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.