Vocabulary - Renting an Apartment

Do you need an apartment? Do you need a new place to live? Chances are, sometime in your

life, you will have to find an apartment or a new place to live. It is not an easy thing

to do, especially in English, so I'm here to help you. I will go through some terms

that might make it easier for you to find an apartment or a condo or a place to live

in a foreign country. I'm going to teach you this lesson, and I need to tell you that this

is for Canada and America. In the UK, they will use different vocabulary, so this is

exclusively for North Americans. Welcome. Renting an apartment. The very first thing

that you're going to want to inquire about or ask about is rent. You want to know how

much the place is per month. You can just ask them. You don't need to ask them. They

usually write it down if you're looking on the Internet or in a paper, and they tell

you how much the rent is per month. Please be aware that this is per month, not for one

year, which would be nice. In Toronto, it's very expensive. The rent is very expensive

depending on the area. Typical rent may be $1,200 per month, not a year. They may want

you to sign a lease. Basically, signing a lease is a contract. It guarantees that you

will live in this apartment for a specified time. Leases are usually one year. You are

guaranteeing the person you will stay in this apartment for one year. You can also have

six-month leases or three months. Some places do not require a lease. I would recommend

this if you're coming to Canada or to America for a short time. Try and get one that is

not a lease. Lease, remember, is a contract, and it's a legal contract. With the rent,

they will probably ask you to pay what we call in Canada and America "first and last."

"First and last" means you must give them the first month's rent that, say, example,

is $1,200, and when you move into the apartment, you must pay them last month's rent, which

is $1,200. So in your very, very first month, you must give them -- math time -- $2,400.

What this does is it guarantees you or guarantees the owner that last month's rent is already

paid. So if you only stay for one month, you've paid for two. So they want you to stay for

two months at least. So they will say, "First and last required."

Another thing they may ask you for is a deposit. Because there are so many apartments, so many

people looking for an apartment, if you are interested in an apartment and it's very popular,

they may ask you to put down a deposit to save your apartment. A deposit is a small

amount of money or a big amount, depending on the place, that saves or reserves your

apartment for you. So if your rent was $1,200, maybe they will ask you for a deposit of $200.

Now, if they do this, please get a receipt. Because you don't want the person to take

your money. You don't want to go back and they go, "I don't know where your money went."

Make sure you get a signed piece of paper called a receipt that shows how much you paid

with your name, the amount, and the person's name. Very important.

A very, very huge development has happened in especially Toronto. There are these things

called condominiums. We never take the time to say "condominium." It's too long. What

we say is "condo." So you can say, "I'd like to rent a condo." Or, "I'd like to rent an

apartment." Does anyone know the difference between "condo" and "apartment"? People think

that a condo means it's beautiful, and there's a swimming pool, and a gym, and heaven. No.

A condo simply means that you have to buy the unit. With an apartment, you are going

to rent the unit. So a condo is like buying a house, except it's in a building.

The other thing that you can do is you can rent someone's condo. So for example, if I

had a condo -- I don't -- and I was going traveling for six months, what I would do

is I would put an ad in the paper, and I would try and rent my condo to someone so I can

make money when I'm away. So you might get a chance to actually live in a condo. It just

means that someone's bought it, and it's not rented. It's probably newer, and maybe the

quality is not as good. Please check it out. So condo versus apartment, the only difference

is a condo is bought. Someone has purchased it, and they keep it forever until they sell

it. Maybe you don't want to live in an apartment by yourself. You can rent a room.

Not "room share." We do not say "room share." It's not an English word. We do not say, "I

live in room share." No, you don't. You rent a room. We do not have one easy English word

for this. If you rent a room, this usually means that there's a big house, and you actually

rent one bedroom. You will share the kitchen. Maybe you will share the bathroom, or you

will share nothing except your room. No, you're not going to share your room. That's ridiculous.

So "rent a room" means you are renting a bedroom in a house where you share the other rooms,

bathroom, kitchen, and living area. If you like to do this, where did I go? You may have

a roommate or a housemate. Now, the difference between a roommate and a housemate doesn't

really matter that much, but in the true form, a roommate is someone who lives in the same

room as you, and a housemate would be someone who lives in the same house. So if you rent

a room and there's six other renters, they would be your housemates. If you live in an

apartment with two rooms, you would have a roommate.

The very next thing and the last thing that you have to know about renting an apartment

is what size of apartment you want to get. In Canada, we have a bachelor or a studio.

This means it's tiny. It's very small. A bachelor or a studio apartment does not have a separate

bedroom. It means that your living, sleeping, and eating are all done in one room. Or you

could eat in the bathroom. That's your choice. But you will have, with your bachelor or studio,

your own bathroom. You do not share a bathroom. Yes.

The next step up is a junior one-bedroom. Now, a junior one-bedroom has one bedroom

and a small living space. So this is really good if you have a lot of shoes. So you can

put all your shoes into one room. A bachelor or studio is good if it's only for you and

you don't have a lot of things like furniture and books.

If you want a bigger place, you're going to get a one-bedroom. A one-bedroom is bigger

than the junior one-bedroom. "Junior" means small. And there's one bedroom and a bigger

living space. Some condos now advertise a one-bedroom plus a den. Are there bears? No.

A den means a very tiny room. It can be used as an office or it can be used as a TV room

or an entertainment room. Some people also can change this into a very tiny bedroom.

So if you and your friend wanted to rent a condo, you could get a one-bedroom plus den.

One of you would have a small room, the other one big. And then we move up. Two-bedroom

and a three-bedroom. It's rare to see a four-bedroom, but stranger things have happened.

If you need help renting an apartment, it's great to ask your friends. Maybe your friend

has a place for you or knows of an apartment for rent. You can use the Internet and you

can check the newspaper. The way that I found my apartment is I walked around and I saw

a building that had a sign that said "vacancy". On the vacancy sign -- there's no "e" -- it

tells you what kind of apartment is available. So my apartment building said "vacancy bachelor".

So I went, I spoke to the landlord, and I got a place to live. I hope you get a place

to live. Bye.