What Questions to Ask During Apartment Tour
Twenty questions to work through while you are standing in the unit, covering what the rent actually covers, utility costs, repairs, noise, lease exits, and deposit deductions. Written for renters who want the answers before they sign.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How much is the rent, and what does that number cover?
Why ask it
Ask this first so every later figure has something to attach to. Listings routinely quote a base rent that excludes trash, water, a mandatory amenity fee, or renters insurance billed through the landlord. If the answer is just the number again with no breakdown, ask to see the itemized statement a current tenant receives.
What do I pay before I get the keys, all in?
Why ask it
Move-in cash is where budgets break. The list can include first month, a security deposit, last month, an application fee, a key or fob deposit, an administrative fee, and a nonrefundable pet fee. A manager who recites the whole list from memory has been asked before. One who says "just the deposit" and emails an addendum later is a reason to get a written total before signing.
Which utilities are mine, and what do they usually run for a unit this size?
Why ask it
The useful part of the answer is the dollar figure, not the list. Ask what a tenant in this line of units paid in the coldest month and the hottest one. A single-pane apartment on electric baseboard heat can cost far more to keep livable than the identical floor plan in a renovated stack. Vagueness here often means the bills are unpleasant.
How is the unit heated and cooled, and do I control the thermostat?
Why ask it
This decides whether you can be comfortable and who gets to decide. Buildings on a central boiler often switch heat on and off by calendar date, so a cold May is not negotiable. Radiators you cannot throttle, window AC units you have to buy and store each winter, and a thermostat shared with the apartment next door are all things you only find out by asking.
Which internet providers actually service this building?
Why ask it
Managers say "all the major providers" by reflex. Often only one line physically reaches the building, and if you work from home the gap between fiber and a single cable reseller can decide whether the apartment works at all. Ask which company the current tenant uses and whether the wiring reaches the room you would work in.
Where does laundry happen, and if it is shared, how many machines for how many units?
Why ask it
The ratio matters more than the presence of machines. Four washers serving a large building means Sunday is a queue. In-unit hookups sometimes exist without machines attached, which is a cost you inherit. Also ask whether the machines take coins, a card, or an app, since app-based systems fail in ways that leave you with a wet load and no recourse.
Where would I park, is the space assigned, and what does it cost?
Why ask it
"There is plenty of street parking" is the answer to watch for, because it means the building guarantees you nothing. Get specifics: assigned or first-come, tandem or standalone, compact-only, monthly cost, what a second vehicle costs, and where guests are supposed to leave a car overnight without being towed.
How do packages get delivered, and where do they sit until I am home?
Why ask it
Package handling is a decent proxy for how the building treats residents in general. An open lobby where boxes stack on the floor all day, a locker bank that is permanently full, or a policy of refusing deliveries entirely all have real consequences if you order anything or are out during the day.
Can I run the shower and the kitchen tap while we are standing here?
Why ask it
Test this rather than ask about it. Run the shower, then flush the toilet, and watch how long hot water takes and whether pressure collapses. Weak pressure on an upper floor and a slow drain are cheap to notice now and slow to get fixed later. Reluctance to let you touch the plumbing is itself an answer.
What will I hear from the neighbors and from the street?
Why ask it
Tours are scheduled midday, when buildings are at their quietest. Ask concretely whether there is a bar, bus stop, school pickup line, dog run, or early garbage route outside, whether the unit above is carpeted, and whether the entry door slams. A leasing agent who lives elsewhere may genuinely not know, which is a reason to walk the block again at nine on a Friday.
What is the pet policy, and does it cover a friend's dog for a weekend?
Why ask it
The fee is only half of it. Weight caps, breed exclusions, a limit on the number of animals, and whether the rule reaches visiting or fostered pets all sit in different paragraphs of the lease. Verbal permission from a leasing agent does not survive a change of management, so get whatever you are told written into the document.
Can I add a roommate to the lease later, or sublet if I am away for a stretch?
Why ask it
This is your pressure valve if your job, income, or relationship changes mid-lease. Find out whether adding someone means a fresh application and fee, whether short-term rental is banned outright, and at what point a long-staying guest technically becomes an unauthorized occupant. Buildings differ enormously and the answer is rarely in the listing.
What can I hang on the walls, and what has to be undone before I leave?
Why ask it
Answers range from "anything you can patch" to "no nails, and we bill for paint regardless." The second kind of building will also read ordinary wear as damage at move-out. Push for specifics about what wall repair costs and whether picture hooks count, so you learn the standard now rather than from a deduction letter.
How do I report a repair, and who shows up: building staff or an outside contractor?
Why ask it
How the request gets filed matters less than who arrives. On-site maintenance usually means a leaking faucet is handled the same week; an owner who calls a plumber when he has time can mean a month. Ask for the after-hours number and what the building counts as an emergency, since no heat in winter and a dead refrigerator are not always on that list.
How long did the last few repair requests here take to close?
Why ask it
This question gets either an honest answer or an obviously evasive one, and both are useful. A manager with a work-order system can give rough timelines without looking anything up. "We take care of everything right away" with no example usually means requests are triaged by whoever complains hardest.
Who has keys to this unit, and how much notice do I get before someone enters?
Why ask it
Most jurisdictions set a notice period for non-emergency entry, and you want to hear that the building knows what theirs is. Ask separately whether locks are rekeyed between tenants, because if they are not, every copy the previous tenant handed out is still in circulation.
How long did the previous tenant live here, and why did they leave?
Why ask it
Turnover tells you what the listing will not. Someone who stayed six years liked living here. A unit that has cycled three tenants in two years has a reason, often a neighbor, a recurring leak, or a change in management. Watch whether you get a specific story or a shrug, and treat the shrug as information.
What did rent do at renewal this year for tenants who stayed?
Why ask it
Your real cost is the second year, not the first, particularly when the first month is discounted as a concession. Ask for the actual pattern in dollars or percent rather than policy language. A manager who will not characterize it at all is usually telling you the increase was steep.
What are my options if I have to leave before the lease ends?
Why ask it
Ask while you still have leverage to get terms in writing. Options range from a defined buyout of one or two months' rent to remaining liable until the unit re-rents at whatever pace the landlord chooses. Find out whether there is a military or job-relocation clause, who pays to advertise the vacancy, and whether your deposit can be applied to the balance.
What gets taken out of deposits most often here?
Why ask it
This turns the deposit conversation from rules to practice. Whatever they name first, carpet cleaning, paint, a flat turnover charge, is what you will be billed for no matter how carefully you live. Ask in the same breath whether the deposit sits in a separate account and how many days after move-out it is returned, then photograph everything on day one.
How to run an apartment tour
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you arrive
Look up the address, not just the unit
Check the street on a map for a bar, a bus depot, a school, a fire station, or a rail line. Search the building name and the landlord's name together with the word complaints. Local tenant boards and city code-violation records are public in many places and take five minutes to search.
Decide your two non-negotiables in advance
Tours are short and slightly pressured, and people talk themselves into apartments in real time. Name your two hard limits before you walk in, whether that is natural light, a second bedroom, or being able to keep a cat. Written down, they are harder to trade away for a nice countertop.
Bring a tape measure and your phone
Measure the doorway and stairwell, not just the room, if you own a sofa or a bed frame you intend to keep. Photograph every room and every existing scuff. Those photos are the baseline you will want if the deposit is disputed later.
What to do while you are inside
- 1Open and close every window and the front door. Sticking windows and a door that has to be shouldered mean deferred maintenance.
- 2Run the shower and a tap, then flush. Watch pressure and how long hot water takes.
- 3Check phone signal in the bedroom and the room farthest from the street.
- 4Open the electrical panel and look for fuses rather than breakers, and count outlets in the room you would work in.
- 5Look under the kitchen and bathroom sinks for water staining, warped particleboard, or fresh caulk covering an old leak.
- 6Look at the ceiling in corners and near the bathroom above for the faint brown ring that means a past leak.
- 7Stand still and listen for thirty seconds with no one talking.
Reading the answers you get
Numbers beat adjectives
"Utilities are reasonable" is not an answer; a January bill is. Whenever you hear a reassuring adjective, ask for the figure behind it. A manager who has the figure has been doing this a while and is easier to deal with when something breaks.
Verbal permission is not permission
Anything you were told that matters needs to appear in the lease or in an email you keep: the visiting dog, the roommate you will add in March, the shelf you want to mount. Leasing agents leave and the next manager enforces the document, not the conversation.
Watch what happens when you ask something inconvenient
Repair timelines, turnover, and renewal increases are the three questions with uncomfortable answers. How someone handles those three tells you more about the next twelve months than the state of the kitchen does.
After the tour, before you sign
- Ask for the full lease and any addenda as a document you can read at home rather than on a clipboard in the office.
- Add up the true first-year cost: rent, parking, pet rent, amenity fees, utilities, and renters insurance. The cheapest listing often loses on this line.
- Confirm in writing what will be repaired or replaced before move-in, with a date, rather than trusting an assurance made in the hallway.
- If you can, come back at a different hour and, if possible, catch a current tenant at the mailboxes. Two minutes with someone who lives there beats an hour with the leasing office.
- Do a written move-in condition report with photos on the day you get keys, and email a copy to the landlord so it is timestamped.