Explore our guides on renting in the U.S. including statistics, bills and how your credit score affects your ability to rent.
Simplifying the rental process, credit scores, and rental options.
If you’re apartment hunting with a low credit score, you may already know how difficult it can be to rent with bad credit, meaning you have negative information in your payment history, you don’t have a good credit score, or a combination of both.
Whether you’re a first-time renter or just moving to a new place, you want to know what bills to factor into your cost of living.
You may think you need a specific minimum credit score to rent an apartment or house, but in reality, the necessary score can vary by landlord, tenant, location and a variety of other factors.
Paying rent does not build credit unless your payments are reported to a credit bureau.
The cost of renting and how it impacts your ability to buy a home.
Out of the top 100 largest cities, which one is best for first-time homebuyers currently renting? Find out in this analysis.
How much of their income do homeowners and renters spend on housing costs? This article looks into the latest statistics to see how affordable housing really is.
This analysis looks at recent rent statistics and reports in the U.S. to give a picture of the rental market and the demographics of renters.
If you’re looking for ways to rent an apartment with no credit, this post gives you 10 different options to consider, from getting a cosigner to negotiating with the landlord.
Unpack the jargon: tap to reveal straightforward definitions.
A lease is a residential tenancy agreement made between you and the landlord or owner of the property. This outlines the rent amount, rules, lease term, and landlord’s responsibilities for the apartment.
HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
A fixed-term lease refers to a lease that is agreed upon for a set period of time, often 12 months, where the tenant agrees to rent the apartment. With this type of lease, the tenant is required to rent the property for this whole time period before they can move out.
A month-to-month rental agreement is automatically renewed at the end of each month until it is ended by the tenant or the landlord under the lease terms.
Eviction is the formal process of a landlord terminating your least and asking you to vacate the apartment in a specified time period. You could be evicted due to failing to pay rent or breaking other terms of your lease.
Co-tenants are two or more people who sign a rental lease with the intention of both or all occupying the apartment and being equally responsible for paying rent and fulfilling other terms of the lease.
A cosigner on a rental lease is a secondary person who signs the lease but won’t be living in the apartment. A cosigner is usually required if the tenant has a short or poor credit history and needs someone such as a parent to agree to uphold the terms of the lease if the tenant is unable to.
The security deposit is a sum of money you’ll pay to your landlord before moving into your rented apartment as a precaution for damage or unpaid rent payments that may occur in your lease. This deposit will be repaid to you in full, in part or not at all when your lease ends, depending on whether there is damage to the unit that requires repairs.
A sublease refers to a renter renting out some or all of a rental unit to a secondary renter, such as renting their room out to a friend if they will be out of town for an extended period. This can only be done with the permission of the landlord or owner of the property.
Some apartment complexes charge an amenity fee to maintain amenities available to renters such as a gym or communal garden area.
While a landlord will likely have insurance for damage to the structure of the building, renters insurance protects your personal belongings in the event of theft, or damage by things like fire, flooding, or vandalism.
A lease’s pet policy specifies whether an apartment allows pets and, if so, the number of pets, breed restrictions, and the tenant’s responsibility in relation to pets. If you rent with a pet, you will often be asked to pay a pet deposit to cover any damage caused by your pet.
Answering common questions about renting.
Yes, you can still rent an apartment or house if you have bad credit or no credit history at all. However, you might find it more challenging to be accepted for a lease compared to someone with a good credit score. You can improve your chances of a successful application by gathering reference letters and proof of income documents and considering asking someone to cosign on the least for you.
The exact bills you pay as a renter might vary depending on your circumstances. Typical bills that a renter will pay include the rental costs itself, electricity and gas, water and sewage, internet and cable TV, and renters insurance. You might also have to pay a pet fee and a yard upkeep fee if these apply to you.
A guarantor is someone who takes on the financial liability of a lease for a rental property without living there, meaning they will pay the rent in the event that the renter can’t or won’t pay. Usually, a guarantor on a lease will be a close family member or friend with good credit and financial stability, and can help you be accepted onto a rental lease if you have bad credit or no credit history. A guarantor varies slightly from a cosigner, as a cosigner shares equal responsibility for making the payments, and has a right to occupy the property, while a guarantor does not.
Simply paying your rent does not build credit as landlords and property managers aren’t considered creditors and rent isn’t considered debt, so your rent payment history won’t be reported to credit bureaus. However, if you sign up for a rent reporting service, or ask your landlord to sign up for one, your rent payments will be reported to the credit bureaus.
In most cases, breaking a rental lease on a house or apartment won’t directly affect your credit providing you satisfy the terms of the lease agreement. However, if you fail to pay all of the rent or early termination fees you owe and you end up incurring debt, your landlord or property manager can send this to a collections agency, and this may negatively impact your credit.
Ways to improve your chances of being accepted for an apartment lease.
Get to know the talented minds crafting our content.
As rent is likely your largest expense, what if it could also help you financially? Here, we'll walk you through what rent reporting is, and how it can help boost your credit.
A list of questions every renter should ask when hunting for a new apartment to help you know what to look out for and to protect yourself during this process.
Learn about month-to-month apartment leases, how they work, along with the benefits and drawbacks of these leases for renters.
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