hole in the sheetrock? Well, you’ve got to pay $5— $20 for a repair kit, and then you’ve got to fix what you broke. That can be quite a pain. A good way around this is to go with a moving company. Barring that, at minimum, use best practices in a move as professionals of UMoveFree advise. That said, there are “free” moving options out there which can save time, money, and the structural integrity of your rental property.

Making Your Apartment Your Own Without Losing Deposits

How you move your possessions, hang pictures, and the sort of rugs you put on the premises of your apartment—these things can all work together to allow more freedom in décor without damaging the unit. Look at the lease you sign to see what the levels of allowable wear and tear are, and assure you remain within those levels as best you can.

Lastly, be the kind of tenant a landlord wants to reward. Don’t be too loud, cause the neighbors trouble, and do take care of the unit. If you do that, the landlord may even look over a little bit of structural damage, because he likes you. Don’t count on it, but it’s more likely you’ll see something like this happen if you take care of your apartment well than if you don’t.