Many times, people love their apartment complex, but over the course of living there, somethings just aren’t going the best, whether that has to do with neighbors or noise or parking or storage……..whatever it may be, it is causing you to rethink your apartment choice.
However, you have a lot of time left on your lease and you actually like the place you are staying at, something just isn’t sitting well with your actual unit. So, can you just change units in the same apartment complex and not break the lease agreement?
You can switch apartments in the same apartment complex if you talk to your landlord, tell them the reason why you want to switch, and promise to pay any cleaning and transfer fees.
Below, we will go over what you need to do to get your apartment unit switched, how to prepare for your move, and how to talk to your landlord about your situation so you can get them on your side with this issue.
Do Apartment’s Let You Switch Units?
Most apartment complexes will allow you to move from one apartment to another for a variety of reasons. There may be Transfer Fees involved in the move and the landlord may require you to sign a new lease, but it is doable.
There are several things you need to do when you decide to approach your landlord or manager about moving apartments.
Show Your Landlord The Reason You Want To Move. You need to give your landlord a valid reason why the apartment you are currently in is no longer acceptable. Are the neighbors being chronically noisy and making disturbances the landlord is having problems controlling? Do you feel unsafe in your apartment for some reason? If so, this is a great time to tell them.
Change In Family Size Or Change In Finances. Life can come at your in a variety of different ways. Some of the biggest include a change in family size. Which can mean anything from having another child, moving in with a significant other, breaking up with a significant other, or having part of your family or roommates move of the apartment for whatever reason.
Any move like this will end up putting different stressors on your finances. Perhaps now, it isn’t feasible to pay that much in rent when it is just you in the apartment. Or maybe you need more room now that a child is going to be born or someone else is planning on moving in with you. This would be another good reason to look for an apartment with a bit more or less room.
Get Your Landlord On Your Side. Remember, your landlord wants you as a tenant. If you can convince them that helping you move to another apartment is in their best interest as well, you are going to be much more likely to achieve your goal of moving and minimize your costs.
Explain to them what is making living in your current apartment difficult at the moment, and why it would benefit both of you to allow you to move to a different one.
If you are moving into a bigger apartment, show them the benefit they will get by renting out a bigger, more expensive apartment to you. Offer to sign a new lease in exchange for avoiding any of the Transfer Fees.
If you are wanting to downsize your apartment due to finances or a change in how many people you have staying with you, show the landlord that you still want to rent from them, you will help them get your old apartment ready to lease to someone else, and that you are willing to sign a new lease term for the new apartment as well.
Be Prepared To Negotiate. More than likely, you are going to be met with some resistance at first when you bring this situation up to them. Getting them on your side is going to be your biggest task, so be prepared to negotiate with them, and make some concessions to your list of wants as well.
You may end up having to pay some sort of Transfer Fee that the landlord can use to get the apartment ready to go for the next tenant. You are going to have to decide how bad you really want to move to another unit. Is it worth a couple hundred dollars to you to do it? If so, then agree to the Transfer Fees and work out the rest of the details with them after that.
Above all, show them that you are serious enough about moving to make concessions to your request.
If you should you are willing to put some money down to make it happen, they will see how serious you are about moving, and will more than likely see the situation through a bit different lens.
However you end up approaching your landlord, don’t just start complaining to them about how bad your life is in your apartment. Tell them what is less than optimal, what you think the remedy is, and how it benefits both you AND them to help you move apartments.
Help Them Rent Your Old Apartment. This is going to be the biggest hurdle of your being able to move to a different unit. Landlord’s know how much it costs in time and money to both get an apartment cleaned and ready to go for a new renter, and how much time it can take to actually get the apartment rented again on the market.
If you are willing and able to help them both clean and prep your old apartment and get it ready for rental, or even offer to help them find a new renter for the unit, this is going to go a LONG WAY in helping your cause and convincing them to let you move to another unit.
Remember, it is all about getting the landlord to be on your side. Show them the benefit THEY will get in allowing you to change units.
What Are Transfer Fees?
Transfer Fees are fees that the landlord will charge a tenant for moving from one apartment to another in the same complex.
It costs money to move a tenant from one apartment to the other, and the landlord knows that every time someone moves out, they are going to have to clean the carpet and paint at the very lease to get the apartment back up to rent-worthy for the next tenant to come in.
This all takes time, effort, and energy, most of it on the part of the landlord themselves and their staff.
Because of this, you are going to have to give your landlord a REALLY good reason for why you want to move apartments and not just stay there.
It can’t be something like “I don’t like the sun coming in my window in the morning or something like that. No landlord is going to spend the time and money moving you to another unit for something as trivial as that.
You MUST have a legitimate reason for wanting to move.
The reason aside, you need to be prepared to pay some sort of a Transfer Fee to the apartment complex if you do expect to move.
As I mentioned above, it costs quite a bit of time and money to get an apartment ready to move into, and that is if you keep the apartment sparkly clean and tidy when you leave it.
The Transfer Fee is going to limit the cost to the landlord to fulfill your request. If the reason you are moving is out of your control, but within the control of the apartment complex (say 2 different neighbors are constantly violating the noise policy of the lease), you may be able to get your landlord to waive any Transfer Fees because they are required to provide Peaceful Enjoyment when they rent you the apartment.
For any other reasons, just be prepared to pay them as that is simply a part of moving from one apartment to another.
Your landlord may charge you just the cost of having the carpets cleaned if you took exceptionally good care of the apartment, but if there are holes in the walls and it needs to be repainted or deep cleaned, expect those Transfer Fees to be at least the amount of the Security Deposit you put down when you moved in.
If you want to switch apartments in the same complex, make sure you are able to show your landlord a really good, legitimate reason for wanting to move. Be prepared to negotiate with them and make some concessions.
Showing your landlord you are serious about moving, and helping them get your old apartment ready to rent again is going to go a long way in convincing them to let you make the move.
And above all, get the landlord on your side. Show them how it benefits THEM in allowing you to move. This will be the best way you can avoid Transfer Fees and make your move quick and easy.
