Leasing Process Guide & FAQ – Student Rentals

Each February we open leasing for the term that is 2 school years out, for example in February 2016 we started leasing for the 2017-2018 term.  Once the leasing season starts, the highest quality properties, that are nearest Miami’s campus, like ours, tend to get snatched up very quickly!  The properties are in high demand and the standard for all property management firms in the square mile is to start accepting leases in this timeframe on a first come first serve basis.

The best advice is to figure out your group BEFORE February, check our website the first week of February to see if the house you are interested in is available, go visit and view the houses, and then contact  us and send in your fully filled out lease and the entire deposit ASAP so you get the house before someone else. Emailing in signed docs can be helpful too as we can put a short but helpful hold  on the property, as noted in the details below.

• Tour The Property (*See below on how to “Tour the Property…”)
• Review the Lease Agreement (Go to Forms & Resources to download the lease for the property address)
• Make sure you have a solid group that is committed to leasing the property
• We allow groups that are smaller than the stated maximum to lease a property, ie you have a group of 5 and want to lease a “6 person house”, that is ok!  Just divide the “Total Semester Rent” by the number of tenants you will have to figure out what your per person cost will be (ie total semester rent of $18,000 and you have 5 tenants, your per person rent would be $18,000/5 = $3,600 PP/per semester.
  • Also if you happen to find another tenant later to fill the additional spot you can add them anytime up to and even during the term (up to the house maximum) by contacting us and having them submit their own lease documents, but caution if you sign a lease for a rental and have less than the maximum tenant count you are committed to paying the Total Semester Rent amount no matter if you find another tenant to fill the final slot or not.
• We Lease our available properties on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS.

Once you sign a lease, you are legally bound. There is no grace period or cancellation, even leaving school or choosing to move out does not relieve your obligation to pay rent and complete the lease term.

1. To Start the Lease Signing process please have each member of your group:
   1. Fully fill out the Individual Application for each person individually, make sure no section is left blank unless not applicable. You MUST be 18+ years old at signing, and must provide a valid social security number (or similar if non US citizen) and state issued drivers license number (if one has been issued to you), which allows for credit check/identity verification.
   2. Fully fill out the Lease Agreement documents, initial the bottom of each page and execute with all signatures ensuring all lines are filled in and dated.
   3. Collect the total deposit amount required
      • We accept personal checks (preferred), money orders, cashiers checks, as well as cash (although we do not recommend mailing cash). We do NOT accept credit cards.  Please make all checks payable to “Brick Street Properties, LLC”.
2. Submit your Lease Documents & Deposit to our office to be reviewed and finalized:
   1. Mail is Usually Most Efficient- Since we are located in Cincinnati, about an hour drive from Oxford, often the best method for previous tenants has been to mail your documents and deposit to our office :
      • 423 Wards Corner Rd, STE F, Loveland OH 45140
   2. Emailing a copy first before you mail is also beneficial, as we will start a 3-day hold on the property then so no one else steals the property from you while your documents are in the mail!
   3. You may also drop the documents off at our office in person if you wish, we suggest making an appointment ahead of time to ensure someone will be in, otherwise you can always drop them off in our mailbox which is a great option to ensure it is received same day and no time is wasted by the mail service. Especially if you happen to be in the Cincinnati/Loveland area anyway.
   4. Short Hold Option – If you do not yet have everyone’s deposit you may submit the full lease and at least ¼ of the total deposit to get a 3 Business DAY HOLD on the property. We also will apply a 3 day hold if you email us a scan of your entire documents and image of deposit check. In either case the short hold then prevents another group from leasing the property during that 3 days allowing you that time to gather and mail in the remaining deposits, or simply to protect you while the items are in transit by the post office.  During a hold period we WILL ACCEPT BACKUP applications for the property.  If your hold period expires without all documents and full deposit received, the property can be rented to another group. If your hold expires as long as there isn’t another group waiting you can still work to get in your items and complete your leasing process.  Just be aware there is a risk that another group could present themselves ready to lease any day.
      
3. Once the total security deposit AND all the lease documents are received fully filled out and signed we will review them to ensure everything is correct, then we will sign them to make them officially executed.  We will then email all members of your group to inform you that your Lease has been accepted and that the property is yours for that term. We will also include a PDF copy of the finalized lease.  After this nothing happens until April of the term year when we will contact you to request that you setup a Key Exchange/Walk Through appointment with our staff on the “official Key Exchange/Occupancy date” specified.  Then you schedule your utility accounts and decide when you wish to move in and start enjoying this great Oxford rental!

The total, refundable security deposit required for each property is listed on page 1 of the property’s lease agreement.  

The total security deposit must be paid before a lease will be accepted and finalized to secure the house.
For quick reference (check lease for current rate) the total security deposit required for each size rental is:

• Office Leases - Usually = One Month's Rent, see lease.
• 4 Person House/Apt  - $1,600 Security Deposit Required
• 6 Person House          - $2,400 Security Deposit Required
• 8 Person House         - $3,200 Security Deposit Required

• It is your responsibility to make sure you have personally toured the property in which you plan to sign a lease, it is your responsibility to verify the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, floor plan and amenities. Typos or mistakes on listing pages are possible so a tour ensures you see for yourself what the property has or doesn’t have.
• To Tour a House – Contact CPM to schedule a showing.  Additionally we recommend that you simply stop by the property on your own and politely ask the current tenants if you can see it. This is most likely how they first saw the house too, so they typically do not mind giving you a tour. This is usually the fastest and most convenient way to see a property.
  • Additionally if you have trouble seeing the property this way we can schedule appointments with an agent that we use in Oxford. If you require this we ask that you email us and give 2 different times/days that your group could be available then we can compare that to our agent’s schedule and get back to you if they are able to make one of those times work.  This requires coordination between your schedule, our agent, and the current tenants so it is usually not the fastest way to see a property, but it is a service we can coordinate.

Upon signing the lease you agree that you have toured the property and accept the property “as is”.  We will ensure the property is fully cleaned and in good working order prior to your move in of course, but no “renovations” or “upgrades” should be assumed, the property is as is.  If you have any reservations about the property or expectations other than its current state, then do not sign the lease.  

• Options to pay security deposit faster (or out of state payers) – If you are worried about getting the property secured for your group faster and/or have out of state payers that might otherwise take a while by mail. there are two options that might be of interest to you: 1) a direct deposit can be made to our account at ANY Fifth Third Bank branch in any state (fee free & instantaneous).  2) a wire transfer can be done from your bank to our bank, also instantaneous but we are charged a $20 fee for inbound wires so we must require you add this fee on if you are using this method for deposit or rent payments.  If either of these options are of interest simply email our office and we will send you the specific banking instructions.  You can also have parents mail checks directly to us noting the property address they are for, so you don’t have to wait to have them mail them to you first.

• Rent Due Dates (for leases we manage): College Rental homes - the rent is paid in two installments prior to the start of each semester.  We cannot alter the terms of the lease except for financial aid extensions as summarized below.  
  • Students - The first half of the total rent is due August 1, and
  • Students - The second half of the total rent is due December 1.  
  • Office Rentals have rent due the 1st of each month.

• Student Rentals- Financial Aid Extensions - See the lease for more detailed information about Financial Aid and rent due date extensions.  

• Going Abroad?  We can allow tenants going abroad to share a spot on a lease with another person for the semester they will be abroad. You can look on “Miami University’s Study Abroad” Facebook page to assist in locating someone to share a spot.

• Tenants are responsible for ALL Utility Costs for all “student rental” properties

• Absolutely NO Smoking & No Pets in any property at any time

• See the Move-In Information section of the Forms & Resources webpage for more information.

• Disclosure: All information written in this website about each property is believed to be true, but not guaranteed. We cannot be held responsible if any information on this website is incorrect. We have the right to update or change information on this website at anytime.   The Lease Agreement is the agreement between the parties and is the absolute controlling document, it should be read completely and referenced for any details.

Sometimes we offer a “FREE SUMMER RENT PROMOTION”, as a bonus to encourage groups to secure a lease early in the Leasing Season.  If the group gets their lease turned in, fully completed and with the full deposit, before the promotion date noted, then they GET THE SUMMER PRIOR TO THE NORMAL TERM ADDED RENT FREE! To see if this promotion is currently being offered look at the individual property listing page, or the Summer Rental Page of the website.

• This adds on bonus occupancy (or furniture storage) for the entire summer, approximately the Friday after Miami’s Graduation Weekend in May* thru the normal term start in August.  *Exact move in day TBD based on repairs completed after prior tenant move out  **Please Read Lease Agreement for specific details on this promotion – specifically in the Summer Addendum.   If the Free Summer promotion has expired or otherwise not currently being offered the summer term can be added to the lease of incoming tenants for a low fee, usually $700 or less total, far below other summer rent rates in the area.
• We ONLY rent our units during the summer as an add-on to tenants that are signed for that same house for the incoming full lease term.  We Do NOT rent our units to new individuals just for a summer term.