Glossary of Housing terms

• Apartment building - A building with two or more living units. Each unit will have one or more rooms, including a kitchen and a bathroom. Typically there is a common hallway and parking area.

• Property owner - The person who owns the place for rent.

• Landlord - The person you have signed the rental agreement with. The landlord may or may not be the property owner.

• Tenant (renter) - The person paying the money to live in a place owned by another person.

• Rent - Money paid by the tenant, usually monthly, for your housing unit.

• Listing - Information about a specific apartment, room, house, or other unit that is for rent.

• Caretaker - The person the landlord hires to manage and clean rental housing.

• Contract or lease - A promise in writing or an oral agreement about renting a place to live and how long you will stay.

• Deposit (security or damage) - Money paid to the owner, in the beginning of the lease, to cover damage the tenant may do or for failure to pay the rent. If the tenant does no damage and pays all of the rent, the owner must return the money with interest 21 days after the tenant moves out.

• Notice of intent to move - Telling the owner in writing that you intend to leave rental housing; usually 31 days (30 days plus one day before the rent is due) is the minimum time requirement. However, the requirement may be longer and should be checked with the landlord.

• Off-campus housing - Housing near campus or in the Twin Cities not owned by the University.

• Residence halls - These are buildings owned by the University (sometimes called dormitories or "dorms") to house single students or students not accompanied by their spouse, partner or family.

• Rooming house - A house where the owner rents one or more bedrooms, with tenants sharing a bathroom and often a kitchen.

• Sharing/Roommate - Student tenants rent a housing unit and advertise for other tenants to move in and share the costs.

• Family/partnered housing - These are buildings which are owned by the University and managed by the students who live there. They house students who are married, have families, single parents, or same-sex-partnered students.

• Sublet - Renting a place to live from a tenant, rather than from an owner (not allowed in many contract/lease agreements). The tenant wants to move out before the lease agreement time is up. The tenant may then rent the remaining months of the lease to someone else.

• Utilities - Money paid to companies that provide heat (natural gas), electricity, water and telephones.