Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 438, Renting an Apartment.
This is English as a Second Language.
Podcast number 438 wwweslpodcom to download a learning guide for this episode, which contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions and a transcript of this complete episode.
Today's episode is a dialogue between Heather and Sam talking about renting an apartment.
Let's get started.
Hi, are you the apartment manager?
I saw the vacancy sign outside and I'm looking for an apartment.
Yes, I'm Sam.
We have one unit available right now.
When are you looking to move in?
The lease on my apartment is up soon, so I'd like to move in the first of the month.
Okay.
Follow me and let me show you the unit.
Each unit gets one parking space in the garage, and there are laundry facilities on the first floor.
The landlord pays for the gas, but the tenant pays for all other utilities.
Here's the unit.
Take a look around.
Oh, this is nice.
Is this a furnished unit?
It can be furnished or unfurnished.
Your choice.
Since it's an end unit, there's only one common wall.
This apartment is exactly what I'm looking for.
How much is the rent?
It's $900 a month and we require a 12-month lease.
To move in, you'll need to have the first and last month's rent plus a security deposit.
How much is the security deposit?
It's $450.
Okay.
I'll think it over and get back to you.
Thanks for your time.
These units go fast, so if you're interested, I suggest that you jump on it.
Thanks.
I'll keep that in mind.
Heather begins the dialogue by asking Sam, are you the apartment manager?
In an apartment building, which is, of course, a building with many different places for people to live.
The manager is the person who takes care of the building, the person who takes care of problems in the building.
Heather says, I saw the vacancy sign outside and I'm looking for an apartment.
The vacancy V-A-C-A-N-C-Y sign is a sign that says that there is a room or rooms for rent that are available.
You will see a vacancy sign, for example, in front of a hotel.
That means the hotel has rooms to rent.
If it says no vacancy, it has no rooms to rent.
For an apartment building.
A vacancy sign means that there is at least one apartment that is available to rent.
Sam says, yes, I'm Sam.
We have one unit available right now.
A unit in this dialogue means one of the apartments.
It refers to an apartment.
Sometimes people may even say an apartment unit or just the unit.
It's a term that you will hear more from someone who works in the apartment business, like a manager, or someone who works in real estate.
Unit has several different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Sam says when are you looking to move in?
Meaning, when do you want to, when are you looking to move in?
To move in means that you want to take all of your furniture and things and bring them to the apartment to live.
When do you want to start renting the apartment?
Heather says the lease on my apartment is up soon.
A lease L-E-A-S-E is a legal contract, a legal agreement between, in this case, the person who owns the apartment building and you, the person renting the apartment.
You can have a lease for a house.
You can have a lease for a car.
You can rent your car for a day or a week or several months.
The lease on Heather's apartment is up soon.
To be up, in this case, means to end, to finish, to expire.
The president's term is up in January of next year.
The term is up.
The term is over.
It is finished.
Heather says, I'd like to move in the first of the month, meaning the first day of the month.
So January 1st or February 1st and so forth.
In the U.S., it's common for leases to begin at the first of the month.
Sometimes they begin on the 15th of the month, so halfway into the month.
Sam says, okay, follow me and let me show you the unit.
He also says that there are laundry facilities on the first floor.
Laundry is another word for clothes that you want to wash, dirty clothes.
Someone says, I have to go do the laundry.
They mean, I have to go wash my clothes.
So laundry facilities are washers and dryers for clothing.
Many apartment buildings in the U.S. have laundry facilities in the building.
If there is no laundry facility place for you to wash your clothes, then you have to go to what's called a laundromat, which is a place separate from the building that anyone can come and wash their clothes and dry them.
Sam says the landlord pays for the gas, but the tenant pays for all other utilities.
The landlord is the person who actually owns the apartment building or the house or whatever is being rented.
A business building would have a landlord, for example.
The manager is the person who takes care of the problems, the day to day problems, the everyday problems in the building.
But the landlord is the person who actually owns the building.
The tenant, T-E-N-A-N-T, is the person who is renting the apartment or the house.
So in this case, it would be Heather.
She wants to rent the unit from the landlord.
So the landlord pays for the gas, the natural gas, but the tenant pays for all other utilities.
The word utilities, when we're talking about apartments or houses, refers to the water, the electricity, the gas, other things that a person needs to live on, things that are services provided by some company or by the government.
So, for example, for my house, we have a gas bill.
We have an electricity bill.
Those are utilities.
We also have a water bill and a bill for the garbage collection.
So these things must be paid for by Heather.
Sam says, here's the unit.
Take a look around.
Heather says, oh, this is nice.
Is this a furnished unit?
When something is furnished, that means that it has furniture in there, that the landlord has put in a bed and a sofa and a table and chairs and so forth.
Most apartments in the U.S., however, are unfurnished, meaning they're empty.
You have to bring your own things into the apartment.
Sam says it can be furnished or unfurnished, your choice.
Furnished is more common for apartments for students who may not have things to move into the apartment furniture, especially if they live in a different city from where they are renting.
Sam says, since it's an end unit, meaning it's at the edge of the building, there isn't another apartment on the other side.
There's only one common wall.
A common wall is a wall that that you share with another apartment.
So if you have an apartment on the first floor in between two other apartments, you probably have at least two common walls one for the apartment on the right, one for the apartment on the left.
Hopefully the walls are thick so you don't hear the person next to you.
That's sometimes a problem with apartments, especially the apartments I used to rent when I was renting back as a student.
Heather says, Sam says And we require a 12-month lease, so she must agree to rent it for a whole year at 900 each month.
To move in, Sam says, you'll need to have the first and last month's rent plus a security deposit.
That's a very common policy in the U.S.
If you are going to rent an apartment for one year, you have to pay the first and the last month's rent right away, as well as a security deposit.
A security deposit is money that you give the owner of the property, the landlord, to hold in case there are any problems, in case, for example, that you damage the apartment.
The word security here doesn't mean safety.
It means something that I am holding of yours just to be sure that nothing goes wrong.
So the security deposit that Heather has to pay is $450.
Security deposits are usually about half of the rent, sometimes less.
Heather says, okay, I'll think it over.
I'll think about it and get back to you.
To get back to someone means to give an answer to someone at a later time.
Someone asks you to go to a party and you say, well, I'll get back to you on that.
I'll call you tomorrow.
Sam says, these units go fast, meaning they rent quickly.
So if you're interested, I suggest that you jump on it.
To jump on it means to do it right away, not to wait, especially if you are talking about something you are going to buy or something that you have to pay for.
If someone says you should really jump on it, it's a good deal.
It's a good price.
That is the meaning of the expression, to do it right away.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hi, are you the apartment manager?
I saw the vacancy sign outside and I'm looking for an apartment.
Yes, I'm Sam.
We have one unit available right now.
When are you looking to move in?
The lease on my apartment is up soon, so I'd like to move in the first of the month.
Okay, follow me and let me show you the unit.
Each unit gets one parking space in the garage, and there are laundry facilities on the first floor.
The landlord pays for the gas, but the tenant pays for all other utilities.
Here's the unit.
Take a look around.
Oh, this is nice.
Is this a furnished unit?
It can be furnished or unfurnished.
Your choice.
Since it's an end unit, there's only one common wall.
This apartment is exactly what I'm looking for.
How much is the rent?
It's $900 a month, and we require a 12-month lease.
To move in, you'll need to have the first and last month's rent, plus a security deposit.
How much is the security deposit?
It's $450.
Okay, I'll think it over and get back to you.
Thanks for your time.
These units go fast, so if you're interested, I suggest that you jump on it.
Thanks.
I'll keep that in mind.
The script for this episode was written by our very own Dr. Lucy Say.
Well, our time is up.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
