Renter’s Glossary: Every Apartment Term You’ll Need to Know

As you start searching for the apartment of your dreams, you’ll look through countless listings. You must have an idea of what exactly it is you’re looking at when you find it, though. To make sure you fully understand the apartment listings you’re researching, here are a few standard key terms you may encounter.

Words You May Encounter on Apartment Listings

1. 4-plex: A 4-plex, also referred to as quadplex or quadruplex, is a building with four housing units.
2. Accessible apartments: Accessible apartments are apartments units and buildings that provide specific features for disabled renters.
3. ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a law that prohibits discrimination in all areas of public life against individuals with disabilities, such as public and private places open to the public, work, and housing environments.
4. Amenity: Amenities in apartments are added features that come included with your apartment. Pools, clubhouses, and gyms in the apartment complex are a few common amenities.
5. Breed restrictions: Breed restrictions are measures taken by landlords and property managers at their discretion to ban particular breeds of animals. The only animals exempt from breed restrictions are service animals, who are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
6. Common Areas/Common use areas: Common areas are areas in an apartment complex that are shared amongst the complex’s tenants. Some typical common areas are clubhouses, laundry rooms, rooftops, and pools.
7. Concession: A concession is a reduction in price that a landlord will make to the original rent terms to get a tenant to move in quickly. This could be in the form of a rebate, a discount off of rent, or physical goods like smart home devices.
8. Demising Walls: A demising wall is a wall that separates two housing units. This wall establishes the perimeter between the two spaces. You’ll find these in duplexes and triplexes.
9. Fire escape: The fire escape is a ladder that allows you to escape fires.
10. Galley Kitchen: A galley kitchen is a common kitchen layout you will find in apartments. It’s essentially a narrow walkway, with two walls on each side of you containing your kitchen appliances, counter space, and kitchen storage.
11. Income restricted apartments: Apartments owned by the city or by private owners that receive government subsidies are known as income-restricted apartments.
12. Pet policy: Apartments that allow pets typically have a pet policy outlining the rules and restrictions that come with renting with pets. This can include things like breed and weight restrictions, as well as pet fees and pet deposits.
13. Prorate: Most landlords would like their tenants to move in at the beginning of the month to keep things simple. If that doesn’t work out and you have to move in at the middle of the month, your landlords can offer you a prorated rent payment for the first month. If there are 30 days in the month and you move on the 15th, you’ll only have to pay for rent for the 15 days.
14. Rent control: Rent control is a law that regulates the amount a property can charge for rent.
15. Rentable Square Footage: Rentable square footage includes the square footage of apartments, as well as the square footage of shared common areas like elevators, hallways, and gyms.
16. Short-term rental: Apartments with leases shorter than the standard 12-month leases are often referred to as short-term rentals. Typically, short-term rental lease lengths are either three or six months and, in some instances, month-to-month.
17. Terrace: A terrace in an apartment is an awesome added amenity before moving in. The amount you put down as a security deposit is usually based on the monthly rent you’ll be paying. One month’s rent is pretty common. The security deposit is to protect a landlord from potential damages to your apartment. The cost to repair said damages will be taken out of your deposit once your lease is up. If there are no damages, you should get your security deposit back in full.
18. Tandem parking: To maximize available parking with limited space, some landlords offer tandem parking. Tandem parking stalls look like one extra-long parking space that can fit multiple cars in one single-file lane. Keep in mind that this parking style does require some careful attention as one car will be blocking the one, or multiples, in front of it.

Words You May Encounter in Your Lease

After completing your application process comes the crucial time to review your lease agreement. Since your lease serves as a legally binding document, you want to ensure you understand every single word of it. To help prevent any confusion, here are some standard terms you may encounter in your lease.

1. Breach: A breach of lease occurs when a landlord or tenant breaks a provision that was stated in the lease agreement. If one of these provisions were broken, the landlord and tenant each still hold their rights.
2. E-payments: More and more properties are moving away from paper payments and incorporating e-payments. With e-payments, you pay for your rent online. Usually, you can set up automatic, recurring payments so you never miss a rent payment.
3. Escalation Clause: A lease agreement may include an escalation clause that requires the tenant to pay a higher rent price based on an agreed-upon procedure. This is typically done to cover the cost of inflation.
4. Eviction notice (or three-day notice): An eviction notice is a letter from your landlord informing you to vacate the property. This could be for reasons like a tenant missing rent payments frequently or having a pet in a non-pet-friendly apartment. The notice should give you a specific timeline as to when you need to vacate the apartment.
5. Fair Housing Act: The Fair Housing Act protects individuals against housing discrimination. This act protects individuals based on race, religion, disability, and more. For more information, click here.
6. Fixed-term agreement: A fixed-term agreement is a lease that has a definitive start and end date. Typically, lease lengths will be 6 or 12 months, however, they can vary. The opposite of a fixed-term agreement is a periodic term agreement, where your lease doesn’t have a designated end date.
7. Guarantor: A guarantor is the legal word for a co-signer.
8. Head-tenant: A head tenant is a term you might hear when looking into sublet apartments. The head tenant is the name on the lease and the person who will be subletting you their unit. They’re the main point of contact for the landlord for that particular unit.
9. HOA: A homeowners association, or HOA, is a self-governing entity within a single community. HOA’s serve to help maintain the neighborhood based on specific terms set forth by the HOA. The HOA can enforce these rules using fees that are collectively paid for by the residents of the HOA.
10. Hold Over Tenant: A hold-over tenant is a tenant who still lives in an apartment unit after their lease has expired. They either have an agreement set up with the property manager and will continue to pay rent, or they are considered to be trespassing.
11. Implied Warranty of Habitability: Implied Warranty of Habitability is a legal doctrine requiring landlords to maintain a certain set of standards in their properties. This covers things like keeping the building up to code and ensuring has proper electricity, heating, water, and other essentials.
12. Income requirement: When applying for an apartment, your income may need to reach a certain threshold for your application to be approved. It’s common for landlords to require your monthly income to be 3x the monthly rent.
13. Lease / Lease Agreement: Once your apartment application is approved, you’ll be sent over a lease agreement. Your lease will cover everything you need to know about your apartment unit and the building. The lease will cover all of the rules you need to follow, as well as important dates and contact information. Make sure to read the lease over thoroughly before signing.
14. Lockout Policy: If you are ever locked out of your apartment, your lease may cover a lockout policy. This will cover the steps you need to take and fees you may have to pay to get back into your unit.
15. Look-And-Lease Special: A look-and-lease special is also referred to as an L&L special. This is a special deal or discount you get on your apartment rental if you view the apartment and sign a lease on the same day.
16. Occupancy standards: Occupancy standards are the limits a landlord sets on how many tenants can rent out a bedroom. For example, five tenants in a three-bedroom unit may be acceptable, but five tenants in a one-bedroom unit will likely not be allowed
17. Online Portal: Nowadays, more and more landlords are moving to paperless rent payments. In many cases, the apartment building will have an online portal where you can manage your rent payments.
18. Parking Agreement: A parking agreement is a document from your landlord that outlines the parking spot you are leasing. This agreement will likely need information such as the make and model of your vehicle and your driver’s license number.
19. Renters insurance: Renters insurance, also known as tenants insurance, helps to protect renters. This specific form of insurance helps cover specific, pre-approved unexpected personal property damage costs and legal liability.
20. Step-Up Lease (Graded Lease): This type of lease has step-increases for rent payments throughout the lease’s length. This is typically set up to cover the cost of inflation.
21. Subletting: Subletting is when a tenant who is currently renting, leases their unit to another tenant. The original tenant in the unit is known as the head tenant.
22. Tenant of Sufferance: Tenancy of Sufferance is an agreement laid out between the property manager and tenant that allows the tenant to live in the rental after a lease expires, but before the landlord demands the tenant to vacate the unit.
23. Three-day notice to pay rent or quit: This notice lets tenants know that they are missing a rent payment, and the tenant has three days to pay, or they’ll be evicted.

Different Kinds of Units

There is so much to know about the different types of units available to you regarding renting. To find the perfect fit for your lifestyle and budget, it’s a good idea to know precisely what you are looking for before you start your searches. Here are some of the different types of unit types that may be available to you.

1. Alcove Studio: Alcove Studio is similar to a standard studio, but has an additional space called an alcove. This added space is separate from the main living space, and usually used as a dining or sleeping area.
2. Bachelor apartment: A bachelor apartment is one of the smallest apartment layouts. Similar to a studio, a bachelor apartment combines the living room, bedroom, and kitchen/kitchenette in a single room. In a studio, you’ll often find a separate kitchen space or alcove, which you won’t find in a bachelor apartment.
3. Basement apartment: A basement apartment is a unit found on the basement floor of either a multifamily property or apartment complex. Although people use the term somewhat loosely, an authentic basement apartment sits below ground level.
4. Brownstone: A brownstone is a term you’ll hear when looking into renting in New York City. Brownstone is a specific type of sandstone that townhouse apartments are built with.
5. Condo: A condo is owned privately by one individual and is a single unit within a complex or amongst similar units.
6. Combined Apartment: Combined apartments are two individual units that a renter has combined into one larger apartment. Doing this typically requires large renovations, like tearing down walls and removing kitchens.
7. Cooperative (Co-Op): Those who invest in Co-Op apartments don’t physically own the building or a specific unit. They own shares of the company that owns the building. The company will then provide the investor with a unit in the building for lease. These units are often rented out in big cities like New York or DC.
8. Corporate apartments: A rental unit that has been designed for use specifically by workers needing short-term housing is known as corporate apartments. Standard features of these particular units include being fully furnished and include utilities in rent payments.
9. Efficiency Apartment: An efficient apartment is a smaller version of a studio apartment. Efficiency apartments usually have a kitchenette, whereas studio apartments usually have a full kitchen.
10. Elevator Buildings: Elevator buildings are exactly what they sound like… apartments building with elevators for tenants. Whether it be a highrise or a five-story building, if they have an elevator, it’s an elevator building.
11. For rent by owner apartments: Units rented out by the property’s owner are known as for-rent-by-owner apartments. The primary difference between rent by owner apartments and traditional apartments typically found in complexes is that an apartment management company rents out the latter.
12. Furnished apartments:Furnished apartments come with all of the necessary components for a renter to live in, including furniture like a bed, couch, and dresser. The extent of the furnishings may vary by the apartment and can even include items like silverware and cookware.
13. Garden apartment: Apartment buildings that are no more than three stories tall and surrounded by green areas are what we call garden apartments. Green spaces surrounding garden apartments may include lawns, wooded areas, or gardens.
14. Junior or “Junior One Bedroom”: A junior apartment is similar to a studio apartment, but has an extra wall designed to separate your bedroom from your living area
15. Loft: A loft in renting has two definitions.
    1. A loft can be a large, open-space unit with high ceilings. Oftentimes, these units were previously used for industrial purposes, but have since been transformed into a residential living space. This large space usually is all one combined room, except a separate bathroom.
    2. A loft can also be an upstairs, overhead space. This space typically acts as a bedroom and overlooks the main living area.

• Hard Lofts / Soft Lofts: Hard lofts are the historic version of lofts. Usually, these lofts are repurposed construction or industrial development repurposed into a living space. Soft lofts are new developments designed to mimic the look and feel of hard lofts.

16. Luxury apartments: Luxury apartments include high-end amenities that set them apart from traditional apartments. This apartment-style tends to be harder to find and may consist of features such as prime location and 24/7 doorman service.
17. Micro apartments: Micro apartments, also known as micro-units, are smaller than the average studio footprint. You can anticipate anywhere between 200 and 400 square feet in the average micro-apartment.
18. Mid-Rise Apartment: A mid-rise apartment building is typically between 4 and 11 stories tall.
19. Multifamily: A multifamily apartment building is a complex with multiple units, designed to host multiple families.
20. Penthouse apartment: Luxury units located on the top floor of an apartment building are called penthouse apartments. Some of the standard features you can look forward to in a penthouse apartment include things like floor-to-ceiling windows, vaulted ceilings, and incredible views.
21. Single-family rental: A single-family rental is one individual dwelling unit that is typically a standalone home. Single-family rentals tend to have higher demand making them more challenging to find than other rental units.
22. Share housing: Share housing is units that have multiple bedrooms, but one shared living space. This shared space is for the kitchen and living room, and all residents share the space. These units typically rent for a lower monthly cost and are a great way to meet new people.
23. Studio: A studio apartment is one open floor space that combines your bedroom, living, and eating space altogether. The only room separate in a studio will be your bathroom, as mandated by U.S. housing laws.
24. Townhouse Rental: Townhouses refer to a type of housing construction. They are typically long rows of uniform houses that are two or more stories. Townhouses can be both rented or owned.
25. Walk-up apartments: Units within an apartment building with no elevator are known as walk-up apartments. The only way to access these particular units is by walking up multiple flights of stairs.