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What You As An Oregon Student Should Know About Your Landlord

If you are a student at Oregon University and renting out an apartment from a landlord, there may be some important aspects you are not aware of and should know about. In this article, we look at the rights of you as a student renter and also touch base on the type of homeowner’s insurance they may have which has some limitations.

Oregon State and University

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. It has one of the largest universities named after the state – Oregon State University, founded almost 150 years ago and one that draws students from all the other 50 states and as a diverse university there are also those who come from over 100 different countries to join this institution that is rated in the top 1% of the world.

Although the university offers an assortment of excellent student accommodation to international, as well as transfer students, many prefer renting off-campus in an apartment near the university from one of many landlords.

Nevertheless, when renting for the first time, there are a few things you, as a student renter should be aware of such as the process of application, security deposits and your rights, before signing a lease.

A Landlords Homeowners Insurance and Limitations to Students

As a student, understanding where you stand if your landlord has homeowner’s insurance is imperative. This is mainly because there are some aspects it will cover, and others it will not. As a holistic approach, let’s look at what it covers such as destruction or damage to the property due to vandalism, natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.

However, it may not cover personal liability or your personal belongings in the event of any of the above-mentioned disasters.

Landlord-tenant laws commonly fall under the jurisdiction of individual states. But since many state laws are very similar in scope, tenants and landlords throughout the U.S. should expect that no matter where they’re located, these are four things property owners should never do when they’re renting out a unit:

Enter the premises without proper notice: typically, landlords can access the property after giving notice, between regular business hours of 9 am and 5 pm. There may be some exceptions such as an emergency, a leak or a fire.

Evict Tenants Unlawfully: if the landlord needs to evict the tenant they need to go through the proper legal procedures.

Security Deposits: the landlord must return your security deposit in the event you leave the apartment.

Repairs: the landlord is required to make necessary repairs to the accommodation where deemed necessary.

Raising the Rent and Not Justifying it: the lease you sign is a binding contract between you and the landlord. Once both parties have signed it there shouldn’t be any reason for them to raise the rent unless a new tenant joins the apartment, the landlord remodels the property or you bring in a pet.

Discrimination: they cannot discriminate against you or refuse to rent their apartment out to you in terms of gender, disability, sexual orientation, colour, race or familial status.

The property must be sanitary and safe and habitable. So, although the landlord may own the rental apartment, the renter has protection against arbitrary rent increase, harassment, discrimination or wrongful eviction.

There is also the aspect of renter’s insurance that you can consider, which will be useful for you in the event of theft, or damage to personal belongings. This is however something you will need to sign up for or your parents can do this on your behalf.

Researching before you sign a rental contract should be at the forefront of your planning, when moving from anywhere to take up a course at the Oregon State University, you will save yourself a lot of time and hassles in the long run.

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