Questions to Ask When Calling About an Apartment
Questions for the first phone call about a rental, before you spend an afternoon on viewings: what the rent really includes, what is due at signing, how the building handles repairs and noise, who you are actually speaking to, and how to get in to see the unit itself. Written for renters working through a list of listings.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Is the apartment still available, and when could I move in?
Why ask it
Listings stay up long after a unit is gone, sometimes on purpose to collect leads. If the answer slides into a different unit or a vague soon, you are probably being routed toward whatever they are struggling to fill, which is worth knowing before you drive over.
Are you the owner, the property manager, or an agent?
Why ask it
This sets who can actually answer you: an owner knows the boiler's history, a leasing agent knows the paperwork, a third party may know neither. It also filters out the most common rental scam, where someone who has never been inside the building copies a listing and asks for a deposit.
What is the rent, and does it change depending on the lease length?
Why ask it
Advertised rents are often the twelve-month price, or a promotional rate for the first year that jumps at renewal. Asking for the number on each term you might sign surfaces both, and tells you whether the price you have been quoting yourself is real.
What is due before I get the keys: first month, deposit, any fees?
Why ask it
This is the number that decides whether you can afford to move at all, and it is often two or three times the rent once a deposit, last month, and administration or move-in fees are added. Get each item named separately, because fees that are folded into a single total tend to be the nonrefundable ones.
Which utilities are included, and what do tenants usually pay for the rest?
Why ask it
Heat included and heat billed separately can differ by a few hundred dollars a month in a cold winter or a hot summer. A landlord who can quote a typical range knows the building; one who has no idea what tenants pay is a hint that the place has been turning over.
How is the apartment heated and cooled?
Why ask it
Electric baseboard, gas forced air, radiators, and a single window unit produce very different bills and very different comfort in the same square footage. The answer also tells you who controls the temperature, which in older buildings with one shared boiler is often not you.
Is there laundry in the unit, in the building, or somewhere else?
Why ask it
This is the amenity people most often shrug off on the phone and resent for a year. Ask how many machines serve how many units, because in-building laundry that means two machines for thirty apartments functions closer to a laundromat you happen to own a key to.
Is parking included, and is it an assigned spot or whatever you can find on the street?
Why ask it
Parking available covers everything from a deeded garage space to a permit that lets you compete with the rest of the block. If it is street parking, ask what the permit costs and how overnight and snow rules work, since those are the things that generate tickets.
What floor is it on, and is there an elevator?
Why ask it
Worth asking before you commit a Saturday, because a fourth-floor walk-up changes moving day, grocery trips, and anything you own that is heavy. Ground floor has its own tradeoffs to raise at the viewing: security, light, and noise from the sidewalk.
Which way do the windows face, and how much daylight does it get?
Why ask it
You cannot judge this from photos, which are shot on bright days with wide lenses. An honest description of an airshaft view or a wall six feet away will save you the trip, and if the answer is enthusiastic but vague, ask what the windows look out onto.
What are the income and credit requirements, and do you accept a co-signer or guarantor?
Why ask it
Hearing the threshold up front prevents you from paying an application fee you were never going to clear. If they will consider a guarantor, extra pay stubs, or a larger deposit instead, that flexibility is usually decided by the owner and stated plainly on the phone.
Is there an application fee, and do I get it back if I am not approved?
Why ask it
Fees are normal, and in some places capped by law, but a landlord collecting them from a dozen applicants for one unit is running a different business than a landlord screening two. Ask how many applications are already in before you pay.
How many people can be on the lease, and can I add a roommate later?
Why ask it
Occupancy limits and the process for adding someone matter more than they seem, because an informal yes now often becomes a lease violation later. The answer also reveals whether the landlord screens each person separately, which affects how quickly a roommate can move in.
What is the pet policy: any weight or breed limits, and is there a deposit or a monthly fee?
Why ask it
Pet friendly can hide a twenty-pound cap, a breed list, or a fee charged every month for the life of the lease. If you have a pet or expect to, ask for the specifics now and later ask to see it written into the lease, since verbal permission does not survive a change of management.
Who lives above, below, and next door, and how much do tenants hear each other?
Why ask it
A landlord who says the building is mostly long-term tenants, or mentions a family upstairs, is giving you real information. Total silence or a quick change of subject is its own answer, and either way you now know what to listen for when you stand in the empty rooms.
When was the unit last painted or updated, and is anything being repaired before move-in?
Why ask it
Anything promised now should end up in writing before you sign, because repairs pledged during a showing rarely happen afterward. The date of the last work also tells you how much of what you see in the photos is current.
How do I report a repair, and who comes out when the heat fails at night?
Why ask it
The useful answer names a person or a number, not a portal. On-site maintenance, an owner who lives nearby, and a management company with a voicemail box produce very different outcomes on a Sunday in February, and this is the cheapest way to find out which one you are getting.
How much did the rent go up at the last renewal, and what happens when my lease ends?
Why ask it
Past increases predict future ones better than any policy statement, and whether the lease rolls month to month or requires a new term changes your options a year from now. A landlord who does not remember what they raised it by last time is telling you something too.
What does it cost to break the lease early?
Why ask it
Ask even if you are certain you will stay, because jobs and relationships move. The answers range from a couple of months' rent to holding you liable until they re-rent, and the difference is the single largest financial risk in the document you are about to sign.
How long has this unit been empty, and do you know why the last tenant left?
Why ask it
A place that has sat for months in a tight market has a reason, and the reason is usually the price, the noise, or something structural. Landlords often answer this one honestly because it sounds like small talk, and the phrasing they choose tends to reveal more than the facts do.
Can I come see this exact unit, and when are you showing it?
Why ask it
The word exact matters: being shown a model or a similar apartment down the hall is how the worst surprises happen. A refusal to show the real unit in person, or a request for money to hold it sight unseen, is the point at which you end the call.
Making the call count
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you dial
- Have the listing open so you can ask about the specific unit number, floor, and price you saw.
- Know your two hard limits: the most you will pay monthly and the most you can put down at signing.
- Keep one note per apartment in the same format, so you can compare six calls a week later.
- Call during business hours if a management company owns the building, and after six for owner-run listings.
- Expect five minutes. If it runs long, that is usually a good sign.
Save these for the viewing, not the phone
A phone call is for screening out and booking a visit. Water pressure, cell signal, how the place smells, whether the windows open, what the stairwell sounds like at six in the evening, and whether the closet doors actually close are all things you can only judge standing in the room. Ask on the phone only what would stop you from going.
Signs to end the call on
They will not show you the unit in person
Travel, an overseas posting, a relative handling it: the specific story varies, and it is always a reason you cannot walk through the door. No legitimate landlord takes money before you have seen the apartment.
Money is needed to hold it right now
A deposit before a viewing or an application, especially by wire, gift card, or a payment app, is the mechanism of nearly every rental scam.
The price is well under everything comparable
In a market you have been watching for a week, you already know the range. A listing several hundred dollars below it is either bait or has something the photos left out.
They cannot answer basic questions about the building
Someone who does not know how it is heated, what floor it is on, or which utilities are included may not have any connection to the property.
Getting the good answers written down
- Anything they promise to fix, paint, or replace goes into the lease or an addendum before you sign.
- The same is true for pet permission, an extra parking spot, or a released month at the end of the term.
- Ask for the total move-in cost in an email, itemized. Fees have a way of appearing at signing.
- If they quote a typical utility bill, ask whether they can share an actual recent one for the unit.
- Write down who you spoke to and when. In a busy building that alone can settle a disagreement later.