Moving In to a Bloomington Rental: Here’s the 4-1-1
So you chose one of our places and you signed a lease. Now you want to know all about moving in? Got it!
There are only a few main things you really need to know about moving in:
When can you move in?
You can move-in when you have paid your first, last, and security deposit installments and anytime on or after the day and time specified in your lease. I know, that seems evasive! But the date does vary from lease to lease and from year to year. Be sure to double check the date because it may be later than you think. In a perfect world, everyone could move out of one place and into another on the same day, but this isn’t likely most of the time because people have to move out of units and we have to have some time to fix them up. Sometimes this time is very short, and sometimes former tenants trash the place — we know you would never do that, but believe us, it does happen, and that slows “turnover” down a little as well.
We will try to accommodate any requests for moving in early. You can submit an early move in request via email any time. If you are granted an early move-in, there is a per day fee for this accommodation which covers costs of maintenance overtime and administrative overhead as well as your extra time in the place.
Please remember that if you are granted an early move in, it means we are going to rush repairs and their may be problems with your place that we cannot correct prior to your early arrival. If this is the case, we expect you to be more than a little accepting of this situation. You are welcome to report any issues with your unit, but if you find it unacceptable or are very difficult about it, we may ask that you vacate the home and return no earlier than the date of your actual move in. We truly hope this doesn’t happen; however, we have had several times when inbound tenants have been very difficult with our office staff when they move in early, and this truly isn’t fair since we are simply trying to do the best we can, and are, in fact, doing such early tenants a favor.
Thank you for your consideration in this! Together we can get going in a smooth and equally satisfying way!
Doing a Move In Inspection
So when you move in, the first thing you need to do is a move in inspection. This is a walk through of your place to make sure everything is okay and to report any problems that may remain from the previous tenants so we can fix them. You’ll get a form for this. You can grab one from the office, or email us and we can send you one. Be careful with your walk through. With all the turnover we do, especially for the IU year, sometimes things get missed when we walk through for the move out with the outbound tenants. If its missed then, then the maintenance crew may not handle it. Moreover, sometimes at turnover things are missed or not done as well as they could be. We’d love to hear about this, both so we can fix it for you, but also so we can provide feedback and track performance of our contractors.
Submitting Maintenance Requests
If you run into things that are not working, or you happen to break something, during the year, please just submit a maintenance request.
We are moving into a unit and would like to have the previous tenants leave stuff for us. Can we do this?
How do I set up my utilities? Do I need to do so? What’s the utilities 411?
You are responsible for turning on your own utilities. Gotta have them, or no tv, no shower, yuck! Here’s how to get your utilities hooked up before moving in…
This Utilities Setup FAQ is also available on our website…. and if you have questions about utilities shutoff, we have that too!
Unless your lease SPECIFICALLY says that we handle a particular utility for you, then you must set up all of them. With the exception of some bedroom leases, all our tenants are responsible for electricity, cable/internet, and, unless you are listed in the City of Bloomington Utilities section below, water. Note, not all homes have gas service. If you try to call Centerpoint Energy and they have no previous service for your address, then you likely don’t have gas heat. When in doubt, just send us a note.
Below are the primary providers that you will need to contact to set up your utilities. Please do it early, because they get rather busy during the August turnover time.
City of Bloomington Utilities handles water and sewer for most of our apartments. In most, but not all, cases you will need to set up your water and sewer through them. 812.349.3930. You can also signup online in many cases. You can go in person to start service at 600 E. Miller Sr. (corner of Miller & Henderson), make sure you take your drivers license.
Tenants will usually be billed by Elkins Apartments for water and do not need to call for water hook-up at the following addresses: 340-349 S. Grant St., 109 S. Park Ridge A-I, 820 N Dunn Apt A- D, 7545 Fairfax #1-3, 7600 & 1⁄2 Fairfax 7620 S. Fairfax Rd #1-4 7650 Fairfax #1-4, 210-220 E 17th St.
Duke Energy provides electric service for many of our units. You will need to contact them to establish new service and for any problems with your electricity. 1-800-521-2232, call at least 2 weeks before move-in to get service set up, or signup for Duke Energy online.
Centerpoint Energy (previously Vectren) provides natural gas service to many of our apartments. If your home or apartment uses gas furnaces or heat, you will need to establish an account with Centerpoint. 1-800-227-1376. Handle your request at least 2 weeks in advance. You may also signup for Centerpoint gas service online in many cases. The following homes have gas service:
111 E 9th
115 E Dixie
115, 117 Jefferson
317 S Mitchell
400 Swain (A)
406 E 12th
408 Eagleson
420 N Fess (A-D)
422 N Fess
500 N Prow
501 S Fess
503 N Fess
504 E 9th
508 E 14th
515 E 14th
517 E 14th
526 N Prow
530 S Grant
537, 539, 541 S Lincoln
606 S Park
610 E Atwater
708 E 9th
716 E 2nd
718 E 11th
918-924 W Graham
1019 E 14th
1021 N Indiana
1106 N Dunn
1119 N Lincoln
1506 W 11th
2001 E Atwater
2304 N Headley
Even if your home is not listed above, please check your furnace before it actually gets cold! It can take days for the gas company to turn on service.
Xfinity provides television and high-speed internet services in the area. You should contact them if you are interested in receiving either cable tv or high-speed internet in your new home or apartment. www.xfinity.com or call 855.870.1311.
AT&T, Smithville Telephone, Directv and many other providers also provide television, phone, and internet services in the Bloomington, Indiana area.
Remember, we aren’t your television or internet provider, but we try to help. If you need internet support, have been told you need new wires for an install or repair, we have FAQs for that, and you can always send us a note if you aren’t getting anywhere with your provider–we can try to assist!
City of Bloomington Sanitation (trash removal)- https://bloomington.in.gov/sanitation or call 812-349-3443. Make sure you know when you trash pick-up day is, and the rules and regulations for putting trash and recyclable at the curb.
If you have roommates, please coordinate who is handling utility connections. You don’t want to be messing with each other and multiple attempts to set up various utilities.
Nota bene: Almost all Elkins Apartments units are stand-alone homes, townhomes, and apartments, for which you are responsible for contacting the electric, water, and in some cases, gas, companies and making sure you have power, water, and gas when you move in. If you are not sure, or have not been told specifically otherwise, then YES, you need to set yours up. Just do it. Coming in to the office in August and stomping your foot that you don’t have AC because you don’t have power, or don’t have water, or can’t take a hot shower, yada yada yada—won’t help anyone.
There is no magic utility wand we can wave, got it? Turn it on. Take care of it. Power, water, and in some cases gas. Gotta have ’em.