January is the prime season for leasing for next fall, and students are finding themselves at an advantage.

Thanks to low enrollment and lots of vacant properties, Charleston is currently a “buyer’s market,” Jim Wood of Century 21 said.

“It’s a soft market for a landlord – that means more potential vacancies,” Wood said. “This is good for students who are looking to rent. They have more to choose from and less competition.”

Business is “a little slower than it usually is,” Wood said. However, he’s “not feeling too bad about it.”

But not all landlords have seen a decrease in business. Yvette Paddock, property manager for Unique Home Properties, said that her company has already leased over half of its 127 units.

“We feel like we’re going to be full here before long,” Paddock said.

She said the students that delay “will miss out on the nicer apartments.”

Leasing for fall semester usually starts after winter break and continues through spring break, Wood said.

However, there has recently been a push by local landlords to send renewal forms as early as November, a trend Wood does not agree with.

“It’s too early,” Wood said. “The earlier you ask kids about renewal, the shakier their answer is. A lot of kids don’t know what they’re going to do next year.”

Steve Davis, director of student legal services, offered a few tips for students looking to lease a house or apartment.

First, students should keep in mind the type of lease they sign: whether a joint lease or an individual lease, Davis said.

“I’ve had complaints from students who had roommates who are not coming back this semester and they have to pay their rent and utilities for them,” Davis said.

When a student signs a joint lease with his or her roommates, “it’s like you’re cosigning for one another,” he said.

When students first move into a new residence, they should make sure to prepare “an exhaustive move-in report,” which is a list of problems with the residence that existed before the student began living there, Davis said.

A detailed move-in report protects students’ security deposits, and also allows students to request repair work from their landlord, he said.

If a student has a problem with the landlord maintaining and repairing the residence, Davis said he recommends calling in a building inspector. The building inspector will come for free and will force a landlord to repair any violations of the building code.

After filling out a move-in report, students should then try to get the landlord to check the report out firsthand, students said.

“This can be hard, because some of the landlords have 50 units,” he said.

Without a detailed move-in report, landlords can then make problems up, and charge students for them, Davis said.

“It’s (the landlord’s) word versus your word,” he said.

Most leases contain a provision that if a student takes a landlord to court and loses, he or she has to pay the landlord’s attorney’s fees, which can reach $2,000, Davis said.

A student who wants to take his or her landlord to court should therefore be confident of the validity of their case, he said.

Many students agreed that there was a nice variety of places to lease for next fall.

“It isn’t hard to find places, but it is hard to get a hold of people to look at them or find out information,” Laura Morgan, a sophomore elementary education major who is looking for a three-bedroom apartment that allows cats, said. “You have to play phone tag. But there is a good selection. The newspaper is full of (advertisements).”

Jessica Egan, a sophomore education major, said her experience this year with looking for a place was “fine” and “easy.”

Egan said she chose the first place she looked at and was happy with her selection.

Not all students, though, had as easy of a time as Egan. Jim Fanelli, a senior speech communication major, said he looked at a couple places before renewing his old lease. “I haven’t found any place that’s better,” Fanelli said. “There wasn’t a great selection.”