Once upon a time, renting a condo was thought to be more expensive-and perhaps more snobbish-than renting an apartment.
But condos have become an affordable commodity, thanks in part to an oversupply of rental units and a shrinking number of renters, rental experts say.
Just as rental buildings offer financial incentives-like a free month of rent-to lure renters, some condo owners have begun eliminating heretofore annual rent increases and have even begun to offer free rent deals in order to lure renters.
That makes it easier for renters who believe a condo holds a certain something, that je ne sais quois appeal. Many condo renters perceive condos to be safer, cleaner, better maintained and better staffed. That, of course, is not always the case.
In truth, today`s new rental buildings often offer far more amenities than most condo buildings, including service establishments like a dry cleaners, restaurant, hair salon or even a Cash Station, plus a well-equipped health club, pool and sundeck.
But people who are looking for a condo are usually looking for a certain location and a stability afforded by a building with more permanent occupants. ”You`re usually talking about a much different type of building when you talk about renting a condo,” says Barbara Stewart, a leasing consultant who works for Rubloff Co.
Finding a condo to rent is often more time-consuming than renting in an apartment building whose management has no other function than to lease apartment units.
Experts say renters can check for condos in newspaper classified advertisements or through an apartment-finding service. Some of the larger brokerage firms in the city have a leasing consultant who specializes in renting condos. City renters can also walk around a preferred location, looking for ”for rent” signs.
It`s tougher to find a rental condo in the suburbs, because far fewer condos are rented out, says Lil Parsons, a vice president with RELCON Apartment Finders.
But condo renters certainly have a wide variety of options, including townhouses, quadrominiums and manor homes.
”Some suburbs have no rental housing, like Oak Brook and Kenilworth, and others have a lot of stock,” Parsons says.
Condo vs. apartment
One of the busiest rental agents in the city, with some 60 to 80 units listed at all times, Rubloff`s Stewart says the quality of a condo building is usually superior to that of a rental building.
”Buildings are built either to be condo or to be rental,” she says. The differences can be striking in rentals: paper-thin walls, no washer or dryer in the unit or not enough of them in the laundry room, an inadequate air conditioning system, or too few elevators.
”People believe condos are going to be quieter, and they believe the building won`t be as transient,” says Helen Jaeger Roth, who owns her own real estate brokerage firm. ”That`s often true because there aren`t as many people starting out in their lives.”
It`s also true that renters can find some gems, as many condo owners have redecorated and even rebuilt their units in an effort to maximize their investment. Some condo owners allow long-term renters to redecorate and even make structural changes to the unit as well.
Gerald Kaufman and his wife rented a three-bedroom condo in the One Magnificent Mile building on the Gold Coast. They signed a five-year lease.
”I asked for 10 years” with minimal rent escalations, says Gerald. They then proceeded to redecorate and add storage space to the unit.
Rules, rules and more rules
But it`s not all sun and glory for condo renters.
For starters, the rules and regulations of a condo building are usually much stricter than those of a rental building. There are rules about the size of pets allowed (if they`re allowed at all), how much notice you must give for moving in or out, the day of the month by which the lease and paperwork must be signed and turned in, and so on.
”The renter must be aware of the laws of the building, as must the owner of the unit,” says Stewart. ”Some buildings have restrictions about who can rent out their unit. I got a call from a person at 1100 Lake Shore Drive who wanted to rent out his unit. I asked if he recently bought the unit because that building only allows the original unit owners to rent. I got a call to lease a three-bedroom at the Carlyle. That building doesn`t allow rentals at all,” Stewart says.
”There are more rules about who the tenant can be, and tenants and leases must usually be approved by the building board,” Roth explains.
”I had a person turned down by a board because they had parrots and the board didn`t allow (birds),” Stewart says.
Once approved, condo renters will find the condo lease to be a whole different animal than a regular apartment lease.
”If you compared a condo lease with a rental lease, you`d notice some paragraphs are different. Condo renters should make sure that the lessor or condo owner is responsible for the normal wear and tear of the unit,” notes Roth. ”The standard condo lease does not read that way.”
Roth says that condo renters should also think about other issues, such as whether or not the owner can show the apartment for selling while the renter is living in it, and how much notice they must be given.
Your rights
In Chicago, condo renters are covered by the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which spells out what the owner may and may not do. Suburban condo renters have no such legal protection.
”Condo renters should also notice that there is an opportunity for the owner to give them 120 days` notice to get them out. It`s important to strike that,” Roth explains. ”The Landlord Tenant Ordinance does give a renter the same right if the landlord has it, but you may not want that kind of notice” in your lease at all.
Also, if there`s anything you want done to the apartment before you move in, including repainting, carpet cleaning, or new window treatments, it should be stated in the lease.
”Don`t rely on these things being taken care of simply because the owner said he would. No matter how reliable or trustworthy the owner is, things can get through the cracks,” Roth warns.
And that comes to fixing things as well. The condo building`s management company will often take care of common element problems, such as a leaky drain. But if your refrigerator goes out, you should know where to find your landlord.
And finding the landlord can be a problem if the landlord lives out of town, or out of the country. Rental experts advise condo renters to sort these situations out before they sign the lease.
Stepchildren?
Which may prompt the question: Are condo renters treated differently than condo owners?
”Some condo buildings allow pets to owners and not to renters,” Stewart notes. ”But most buildings do not treat renters as stepchildren.”
Parking can be another stumbling block for renters. Rental experts agree that most condo buildings have enough parking for both owners and renters. Still, some disparity exists. Some condo buildings charge double parking fees to condo renters. Others give condo renters floating-as opposed to assigned-spaces. And some don`t let them have parking immediately, but place the renter at the bottom of the waiting list.
”If you talk to managers, they`d say no, they don`t treat renters differently. But I`ll bet there are buildings where renters are treated better or worse, which has to do with how nice the tenant is. If they`re a pain, they won`t be treated as well as an owner who may be a pain,” Roth adds.
Chris Barich, senior property manager for the Midwest division of PM Realty Group, says that as far as the building staff is concerned, there is no difference between renters and owner.
”The staff`s function is to serve the residence within the rules and policies of the building. The only time there might be differentiation is if the resident or tenant is requesting work to be done that would incur a charge to the unit owner, and then the owner`s permission is necessary,” Barich says.
TLC
Which brings us to an important point: Who takes care of what when you`re renting a condo?
Although owners are responsible for such personal property as a refrigerator or freezer, rental experts say that the condo management personnel are often authorized to act on the absentee owner`s behalf and replace or fix broken fixtures.
Cheryl Rubenstein rents a studio at 2626 N. Lakeview Ave. in Lincoln Park. She says she likes knowing that the condo`s maintenance people are on call, even for minor problems, like an electrical socket that had been painted over.
”The maintenance people have been really excellent. They come up right away if there`s a problem. I call the doorman, and they call the maintenance people. It`s the same procedure as if I was an owner,” Rubenstein says.
The doorman is another issue. Renters feel that condominiums, many of which have 24-hour doormen, offer a higher level of security than rental buildings, many of which also have 24-hour doormen.
”There is a feeling of added security in a condo building. People are neighbors, as opposed to renters, and they are concerned about the common elements,” says Corey Sapstein, a leasing consultant with Sudler Marling.
