In spite of the general trend of cheap home loans and rising dispensable income, a major chunk of the urban populace have to make do with rented accommodations. They may include outstation students, young executives or lower middle-class families running on shoestring budgets. All these people are burdened with task of finding the right property in the right location and within the right budget besides dealing with condescending landlords. Here are some useful tips on taking property for rent:

At the outset, one needs to zero in on an area keeping in mind the availability of necessary infrastructure like power, water supply, shopping areas, hospitals, bus stations, recreational facilities, etc. Other factors like the distance to workplace and children's school and available budget have to be taken into consideration. Moreover, location of the property has a bearing on the rental rates.

Having selected a particular area, one needs to locate the property. Classified ads in newspapers and real estate Websites are usually the handiest tools to identify a property and to contact the property owners. If one takes help of brokers, one will have to shell out 1 or 2 months' rent as commission.

The nest step is to check out the house and find out if it has got all the basic amenities like water and electric supplies. One can also have an informal chat with the neighbours to know more about the building and the neighbourhood.

Check out the safety arrangements and if there is any repair to be done, ask the landlord to rectify them, before moving in.

Try out some bargaining while discussing the rental rates. Do proper homework by going through Websites and newspapers so as to get a fair idea about the prevalent rates in that area. In most of the cases, one has to pay security deposit or rental advance. The landlord has to take care of the formalities, permission from the society/police and other legalities. Try to read the fine print before signing on the dotted line.