Dealing with Neighbors

Whether you live in a dorm on campus or in an off-campus apartment, you’ll most likely need to deal with neighbors at one point or another. Every experience is unique because neighbors can make or break your college life experience. Bad neighbors can keep you up all night when you have an exam the next day. If you are lucky, you will get the neighbor that makes your living experience much more enjoyable by offering you some of their food or hold onto notes from a classmate if you’re out of the room. So before you move into your new dorm or apartment, ForRentUniversity.com has a few tips that you should know on how to deal with neighbors and keep you from being “that neighbor”.

• Coordinate your schedule. Coordinate activities such as your cleaning schedule with the appropriate time to do them. Vacuuming at 3:00 AM may lead to conflict if your neighbors have 8:00 AM classes. Follow the guideline that if you can hear them, they can hear you also. Consider creating a neighbor agreement contract and signing it within the first week of moving in.
• Take responsibility for your guests. Neighbors may not know your guests, but they do know you. Remember their actions will have a direct effect on your relationship with the people that live around you.
• Keep common areas clean. While living in a dorm or apartment, there will usually be a common area everyone can share. Imagine walking into the kitchen to cook dinner and seeing the place completely trashed – your food missing, and pots and pans used and unwashed in the sink. Avoid conflict by using good habits, such as cleaning up after yourself, labeling your items, and leaving areas the way that you would like to find them.
• Park in your spot. College and apartment community parking lots can be very crowded when there are limited spaces available. If you are assigned a specific parking spot, be sure to always park in that spot. Resist parking in guest parking, blocking others, and in front of the building. If you put yourself in their shoes, you’ll realize that carrying groceries across the street can be very inconvenient.

Living with neighbors can be fun if you can prevent or avoid conflict situations such as the examples listed above. If any conflicts do occur, it is best to calmly discuss ways to resolve the issue or look back on the neighbor agreement contract. If the situation is out of control, be sure to address them immediately with your resident assistant (RA) or contact the leasing office or landlord to explain the situation. Are you ready to move into your new apartment? Browse ForRentUniversity.com for great alternatives to living close to campus and be sure to try out these tips for dealing with neighbors’ to make for a great college life experience!