Apartment checklist

Over the past five years that I've lived in Montreal, I've come to realize there is a list of things that every renter should look for, at least in the realm of rentals in Montreal. Here is the list.

• Look for the space. A studio usually is like a 1 cube that you live in that has everything within it. 3.5 is usually ideal for one person with a separate bedroom and the rest of the house is in one single unit. 4.5 and 5.5 means that every increment there is an extra room, which usually means there's an extra bedroom or there's an extra room just for dining or living space.
• To go see the apartment itself just to get the vibe. I personally like watching sunsets and seeing where the sun hits. The window facing east is usually nicer because morning lights and morning sunlight are less damaging and it's not too hot. It can heat up rooms that are facing bad directions very early on in the day but it's not as bad as windows facing west, which is when the afternoon heat comes in, especially in hot summers.
• Look for places with good ventilation, at least in the common area, so that you have a retreat place to be in. Some places have poor ventilation that makes food smells or just heat get trapped inside the house.
• Look for in-unit laundry/dryer. These two combos are important, especially in winter time. It doesn't really matter what the settings are. You can improvise or adapt accordingly to your needs and your washing needs.
• A spacious bathroom is important. I personally hate being claustrophobic in my own bathroom, especially when I'm sitting on the toilet. I would like to stretch my legs or just have wiggle room to walk around or to store cleaning supplies and other stuff.
• Look for the type of bath it is. It's usually a bathtub with a sprinkler on top. You can always change it with a sprinkler. Look for the type of floors and how squeaky they are. Some floors are badly maintained or just plain old and it squeaks a lot. You might make a lot of noise, especially if you have roommates that are sensitive to noise.

Look for the amenities and utilities. Usually electricity is paid via Hydro-Québec. Some apartments will ask you to pay for hot water, which is not that much, but it should be factored into the rent.

Look for services such as:

• Regular cleaning of the hallways
• Snow cleaning in front of the door

Usually buildings have people, managers, who will take care of that either by a service or by themselves.

Some apartments come with WiFi. Either it is central WiFi, which is the worst in my opinion, or in-unit WiFi that allows you to access the router provided by an ISP. You can always search for options for your own WiFi needs and select your preferred provider.

Look for kitchen space. You will spend a lot of time in the kitchen if you enjoy cooking like I do. Look for how well maintained it is, the cleanliness of the stove top, the oven, the exhaust fan, and the lights. Are they functional? Look at the cabinets. Make sure they are reachable or at least you need a small step stool to get up. Make sure that there is good enough ventilation from the kitchen to the window so that if you ever make food that smells a lot, it has a path to get out of the house.

Make sure the fridge is functional. The freezer should be working properly and none of the filters or ice buildup prevents your fridge from functioning properly.

Furniture varies between apartments:

• Some come fully furnished
• Some come partially furnished
• They usually give you a bed or a desk
• Some come with no furniture at all, which means you have to buy everything Check for outlets around the house and around the room that you will be living in. This determines how you will arrange your work station, especially if you have many computers or a rig set up. Look into closets and you should be able to fit most of your clothes in that closet and how approachable they are. Look for other things to look for and it's very situational.

1. The garbage schedule. This is usually posted by the community municipality or the sub-town that you live in but the building usually has their own rule on how you can dispose your trash. Ideally there is a central place where you can just throw your trash so that you don't actually store trash in your house when you don't have to. Some buildings will just tell you to take out the trash on specific days and specific times, which is a bit annoying if you forgot to throw it out.
2. Elevators. These are important if you have a lot of furniture or you usually go heavy with groceries. Some old buildings in Montreal don't really have elevators so you have to climb many flights of stairs just to get to your place.
3. Look for the manager or company behind the property. Having a company behind a property is usually better as they handle all the services and maintenance of the building. Sometimes the company is one person, which is really really bad as when there are many requests from different renters, this one single person has to deal with all that.
4. Overall if the living is nice, you shouldn't have to worry too much about it.
5. Look for exit routes around the house and how you can get out of it safely in case of an emergency.
6. Look for where the fire extinguishers are and if you have a balcony, if you have a clear preference for those, that's good.
7. Over the past few years it's been getting increasingly hotter in Montreal so be aware if your building has AC or not and if they have good ventilation between apartments, hallways, and the building itself.
8. Make sure that you are accessible to green spaces or an AC-provided place.
9. The general cleanliness of the apartment when you visit them. Sometimes the little holes or mismatched colors on the wall are created by the tenant. It is sometimes very easy to fix but sometimes it requires attention from the manager or the building owner. Be aware of how you can reach out to them, how fast they respond, work out with them, and place demands in advance so that they are made ready when you arrive.