End of Summer Apartment Checklist: Prepping for the Colder Months

With summer ending and the colder months just around the corner, it’s time to prepare your apartment for winter. Taking the time to deal with maintenance issues before the fall and winter weather arrives is a wise investment of your time.

Staying ahead of maintenance jobs on your rental apartment can save you not only money by catching things early, but also a lot of headaches. A maintenance checklist will give you a starting point to properly prepare for winter.

According to Bill Gassett, Realtor and owner of Maximum Real Estate Exposure, “it is much easier and less time consuming to stay on top of maintenance both inside and out. It will also benefit your relationship with the landlord. Landlords love it when tenants are proactive and have a pride of ownership even though they are just renting.

When the time comes to move out, you’ll most likely see your full security deposit back and the landlord will be that much more appreciative. It will be far easier for them to get a new tenant to take your place when the apartment clearly looks well kept. Moving in the summer is always a challenge for new tenants so a turnkey apartment is a real plus!”

In this article, we’ve prepared an end-of-summer apartment checklist to help you complete all the necessary preventive jobs before the weather turns for the worse.

The Exterior

The exterior maintenance of your apartment is crucial. No matter if you’re renting an apartment in a complex or a single-family home, you still want to have a clean exterior and create an excellent first impression for your guests.

Your maintenance checklist for the exterior of the home should include:

Cleaning the exterior

Washing the windows and frames as well as the doors should make a noticeable improvement to how the place looks, so that should be on top of the list. It’s also healthier to clean up all the dust from the windows and make sure the wind is not blowing in dirt or dust. Be careful if you’re residing on a high floor and use proper equipment, or hire someone to come help you with it.

With the summer over, the exterior could begin to look a little dirty and unkempt. If you’re renting in a single-family home, using a power washer on the home siding will remove most of the dirt.

Screens

Even if there hasn’t been any extreme weather during the summer, windows screens can still get damaged, and definitely dirty. While you’re cleaning the windows, take the opportunity to also remove the dust and build-up from the screens. It is also easy for them to tear or become damaged in some other way simply from normal weather conditions. Check the screens to see if you find a problem, and notify the landlord about this.

The Interior

Whether part of your move-in checklist or ongoing maintenance, it is essential to stay on top of the home’s interior. Many things can deteriorate inside the apartment and you’ll have to deal with repairs and maintenance requests. Regular checks can help save you some headaches. It is wise to also have occasional inspections to larger items like major appliances, so maybe you can talk to your landlord and arrange that to make sure they are all functioning properly.

Inspecting the apartment also allows you to raise with the landlord any issues that are found with items in the home. If you’re unsure what to check, these are some things that should always be on your end-of-summer apartment checklist:

Kitchen and utility room appliances

Make sure stoves, refrigerators and washer dryers are functioning correctly if they are your responsibility.

If these appliances have minor problems, they might be fixable at a relatively low cost before they become a significant expense. Catching an issue early can allow it to be fixed before it becomes an inconvenience for your landlord and a larger expense or replacement for you to cover.

Mold and water damage

Oftentimes, mold problems and water leaks aren’t noticed right away. Adding this to your maintenance checklist of things to look out for can help you discover issues earlier and before they increase the required repairs.

If water leaks from the roof or windows are not keeping out the rain, the repair work could be costly.

While checking for these issues once a year is better than not doing it at all, it can be better to look out for them twice a year or more frequently. This could help you uncover damage that is creating mold in the apartment faster, which means fewer repairs can fix the issue.

If the mold is caused by something you’ve been doing, you can change your habits accordingly, so the problem does not resurface.

Pests

Many different types of pests can infest your property and if they aren’t found, they can spread to other units very easily.

Problems like these can initially occur without noticing it. You need to check areas of the property where pests are more likely to gather. Check the back of closets or damp places within the home for any evidence of pests.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

Batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors need to be replaced regularly. You can add this to the list of things that need to be checked in the fall, though changing batteries every 6 months is generally recommended.

When you change the batteries in these devices, test them as well. Make sure you advise your adjoining neighbors in advance, so they aren’t surprised by the detectors triggering.

Final Thoughts

Winter will be here before your know it, so now is the time to get cracking and take care of any loose ends around the apartment.

Tackling these things before the summer ends will put you in better position to have continued happiness with your living arrangements and less on your plate come the fall.