Graduate and Family Housing Administrative Services

Main Page -- Welcome!

2011-11-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

This is the main blog page for
Graduate and Family Housing Administrative Services.

You can always get back to this main page by clicking the title of the blog shown in large white-colored letters at the top of every blog page.

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WHAT IS A BLOG?

A blog is essentially an easy way to communicate with many people about a specific topic. Some people use a blog much as they might use a diary or journal. We have some blog pages that follow this style, but many of our blog pages function more like a wiki.

One of the more popular and well-known wikis is WIKIPEDIA.

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BOOKMARKING PAGES

Some pages on our blog you will only need to read a few times. Other pages you may want to read more often ... perhaps every day or two. It really depends on your own needs and choices.

In order to be able to quickly get to information you want to view repeatedly, we suggest bookmarking pages that are of the most interest to you. When you bookmark a page you give yourself quick access to get back to a certain page without having to go through other pages.

Each web browser has different ways of bookmarking.

There are also ways to bookmark pages using an outside service.

You can read more information about bookmarking HERE.

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STATUS OF THIS BLOG

It is our goal to help you find information you are looking for. Our blog helps us to give you information 24 hours a day ... every day of the year.

One way try to assist you by providing you information is by providing a list of popular topics in the large orange box on the right side of the window.

Note that the last list topic is one marked "Other Questions." This is a good page to go to if there are other questions and answers that you are looking for that don't seem to be in the list.

However, if you can not locate the information you want, try using the search box in the upper left hand corner of this blog and type in the word that describes the subject for which you need to get information.

If that still does not help you find the information you want, please send a message HERE and we will work to get you information or answer your question as soon as we can.

Our goal is to answer your question within one business day.

Thank you for your interest in Graduate and Family Housing!

January & February 2012 Offer Information Page

2011-11-07T11:06:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed on
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 1:00 PM

We are finishing up our process to rent a recent group of available apartments.

We do not plan to update this page again.

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If you have interest in renting an apartment from Graduate and Family Housing, you should keep up to date on the following two pages. (Click on each page to see the most recent information.)

QUICK RENTALS

FUTURE RENTALS

Current Rental Information for 2012

2011-11-07T09:07:00.002-05:00

This page was last reviewed on
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 10:30am (1030).

There are two categories of apartments that we typically work to rent.

Quick Rentals - With these rentals your application date does not matter.

Application Based Rentals - With these rentals, preference is given to applicants that have older applications.

For information on Quick Rentals ... GO HERE.

For information on Application Based Rentals ... GO HERE.

Thank you for your interest in Graduate and Family Housing apartments.

Future Apartments Information

2011-11-07T08:59:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed on
Friday, January 6, 2012

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Thank you for your interest in Future rentals. Currently, we do not have information about Future rentals.

Please check back to this page on Tuesday, February 15, 2012 for more information about Future rentals.

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Please do *** NOT *** email us to ask for information beyond what is posted here or to ask *** ANY ***questions about your chances to get an apartment. Because predicting "chances" would require us to know the intentions of all other applicants whenever they might change and because that is just one of several variables, we are not able to predict individual chances to get an apartment.

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If you have basic questions about our offer process, we *** DO *** welcome those questions.

We want everyone to understand how our rental process works.

For basic questions about our rental process, we do encourage you to get that information from our blog.

However, you can also EMAIL US.

Please understand that we are only able to answer emails between 830am and 430pm each week day.

Quick Rental Apartments

2011-11-02T17:01:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Thursday, February 2, 2012.

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We have a small number of quick-rental apartments for rent.

This blog page contains the list of the quick rental available apartments.

Before we list those apartments later on this page, it is important for you to read all the information before the list. Please read that information carefully.

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If you have questions about quick rentals, please contact our help desk via email ... or by phone ... 352.392.2171 extension 10321.

The help desk is available to answer questions from 830pm to 430pm Monday to Friday.

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Please note ... the page you are reading now does not update automatically.

This list may show apartments as being available ... that are not available ... until we have a chance to update the list and indicate that they are no longer available.

Additionally, there are times when there may not be ANY available quick rentals. We do not attempt to predict when those times will be.

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Currently, the apartments on this page are the ONLY apartments we are prepared to rent as quick rentals.

Please understand, if you ask for one of the apartments on this page and you are the first person to do so, we will send you an offer for that apartment.

Once you accept that apartment offer, you will then need to live in that apartment for at least six months before you can move (transfer) to another apartment and we can not make any future promises about moving (transferring) to another apartment.

If you wait for the future apartments to be listed (the ones described HERE), you may have more choices to choose from, but you will not be able to hold one of the apartments on this page while you wait to see if you get one of the future apartments AND there is no promise of being able to get one of the future apartments.

Those future apartments are rented to the person who asks for each apartment that has the oldest application date. There is no way to know ahead of time who will ask for whatever apartments we may have available in the future. So there is no way to know who will get a future apartment and who will not.

The apartments on *** the page you are reading now *** are rented to the first eligible person to ask for them.

Please consider your situation carefully.

We can not give you *** ANY *** advice about your chances to get an apartment based on any question you might ask us. There are too many variables involved for us to calculate those chances.

Once you ask to rent one of these apartments, and we send you an offer for the apartment, and you accept the offer ... you can not then change you request to have a different apartment from the list if a new apartment should appear on the list that you "like better."

Remember, we can not predict when apartments will appear and disappear from the list on this page.

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If you want to rent an apartment from the list on this page, please be sure that ...

A) You have read the following blog page...

http://www.housing.ufl.edu/facilities/gradfamily/ratesgrad.php

B) You read the instructions on the page you are reading now that come after the list of apartments.

Those instructions are VERY important to read!
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Each apartment in the list is described using a four-line "information block."

You can click on each of these links to learn about each of the first three lines ...

Line 1 (Village/Bedrooms/Rent)
Line 2 (Remodel Status/Flooring)
Line 3 (Building Number/Facing Direction)

The fourth line is the "date line."

We will tell you how to use the information in that line after we show you the list of apartments.

Here is the list of apartments...

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Maguire apartments (when available) have a special income requirement associated with them. If you do not know about the income requirement, please contact us at our help desk.
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Corry 1 ($415)

MinimalRemodeling / Carpet

288 Up / North

February 3 to February10

Corry 1($415)
MinimalRemodeling / Carpet

282 Up / North

February 3 to February10

Corry 2 ($465)

Minimal Remodeling /Carpet

288 Up / North

February 3 to February10

Diamond 1 ($540)

Some Remodeling /Tile

302 Up / North

February 3 to February10

Diamond 1 ($540)

Some Remodeling /Tile

296 Down / North

February 3 to February10

Diamond 2 ($590)

Some Remodeling / Tile

306 Up / North

February 3 to February10

Diamond2 ($590)
Some Remodeling / Tile
298 Up / North
February 3 to February10

Maguire 1 ($515)

Some Remodeling / Tile

369 Down / North

February 3 to February10

Maguire 1 ($515)

Some Remodeling /Carpet

390 Up / South

February 3 to February10

Maguire 2 ($565)

Some Remodeling /Carpet

379 Down / North

February 9

Tanglewood EFFICIENCY ($475)

Some Remodeling /Tile

2901 Down /Southwest

February 7

Tanglewood 1 ($505)

MinimalRemodeling / Carpet

2901 Down /Southeast

February 3 to February10

Tanglewood 1 ($540)

Some Remodeling /Tile

2901 Down /Southeast

February 3 to February10

Tanglewood 2 ($555)

MinimalRemodeling / Carpet

2901 Up / Northeast

February 3 to February10

Tanglewood 2 ($590)

Some Remodeling /Carpet

2909 Up / Center

February 3 to February10

Tanglewood 2 ($590)

Some Remodeling / Tile

2915 Down / South

February 3 to February10

Tanglewood 2 TOWNHOUSE ($640)

Some Remodeling /Carpet & Tile

2911 Up & Down /East

February 7

UVS 1 ($480)

MinimalRemodeling / Tile

333 Down / West

February 3 to February10

UVS 1 ($515)

Some Remodeling /Carpet

332 Up / West

February 3 to February10

UVS 2 ($565)

Some Remodeling /Tile

324 Down / South

February 3 to February10

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To rent one of the apartments, you need to email Vern Rogers.

In your email, please include your 8-digit UF ID number and the words "Quick Rental."

In the body of the email please list the apartment choice you would be interested in renting. You are encouraged to list more than one choice as this blog page does not automatically update.

Vern will answer you back within in one * business day *.

It is also very important that you indicate the date you want to move into the apartment. You must indicate a specific date. DO NOT simply restate the range given in the fourth line of the description. Pick a specific date.

The date MUST fall within the range listed for each apartment. Remember that the date must also be a weekday (so NOT Saturday or Sunday).

DO NOT select dates outside of the range of dates that are provided!

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Thank you for your interest in quick rental apartments!

Application Update Messages

2011-10-31T00:55:00.000-04:00

This page was last updated on Monday, January 9, 2012.

The next update is expected to happen on Wednesday, February 15, 2012.

Please read this entire page!

Some parts of this page stay the same each week, but other parts may change each week!

It is also possible that the entire page will not change from one week to the next.

However, when the page is updated, it will usually be updated between 12 noon (1200) on Thursday and 12 noon (1200) on Saturday. It may be updated other times of the week as circumstances dictate.

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This blog page has two "update parts."

Part 1 of the update contains information that is likely to change more often.

Part 2 of the update contains information that is likely to change less often.

Even if you are directed to read additional pages, please be sure to read this entire page (in addition) to those other pages!

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This section is Part ONE ...

Currently we DO have quick rental apartments.
Quick rental apartments are "first-come, first-served."
If you want to know more about quick-rental apartments, please GO HERE.

We are NOT currently in the middle of an Offer Group.
Our next Offer Group will be during the First week of January 2012.
To find out more about this process, please GO HERE.

We do NOT have a plan for future rentals.
Future rentals are offered based on application date.
To learn more about future rentals, please GO HERE.

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This section is Part TWO ...

Normally, our weekly application update email message includes information about your application order number. Some people call this the "rank" number.

This number DOES NOT tell you how many people must receive an apartment before you can get one.

The number only tells you how many people meet two conditions.

1) They applied before you applied.

2) They have an active application.

That is all this number can tell you.

It is important to remember that not everyone wants the same kind of apartment at the same time.

For example, when we send a list of available apartments, if only three people respond to request a specific apartment and if the "rank numbers" for each of those three people are 888, 1042, and 1299 ... then the person with rank number 888 will be sent an offer for that particular apartment.

The fact that 887 other people applied earlier than person 888 has no bearing on the apartment offer .... because none of those 887 people requested the apartment!

Using the method as described prevents us from having to take unreasonable amounts of time working 1 by 1 through the list for each apartment.

You can imagine that it would be very inefficient if ... for example ... we had to receive 887 messages that told us ..... "No, I do not want that apartment" ... before we could act on the one ..... "Yes, I would like that apartment" .... message that we want to hear.

It is also important to know that we only use your rank number during the times when we send out a list of apartments and ask you to tell us which apartments you want from the list.

We do not need to use your rank number when we are renting apartments to the first person that asks for them... the quick rental (walk-in) method that we sometimes use!

You can always learn about *** any *** apartments we are working to rent and the manner in which we are working to rent them if you GO HERE.

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Here are some additional web pages you may find helpful...

Apartment Tours - On Line

Apartment Tours - In Person

Can I Have a Roommate?

Current Rental Rates

Rental Rate Increases

Transferring from one GFH Apartment to Another

Other Common Questions

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If you have questions not answered on this page, please feel free to contact us at our main QUESTION address.

It is always our goal to answer your question within one business day.

To help us be more efficient and speedy in our answer to your question, please include your 8-digit UFID number in your message.

Thank you for your interest in our Graduate and Family Housing Apartments!

Moving Out of Your Apartment

2011-10-10T12:01:00.000-04:00

All residents, as per their agreement with Graduate and Family Housing, are obligated to pay 60-days of rent from the day they provide the required, official notification, of an intent to vacate their apartment. Effectively, this means residents in Graduate and Family Housing are on a two-month "rolling lease."

The amount of time became 60-days for all residents on 1 August 2010 when all contracts were legally modified at that time. As this change was properly communicated, no signature was required.

To provide the 60-days notification all residents must submit an NIV (Notice of Intent to Vacate) form using the online portal process. If you are not familiar with the online portal, or if you have any questions about the NIV process, please contact our HELP DESK.

Residents are encouraged to submit this NIV notification 60 to 75 days in advance of their intent to vacate.

Residents can give less than 60-days notification. However, residents that choose to do this may be required to pay rent on their apartment past the date that they move out up to the 60-day notification. This is *** not *** a penalty payment. It is simply the required amount of rent based on the amount of notice given.

Residents are always required to move out on whatever date they provide on their NIV. Once this date is provided, it is unlikely that it can be changed.

Therefore, it is usually better to wait ... and thus give less notice of an intent to move out ... until you are sure of your move out date ... then to give notice ahead of time, but then decide later that you would like to remain in your apartment longer. Once you tell us the day the day you are moving out, we begin work to rent the apartment ahead of time based on the date you gave us.

This topic can become confusing ... especially if you are unclear as to how both dates work.

Remember, whatever date you tell us you are moving out ... you must move out on that date.

If your move out date is 60-days or more from the day you tell us ... then once your rental account is settled, you will only pay for rent up until the day you move out.

If your move out date is less than 60 days from the day you tell us ... then once your rental account is settled, you may for some rent for a period of time after the day you moved out.

Remember, if you have any questions about this subject, contact our HELP DESK and include your 8-digit UF ID number and your apartment number in your email.

Please do not contact your local village office with questions about the NIV.

End of Semester Info -- Spring 2012

2011-10-09T23:35:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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Before the end of the Spring semester we ask all residents to evaluate their current academic situation to know if they are eligible to remain living in Graduate and Family Housing for the next semester.

This page will help you with that task.

If you received a message that asked you to read this page, but you are not a current resident of Graduate and Family Housing, please email the main office village villages@housing.ufl.edu to let us know you received this message in error. Please include your 8-digit UF ID number in your email.

The rest of this message is for people who are current residents of Graduate and Family Housing (GFH).

Please keep reading this message if you are a current GFH resident.

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If you will be enrolled for credits during Summer 2012 you are automatically eligible to continue living in Graduate and Family Housing and this means that you do not need to contact the main housing office to update us about your academic situation.

If you will not be enrolled in classes in Summer 2012 either because you are graduating or for any other reasons, then per the terms of your contract you are required to move out of your apartment by Monday, May 7, 2012.

There are two exceptions to the requirement to move out by Monday, May 7, 2012.

1) If we have already given you permission in writing to stay longer than that date.

2) If we have already told you that you need to leave before that date.

Permission to stay later than is allowed is always given by Sue Hamel or by Vern Rogers.

No one else can give this permission.

If you are required to move out of your apartment you can always request permission to remain in Graduate and Family Housing for an additional amount of time.

Permission can not always be granted, but in many cases it can.

To request permission to remain in Graduate and Family Housing for any additional amount of time, beyond the date that you are required to move out, please email Sue Hamel to make your request.

Please give all information about your situation so that Sue can make the most favorable decision possible for the situation you describe.

Please include your 8-digit UF ID number in the email, please include your current building and apartment number, and please include how long you want to remain in Graduate and Family Housing.

You will receive a reply to your email within 2 business days.

It is important to send your message before February 27, 2012. The quicker you send your email, the better your chances for us to approve your request. You are not "competing" against other people ... but sending your request more quickly gives us more options to help you with your specific situation whatever it is.

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We send out an email about this topic each semester.

This means that each semester, we will always remind you to think about this situation.

It is important for you to think about this situation each semester.

EVERYONE who chooses to leave Graduate and Family Housing, is required by their contract to give us 60 days' notice if ... once their account is settled ... they do not want to pay for more rent than the time they lived in the apartment.

This notice was changed to 60 days on 1 August 2010 and all residents were sent at least two messages notifying them of this change (from 45 days' notice).

In order to give your move out notice, the person who is billed for the apartment rent MUST go to the online housing portal at https://my.housing.ufl.edu/and choose the NOTICE of INTENT to VACATE (NIV) selection from the menu provided.

If you are trying to fill out an online NIV and are having trouble, please contact our main office HELP DESK. We will respond to you within one business day. Please include your 8-digit UF ID number and your building and apartment number in the subject line of the email.

NOTE: If you live in Tanglewood as part of a roommate situation that we officially allow, please contact us at villages@housing.ufl.edu to verify who needs to fill out NIVs in "move out situations."

When you fill out the NIV, you will be asked to tell us on what day you plan to move out.

You must provide a specific day. Once you submit the NIV ... you can not move out AFTER the move out day you give on the NIV. It is also unlikely that you would be able to change this date. Therefore, give careful thought to your move out day.

We suggest that it is always better for you to give fewer days notice and be sure you will have a place to live (and perhaps pay some extra rent) than to give your notice sooner to try and save rent.

This is because once you choose your move out day you cannot change your mind later and ask for a later day. We don't prevent you from leaving earlier, of course, but in those situations where you leave earlier, we can not change the "rent calculation."

It is important to know that regardless of circumstances all Graduate and Family Housing residents must submit an NIV in conjunction with their plans to move out of their apartment.

There is never an exception to this policy.

All residents must submit an NIV to let us know whenever they plan to move out of Graduate and Family Housing.

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If you have any questions about this blog message that were not answered or if this blog message created additional questions that you would like to ask, please email Sue Hamel with your question.

October and November Apartment List

2011-10-06T11:48:00.002-04:00

This page was last reviewed on
Thursday, 6 October 2011 at 11:45am (1145)

This page previously had a list of apartments that we were working to rent.

We have concluded our efforts to rent these apartments.

However, some of the apartments may have been "moved" to our quick rentals process and are available to rent based on our procedures related to that process.

For more information about quick rental apartments, please go HERE.

Are Rent Increases Possible?

2011-08-27T13:16:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on 27 August 2011.

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Rent increases can and do happen.

According to the lease (contract) you will sign with us ... or have signed with us if you are a current resident ... we have the ability to increase your rent payment with 30 days notice.

Some years we have no rent increase. Other years we have a rent increase.

If we have another rent increase, we do not think it will be before 1 July 2012. Although we can not promise that. We do feel very confident about it. We may not even have a rent increase at that time.

In 2011 ... some apartments had rent increase while others did not.

We have sent an email message about this rate increase so that all residents can make decision before the rental rate increase is due to take effect.

We would like you to read the rest of this page, but if you wish, you can go HERE to learn more about our rental rates from 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.

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Our normal practice for considering a rental increase is to evaluate our operational needs during the course of the academic year and then consult with the appropriate and required officials as to what we need our rent increase to be (if any).

Then, usually in late April or early May of each year, after we have met the proper requirements by various regulations, we tell you about the rent increase that we plan to have take affect on 1 July of that year.

That last paragraph describes our normal practice. However, in unusual situations, rent increases can happen more than once a year or at times other than on 1 July. We make every effort not to do this, just as we make every effort to keep rent increases low or non-existent.

The process to determine if a rent increase is needed and get approval for such a rental increase is a very long process. This process begins in the Fall semester as the Department of Housing and Residence Education begins to evaluate budget needs for the upcoming year.

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It may interest you to know that the Housing and Residence Education Department (which Graduate and Family Housing is part of) is a type of university area known as an "auxiliary." Being an auxiliary has many different elements to it. One of these elements is that under normal conditions, very little funding comes from ANY other source other than resident-derived income. Overwhelmingly, this income is rent.

It is always our goal to tell you about a rent increase ahead of any required move out notice that you are required to give us. In this way, we hope that we are demonstrating a good faith fairness in this process regardless of whether this is required of us.

We never have any information about the rent increase until we provide it. We ALWAYS send a notice to all residents once we do know about it. Naturally, we will also post information on this blog.

It is important to note that our rent increases are not "directly connected" to other university events, departments, and situations. For example, it is entirely possible that a rent increase can happen even if you do not see an increase in your salary or stipend.

In any event, we will do our best to communicate with you as much as we can about rent increases in time for you to make decisions about your living situation.

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We will work to make sure this page will always have the latest information about rent increases.

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CLICK HERE to go to a page with additional questions and answers.

Having a Roommate in Graduate and Family Housing

2011-07-20T13:39:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on 20 July 2011.

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We now allow some residents to have roommates.
Please read this ENTIRE page to know about this topic.

On the rest of this page, wherever it says "resident" we mean the person who rents the apartment from Graduate and Family Housing and is "rentally-obligated" to give us 60-days move out notification.

On the rest of this page, wherever it says "roommate" we mean the person sharing the apartment with the resident who may or may not have this obligation relative to several variables in the process.

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In order to have a roommate the resident must meet ALL of the following conditions.

Live in Tanglewood or have accepted an official offer to live there.
Can NOT live in a efficiency-style apartment.

The roommate must meet ALL of the following conditions.

Have an active and "visible in the computer system" GFH application.
Be a current University of Florida graduate student.
Be the same gender as the resident.

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We think the ability to have roommates creates many questions.
Here is a list of several questions (Q) and answers (A) that everyone should read to learn more about the roommates in Graduate and Family Housing.

(Q1) How will roommates be chosen or matched up?

(A1) Roommates will not be matched up or chosen by any team member or process within Graduate and Family Housing. It is up to each eligible resident who meets the conditions listed earlier to decide if she or he wants to have a roommate. Graduate and Family Housing will not "force" anyone to have a roommate. Additionally, Graduate and Family Housing team members will not provide or keep any list of residents wishing to have roommates and will not offer any kind of roommate matching or contact service. Residents must do all the "work" to have a roommate (if they wish to have one) on their own.

(Q2a) How will rent and electricity payments be handled?

(A2a) Both the roommate and the resident will share an equal portion (50%) of the rent and electricity payments. However, these equal payments do not take effect for the roommate until the next billing cycle after the roommate moves in. Additionally, we will not "pro-rate" the billing when a roommate moves out.

(Q2b) Can you explain the last question with a real example?

(A2b) If a resident gains a roommate on the 15th of February, the billing will not be divided equally until April billing is processed. So the billing would not be split between the resident and roommate until the April billing. If a roommate moves out on the 15th of September, the roommate will be billed for all of rent through the end of October.

(Q2c) Are there any exceptions to this billing plan?

(A2c) If a resident and a roommate have their billing begin at the same time, then they would both be on the same billing cycle which means there would be no "lag time" for the roommate (when compared to the resident) on billing.

(Q2d) Can a resident and a roommate have their own payment arrangement?

(A2c) Residents and Roommates are free to work out any kind of payment arrangement they wish to better manage their rental situation. However, our department will not change our billing method.

(Q3) Since a roommate must have an active application, does this mean that the roommate has to wait for a resident just like a resident waits for an apartment?

(A3) No. The need for an active application is to help Graduate and Family operate the roommate program and assist with a variety of verification and eligibility procedures. When a person with an active application becomes a roommate, their application continues to remain active. This allows a roommate to continue to build waiting time just like a regular applicant. As explained later, if a roommate becomes a resident, we will convert the regular application to a transfer application. The $25 application fee will not be refunded and if a transfer is later requested, the regular transfer fee (currently $50) will be billed.

(Q4) Can a resident have more than one roommate at the same time?

(A4) No.

(Q5) Can a resident and roommate switch their status so the roommate becomes the resident and "vice-versa."

(A5) Yes, but Graduate and Family Housing reserves the right to limit this practice as it sees fit. Additionally, the roommate will need to agree to and understand the obligations being assumed by taking on the role of the resident. Additionally, the resident will need to understand the limitations of being a roommate. Both people must demonstrate to the satisfaction of Graduate and Family Housing that they understand the ramifications of their actions. Graduate and Family Housing will only permit the "switch" if satisfied of the mutual understanding and if the "rental obligation" is protected. Graduate and Family Housing will not allow any "switches" if, at our sole discretion, we feel it is in our best interest to disallow the switch.

With respect to billing, there can be many variables involved in this question and answer. It is often easier to explain this in person or over the phone once we have a clearer idea of the rental situation.

(Q6) What happens when either the resident or the roommate wants to move out of the apartment?

(A6) If a roommate chooses to move out, they must inform the main housing office and they will be responsible for rent on the apartment as described in Q/A (2).

If a resident moves out, the roommate has two choices... move out on the exact same day ... or chose to become the resident and accept *** ALL *** financial responsibilities for the apartment including a new 60-day rental obligation for the apartment. It is the responsibility of all residents and roommates to understand their respective obligations and to know each others' plans at all times. Residents, as always, are bound by the 60-day rental obligation found in the GFH contract addendum. Depending on the specific circumstances of the rental situation, the roommate may also incur a 60-day rental obligation. We encourage questions on this subject as far in advance of a move out as possible.

(Q7) I am a current resident of Corry, Diamond, Maguire, or UVS and I would like to become someone's roommate in Tanglewood. Can I transfer?

(A7) Graduate and Family Housing treats this situation as a regular move out requiring 60-days notice. This is not a transfer and so the regular 60-day rental obligation would apply. This is also true for situations where a husband and wife, at first, live in different GFH apartments but then decide to live in the same GFH apartment.

(Q8) I am a current resident of Corry, Diamond, Maguire, or UVS and I would like to transfer to Tanglewood to be a resident. Can I transfer?

(A8) Yes, our normal transfer procedures apply to this situation.

(Q9) I am a current resident of Corry, Diamond, Maguire, or UVS and I would like to transfer to Tanglewood then get a roommate, then switch my status with the roommate. Can I transfer?

(A9) Yes, for the most part our normal transfer procedures apply to this situation. However, elements of (Q5/A5) and (Q2/A2) as shown above are also applicable.

(Q10) How will keys and mailboxes be handled?

(A10) The resident and roommate must share the mailbox and the mailbox key. Both the resident and roommate will be able to have their own apartment key, however.

(Q11) Does being a roommate give any kind of a promise or priority to get a Graduate and Family Housing apartment?

(A11) In keeping with the nature of the roommate process, a person could live in Tanglewood more quickly than they otherwise might be able to do so. Because of the way the program is structured, no other "priority" benefit is possible or implied.

(Q12) Do you ever expect to allow roommates in Corry, Diamond, Maguire, or UVS.

(A12)We are studying this possibility for other areas. It is more likely we would allow it Corry and Diamond first, but we have no immediate time table for this to happen. At any point where we do have more information on this subject, we will post that information on this page.

(Q13) Is it possible that you might tell certain people that they are no longer allowed to have roommates while other people are allowed to have roommates?

(A13) We can not rule this situation out. It is likely only to be used in situations where an apartment has been occupied "without a break" for too long a time OR in an unusual situation where Graduate and Family Housing decided that based on "observed data" it is best for a resident not to have a roommate. In either situation, the matter will be handled as fairly as is allowable to the situation.

It is not possible to describe all of the situations where this action could be taken, but it is not expected to be needed very often. We expect the roommate program to go very well for all concerned. That is why we are working to have it.

(Q14) Is it possible that the entire roommate program could be ended?

(A14) Yes, this could happen at any time without any advance notice. If this should happen, Graduate and Family Housing will allow all existing roommate situations to "run their natural course," but will not allow any NEW roommate situations to be formed. So we will honor any and all existing roommate agreements if we should choose to end the roommate program.

(Q15) What if I am a resident with a roommate and then decide I don't want to have that roommate anymore?

(A15) That will depend on several variables that are based on your specific rental situation. It is not possible to know these variables ahead of time or predict how they will lead to an answer for this question. So, you should give much consideration before choosing to have a roommate ... or to become a roommate.

(Q16) What other "responsibility-based concerns" do I need to know about?

(A16) Where possible, with the exception of previously discussed items on this "Q and A" page, all normal responsibilities of each person with respect to various University of Florida polices, codes, and/or regulations, etc., are still "in force."

For example, each person is still responsible for following whatever elements of the Student Conduct Code apply to their individual situation as a UF student. However, in any situation where Graduate and Family Housing is unable to ascertain (to its own satisfaction) a clear responsibility of a roommate's behavior/responsibility in a specific situation, the responsibility may automatically be attached to the resident.

All residents should fully understand all responsibilities of having a roommate. Additional legal responsibilities not covered on this page may exist and Graduate and Family Housing can give no advice about that topic.

(Q17) I am ready to have a roommate? What do I need to do?

(A17) You must first make sure you meet any conditions and understand all of the information given on this web page.

Then you must email our HELP DESK.

Please make the subject line of your email "New Roommate Request."

You must know the name and UFID number of the person you want to be your roommate and you must include this information in the email. The help desk will reply to your request within three business days.

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Here is some additional information you may find helpful.

You can check CLICK HERE to see if we have any immediate openings in Tanglewood.

For other information about apartments available to rent in the future, you will need to CLICK HERE.

You can CLICK HERE for more information about transferring from one Graduate and Family Housing apartment to another.

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This page will be updated whenever we can provide more information about this subject.

If you have any questions about this topic, please CONTACT US.

Rental Rates

2011-04-01T13:27:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed in April 2011.
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HERE is information about 2010 - 2011 rental rates.
That page also has information about 2011-2012 rental rates.

To stay informed about possible rental rate increases, you can GO HERE.

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Graduate and Family Housing rental rates have some services included in the rental rate.

This means that you do not pay additional money for these services.

Local Phone Service
Cable Television
Water
Trash (although you must take trash to the dumpster!)
On Site Maintenance Staff
On Site Residence Life Staff

Additionally, some of our facilities provide internet service.

Corry Village provides wired internet service.
Diamond Village provides wired internet service.
Tanglewood Village does not provide internet service.
Maguire Village provides wireless internet service.
UVS Village provides wireless internet service.

We are currently working to give UVS, Maguire, and Tanglewood wired internet service. Current efforts on this project are focused in the UVS area. You can read about them if you GO HERE.

Electricity use is NOT included in the rate. Residents are billed for electricity use in addition to their rent.

Corry Village has gas service for cooking and heating. This service is NOT included in the rental rate. Corry residents are billed for gas service in addition to their rent. Only Corry has gas service. This service is billed by the city utility company NOT by Graduate and Family Housing.

Transfer Information

2011-01-21T13:34:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed in January 2011
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To request a transfer from one Graduate and Family Housing apartment to another, you must submit an application. The application cannot be submitted online.

To submit a transfer application you must go to your local VILLAGE OFFICE or the MAIN HOUSING OFFICE.

Additionally, you will want to know the following facts about transferring and transfer offers.

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The first day you can submit a transfer application is the day you move-in to your apartment.

The process to receive a transfer offer is almost exactly like the process to get a regular offer. You are placed in the same "application pool" you were in before when you were a "regular" applicant.

However, your application date that we use is the NEW date that matches the date when you turn in your transfer application.

IT IS NOT the same date as when you first applied for an apartment. So this means that your rank order will begin AGAIN from what most people think of as the "bottom of the list."

Remember, however, that we don't rent by going one by one through the list.

We rent by making apartments available and then seeing who would like an apartment. So your application date does have some bearing on the process, but we do not ask each person in order of the list. If we asked each person in order of the list for each apartment, the process to rent apartments would be very inefficient.

Also remember that there are times where we don't look at application dates at all, but instead rent apartments to the first person that wants an apartment. We usually do this when demand for apartments is very low.

You can always learn about these kinds of apartments ... our quick-rental (walk-in) apartments ... by reading THIS PAGE.

If you want to learn about apartments that we will be working to rent at more distant time in the future than those "quick-rental" apartments, then you should read THIS PAGE.

Here is more information about transfers that you need to know.

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There is no fee to submit a transfer application.
There is a $50 fee at the time you accept the transfer.

In order to accept a transfer, you must be in your current apartment for at least six months. We do not generally make exceptions to this rule. In very limited situations, it may be possible for you to transfer if you have only lived in your apartment for as little as two months, however ... *** we do not promise this. ***

When you accept a transfer, there will be at least one day where you are paying rent on two apartments. This is in addition to the $50 fee.

We bill you the pro-rated daily rate for both apartments during your move. For example if you live in one apartment where the rent is $480 per month and you live in another apartment where there rent is $600 per month and it takes you three days to move, you will pay $108 dollars of rent during these three days ($16 x 3 plus $20 x 3).

You do not pay any money when you accept a transfer. Whatever amount we need to bill you (including our electricity calculations) is handled via the online billing system.

You do not have to give 60-days notice before moving out of your current apartment if you are moving as the resident of one apartment to become the resident of another apartment in Graduate and Family Housing.

In fact, because of how we process the transfers, it is unlikely you would ever be able to give that much notice.

If we give you a transfer offer, we have already considered how much notice you will be giving us when you move out of your apartment. The fact that we gave you the offer indicates we are okay with that small amount of time.

When we announce the list of available apartments, we do not designate certain apartments as transfer apartments and certain apartments as "regular" apartments.

Although we do look at the application dates when we decide who is to get which offers, there are some apartments we will not offer to a person requesting a transfer if this situation results in unacceptable rent loss to our department.

It is difficult to explain how this works in every situation. However, your chances are better of being offered a transfer offer in a sent list of available apartments for apartments toward the end of a list.

In every situation, it is ALWAYS our choice whether or not to offer or allow a transfer based on several variables that are difficult to predict and explain.

We apologize for this fact in advance.

We do not make any promises about when someone will be able to transfer and we do not accept priority requests to transfer.

For example, having relatives coming to visit you will not have any effect on how quickly we offer you a transfer offer. That is just one example. There are many others, but the end result is the same.

We do not accept requests for transfer priority.

It is a very bad strategy to accept a regular apartment offer with the idea that it will be easy to quickly transfer to another apartment.

Just like our regular offers, we can not make any predictions about how quickly you may receive a transfer offer.

Please give all of the information on this page very careful consideration before you make any decisions in which transfers may be a part of your decision making process.

Offer Process Summary

2010-11-18T13:27:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed on Thursday, 18 November 2010

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The entire process to rent a Graduate and Family Housing apartment can seem complicated ... at first.

However, our goal is to communicate with you during EACH STEP of the application and offer process so that you always know what your next requirement is and what our next contact with you will be.

Our goal is always to give you your top choice of apartment as quickly as we can when you want it.

To help with this ... it is extremely important that you frequently check your GatorLink e-mail account (once you have one) and any other email address you provide to us once you apply.

If you have not already done so ... please APPLY FOR HOUSING.

Our primary means of communicating with you is via e-mail.

If you are actively looking to rent an apartment, you should be checking the e-mail addresses you have given us at least once every 24 hours.

It is your responsibility to make sure that your e-mail accounts are functioning properly and are not filtering or marking our e-mail as "spam" or "junk" mail in such a way that you are not aware of our attempts to e-mail you.

We also encourage you to be familiar with our blog... especially our blog pages that communicate with you about FUTURE, CURRENT, and "QUICK!" available apartments.

The three (3) links above will ALWAYS keep you updated about any apartment opportunities that we have available.

If you properly check your e-mail and stay informed via our blog as described above, you should NEVER miss an opportunity to rent an apartment.

Because our demand for apartments is almost always quite high, there may be times and situations where we can't promise you your top choice of apartment at exactly the time you want it.

However, if you follow the instructions on this blog page and any e-mail we send you, you will ALWAYS give yourself the best chance to get the apartment you want when you are ready to rent it.

Here is the summary of our process to rent apartments.

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Application is submitted
Weekly email updates sent to all applicants.
Periodic (2-4 per semester) availability lists sent to applicants.
Applicants decide if any apartments on availability list are desired.
Applicants ask for apartments from list or decide to wait for a new list.
Applicants receive related updates and information.
Offers are made to some applicants.
Applicants accept or reject offers made to them.
Applicants that accept offers move-in to apartments.

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At each step of the process, our applicants receive additional information about that particular step. We put quite a bit of effort into this process at each step so that you can be as updated as possible.

Remember, in addition to the periodic process ... we also sometimes have quick rentals available. You can learn more about them HERE.

To help us give you the best service, please maintain contact with your email, be knowledgeable about this blog, and CONTACT US if you have any questions about the process.

Thanks for your interest in our apartments!

Apartment Description - Line 4 (Normal Rentals)

2010-11-16T10:49:00.001-05:00

When we rent apartments using our normal rental process, the apartment will *** ONLY *** be rented from the date listed for each apartment.

By this statement we mean ... if you agree to rent this apartment indicated, you must agree to pay rent as calculated from the date indicated. You are still free to move-in after this date if you wish, but your first rent payment will be calculated from the date indicated.

This date does not refer to the length of the lease (contract), but just the date that the lease must begin for that specific apartment.

We are required to make all our leases one year, but within the lease is a statement that tells you that you are only required to give us 60-days' notice to cover your rental obligation.

So ... effectively, all of our apartments have a two months "rolling lease." This is a very generous lease!

We do not begin leases on Saturday or Sunday or any UF Holiday.

Remember that you do not have to move-in to an apartment on the day your rent begins.

For example ... if you begin renting an apartment on 3 December... you can move-in anytime after that day as long as you have followed our instructions about picking up keys and paying your first rent bill in our main housing office when we are open.

We give you these instructions once we have sent you an official offer for an apartment AND you have accepted the official offer.

The first rent payment is always the pro-rated balance of the month in which the rent begins + the next month's rent. The exception to this is that anytime the rent begins on the first five days of the month, we *** only *** require that month's pro-rated payment.

Here are two examples to illustrate rent-begin situations.

Example 1
Rental Date = 8 December
Apartment Rent Per Month $540

This person would need to pay a total of $954 at move-in.

$414 for 8 December to 30 December... (540/30 = $18 ... $18 x 23 days)
$540 for all of January
TOTAL .... $964

This person would receive their next rent bill in early January. The next rent bill would be for February rent and it would be due on 1 February.

So when you make your first rent payment ... you are not making a security deposit. We do not collect a security deposit. The first rent payment of $964 in the kind of situation described here is designed to "catch you up" to our regular billing cycles.

Example 2
Rental Date = 4 December
Apartment Rent Per Month $540

This person would need to pay a total of $486 at move-in.

$486 for 4 December to 30 December... (540/30 = $18 ... $18 x 27 days)
$0 for all of January*
TOTAL .... $486

This means $0 for all of January at move-in.

January rent will still be billed ... it will be billed in early December and due on 1 January. However, we won't need to collect January rent at move-in since the rent begin date was during the first five days of the month.

There are two things to note with the rent date.

1) Whatever rent begin day a person selects, they will not have access to the apartment until 4pm on that day.

2) Rent is always calculated on a 30-day month. This always works out in a resident's favor (since some months have 31 days) except in very rare scenarios where a resident would live in an apartment for only three total months during the Spring Semester. This has never happened.

If you have more questions about how we calculate the first rent payment, please email gfhaccounts@housing.ufl.edu.

Apartment Description - Line 3

2010-11-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

This line provides three pieces of information to assist you with the location of the apartment.

The three pieces of information are (1) building number, (2) whether or not the apartment is up or downstairs, (3) directional information about the orientation of the apartment.

(1) Building numbers listed are the official UF building number for an apartment. You can type that number into the search box on online UF CAMPUS MAP and you can see the exact location of the building.

This procedure will work for every village except Tanglewood. For Tanglewood, you must use the building number that we provide (shown here in orange) and type the corresponding purple number in to the search box.

2901 = 539
2903 = 527
2905 = 528
2907 = 529
2909 = 530
2911 = 532
2915 = 533
2917 = 535
2919 = 536

(2) All Graduate and Family Housing apartments are either upstairs or downstairs. This is because all Graduate and Family Housing apartment buildings are two stories (levels). The only exception to this are Tanglewood Townhouse apartments. These apartments have both an upstairs and downstairs level.

(3) Directional information is provided for each apartment. What this information means depends on the apartment village being discussed. NOTE: All directional information are approximations.

Diamond and Corry - The direction indicated is the side of the building the apartment is on. Most of the windows are on this side.

Maguire and UVS - The direction indicated is where the front of the apartment is located. Usually, the kitchen and the living room areas. The bedroom(s) will often be on the opposite side of the apartment.

Tanglewood - Because of Tanglewood's design, the direction indicated will be the general location of the apartment within the complex. Usually, at least some of the windows face this direction.

Apartment Description - Line 2

2010-11-16T10:31:00.001-05:00

This page provides information about the Remodeling and Flooring Conditions of apartments.

Remodeling will be described in one of two ways.

(1) Some Remodeling - This usually means that at least the bathroom or the kitchen has refurbished within the last 10 years. Sometimes both may have been remodeled. The actual amount of refurbishment varies greatly from apartment to apartment and we are not able to give more information about the amount of remodeling. Some apartments have been totally remodeled. Others have been remodeled to a lesser degree. If an apartment is listed as having some remodeling, this means that we believe enough remodeling is present to warrant the slightly larger rental rate when compared to a Minimally Remodeled apartment (as described below) in the same village and having the same number of bedrooms.

(2) Minimal Remodeling - This usually means that the apartment has not had any major refurbishment work done in the last 10 years. However, it is important to note that anytime a resident moves out of an apartment, the apartment is evaluated to see what refurbishment is needed. Almost every apartment goes through *** some level *** of minor refurbishment. Minor refurbishment can include carpet replacement, tile floor replacement, appliance replacement, painting, etc. All apartments are cleaned by our own professional cleaning crew *** every time *** a resident moves out.

The flooring in an apartment will usually be described in one of two ways.

(1) Carpet - This means that most of the apartment has carpet. Some small sections of the apartment may have tile. Tile usually refers to a type of tile similar to (but more durable than) linoleum. Except in Diamond Village ... all upstairs apartments will always have carpet.

(2) Tile - This usually means that most of the apartment has tile. Tile usually refers to a type of tile similar to (but more durable than) linoleum. Tile is standard flooring in all Diamond Village apartments. In other villages, it will only be found in downstairs apartments. Eventually, ALL downstairs apartments in all villages will have tile.

Apartment Description - Line 1

2010-11-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

The first line contains three pieces of information in the following order.

(1) Village Name
(2) The number of bedrooms in the apartment.
(3) The monthly rental rate.

(1) There are five residence villages ... Corry, Diamond, Tanglewood, Maguire, and UVS. More information about each of these villages along with basic information about each village can be found HERE.

(2) Most apartments are one or two-bedroom apartments. There are very small number of studio apartments and TownHouse apartments in Tanglewood Village. There are also a small number of three-bedroom apartments in Corry. Anyone can rent a two-bedroom apartment or TownHouse. However, we will not rent one-bedroom apartments (or Tanglewood efficiencies) to people who plan to have children living with them. This is rule is in place to assist us with handling noise concerns. The rule does not exist for any other reason.

(3) The monthly rental rate is based on a full-month's rent. More information about what is included in the rent can be found at the link in explanation (1).

Fall 2010 Apartment List

2010-11-15T23:23:00.002-05:00

This page was last reviewed on
Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at 11:05pm (2305)

The rental process that was described on this page is no longer active.

For more information about our current rental process, please GO HERE.

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Thank you for your interest in Graduate and Family Housing Apartments.

What Happens at the Acceptance Meeting

2010-10-11T13:36:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Monday, 11 October 2010
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During our work to rent apartments, you will eventually reach a point in our offer process where we send you an official offer via email. This is probably a very exciting moment for you and it is one of our favorite times because we love meeting happy people.

When you get this email, you will see that it contains both information and instructions. Some of you are reading this page right now because of those instructions! Thank you!

When you come to the acceptance meeting, we need you to bring one form of picture identification (it does not have to be a passport, but a passport is okay) and we need you to be ready to tell us if you have anyone who will be living with you.

Only the primary renter (the person we send the offer to) needs to attend the acceptance meeting.

Remember that in Maguire, UVS, Corry, and Diamond, only the primary renter and specified immediate family members (spouse and dependent children) are permitted to live in the apartment.

Tanglewood does allow ROOMATES if certain conditions are met.

THIS PAGE explains our guest policy.

The rest of this blog page will tell you what will happen at this acceptance meeting.

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Signing the Acceptance Document
At the acceptance meeting, we will have a two-page document for you to read that will outline some basic information that you need to know and agree to follow. If you choose to accept the apartment you will sign two copies of this document and you will get to keep one copy for your records and we will keep the other.

Once you sign this document and leave our office, you can still change your mind about renting the apartment if (for whatever reason) you wish to make that choice. However, at whatever point we acknowledge that you have officially changed your mind, you will be billed for up to 30 days rent on the apartment.

We say "up to 30 days," because if you change your mind, we will try to re-rent your apartment to someone else as quickly as we can. However, we will not know ahead of time how quickly we can do this. It is our philosophy to try to re-rent the apartment as soon as we can and not to collect two rents on the same apartment.

We think this is a fair and kind way to do this. In the past some people who have changed their mind have paid only a few days rent ... others have had to pay 30 days. Again, we won't know how much you would have to pay if you change your mind until we re-rent the apartment. Hopefully, this kind of situation will not apply to you.

Other Documents You Need to Know About
After signing the acceptance document, we have some other documents to give you. Which documents we give you depend on several variables. You may need to sign one or two other documents, but you might not need to. If you need to sign any other documents, we will explain these documents to you and we will answer any questions that you have. We want you to feel at ease as much as is possible WHENEVER you sign ANY of our documents.

We are proud of our high rate of occupancy (95% and higher) and we know that keeping this rate high will only happen if we offer a nice apartment at a fair price. So... we will try to do whatever we can to make sure we are always fair in our efforts to rent apartments.

During this part of the meeting you will also get a "reading copy" of the official contract (lease) for your apartment. We give you this copy ahead of time, because we want you to take it with you to review it so you can ask us questions when you return for your check-in meeting. At your check-in meeting, you will sign your actual contract (lease).

Payments and Billing and Other Questions
At the acceptance meeting, you will not have to pay any money. You only pay money when we get to the part of the rental process that relates to checking in to your apartment. However, at the acceptance meeting, we will tell you how our billing system works and what options are available to you. You can also learn more about our billing system HERE.

Our acceptance meeting is also the best place to ask us all kinds of other questions you might have about all kinds of subjects. Our goal will be to give you fair, honest answers to all your questions. You may be able to find some answers ahead of time, by going to THIS PAGE.

What Happens Next!
Finally, we will tell you what you exactly what steps you need to do next. If you have any questions about what happens next we will make sure we answer them. When you leave your acceptance meeting, we want you to know exactly what is required of you. One of the things that will happen next is we will confirm how and when you will get your keys to your new apartment!

Then ... you will be done! For some people the acceptance meeting can take 15 minutes ... or even less! However, for some people the acceptance meeting can take longer. In most cases, the length of the acceptance meeting is determined by the number of questions you have. We like all questions and one question we get is "How long is the acceptance meeting?" So now you know the answer.

It depends!

Viewing An Apartment Ahead of Time

2010-09-29T09:44:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Wednesday, 29 September 2010
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In most situations we ARE NOT able to allow our apartments to be viewed prior to move-in.

When you rent an apartment from us, part of the process is for us to send you an offer message. That message will include the fact that on whatever day the apartment is ready, it will likely not be ready before 4pm and it will not be ready before this day... even to go in and "take a quick look."

Only in very rare cases are we able to alter this ready date and time. If we are able to alter the ready date and time, we tell you in the offer message that we send you when we work to rent you the apartment. Therefore you never need to ask us about this.

We regret this limitation, but our reasons for this are based on several characteristics that make us different from most private apartment complexes.

1) Our main office is open 8am to 5pm but the offices where apartments are located have very limited hours and very limited staffing and our main office does not "oversee" the operation of the local offices where the apartments are located.

2) Whenever we are working to rent apartments, those apartments are usually still occupied by CURRENT residents. If residents are not living in the apartment, the apartment is almost certainly in the middle of a normal refurbishment time that we have whenever one resident moves out and before another resident moves in. During this time various construction and cleaning work might be underway and safety and other concerns are such that we do not permit non-team members to be in the apartment.

3) We do not keep "show" apartments. Our philosophy is that a show apartment, if it is in good condition, would be a rentable apartment. The more apartments we keep rented, the easier it is for us to keep our rental rates inexpensive.

4) Because of supply and demand our overall apartment occupancy exceeds 95% year round. Often it exceeds 98%. We tend to have relatively few vacant apartments to begin with.

5) Current residents should be able to enjoy their apartment without disruptions from future residents wishing to see an apartment.

Because of this last reason, we WILL CANCEL any offer given to someone if we believe the person has contacted current residents in an effort to see an apartment. We will also cancel this person's application for housing.

We know that our position is unusual and our last statement is strict. However, we are very committed to our the privacy of our residents and we are committed to keeping our rental rates as low as possible. Our policies about apartment viewing help us to meet both these goals.

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Although we can not physically show you an apartment, we do have two other ways to show you our apartments.

(1) Stop by the main housing office and ask to see our picture book of apartments.

(2) Go to THIS WEB PAGE to take a virtual tour of some of our apartments.

Electricity Billing

2010-09-27T10:15:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed in February 2012

If you have any questions about your electricity bill, please email gfhaccounts@housing.ufl.edu

Thank you!

Waiting Time - Quick Information

2010-09-23T17:44:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Wednesday, 15 September 2010
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This page is designed for Graduate and Family Housing applicants to get quick knowledge about our current waiting times to get a Graduate and Family Housing apartment.

This page is under review and should be updated by the end of September 2010.

Apartment Description - Line 4 (Quick Rentals)

2010-09-23T16:55:00.006-04:00

Apartments have a range of dates from which they can be rented.

By this we mean the rent must begin on one of the dates within the range. This date does not refer to the length of the lease (contract), but just the date that the lease must begin.

We do not begin leases on Saturday or Sunday so anytime those dates fall within the range, they are not valid rent begin dates.

We only rent apartments within the dates indicated. We do not hold an apartment for a later date for the rent to begin. If you want to rent an apartment for a later date, you must wait for those dates to be listed. However, other people may also be waiting for the same thing.

You do not have to move-in to an apartment on the day your rent begins. If you begin renting an apartment on 4 October ... you can move-in anytime after that day as long as you have followed our instructions about picking up keys and paying your first rent bill in our main housing office.

The first rent payment is always the pro-rated balance of the month in which the rent begins + the next month's rent. The exception to this is that anytime the rent begins on the first five days of the month, we only require that month's pro-rated payment.

Here are two examples to illustrate rent-begin situations.

Example 1
Begin Date Range ... 4 November to 30 November.
Apartment Rent Per Month $540

The person requests to begin their rent on 8 November.
This person would need to pay a total of $954 at move-in.

$414 for 8 November to 30 November ... (540/30 = $18 ... $18 x 23 days)
$540 for all of December
TOTAL .... $964

Example 2
Begin Date Range ... 4 November to 30 November.
Apartment Rent Per Month $540

The person requests to begin their rent on 4 November.
This person would need to pay a total of $486 at move-in.

$486 for 4 November to 30 November ... (540/30 = $18 ... $18 x 27 days)
$0 for all of December*
TOTAL .... $486

This means $0 for all of December at move-in. December rent will still be billed ... but we won't need to collect it since the rent begin date was during the first five days of the month.

There are couple of things to note.

1) Whatever rent begin day a person selects, they will not have access to the apartment until 4pm on that day.

2) Rent is always calculated on a 30 day month. This always works out in a resident's favor (since some months have 31 days) except in very rare scenarios where a resident would stay only for a three month time in the Spring Semester. This has never happened.

If you have questions about how we calculate the first rent payment, please EMAIL our main answer desk.

Rent ... Move-Out Billing

2010-07-16T15:19:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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If you have questions about billing as it relates to moving out of your apartment, please email gfhaccounts@housing.ufl.edu.

Please include your 8-digit UFID number in your message.

Thirty (30) Day Rental Month Principle

2010-07-16T15:18:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Tuesday, 4 May 2010
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This page has information about our 30-day rental month works. This subject can be confusing to people when first explained, because our accounting procedures require us to do some things that initially seem unfair to some people.

However, we hope that once you understand the information on this page you will see that in almost every rental situation, the 30-day principle works to the advantage of everyone.

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We ALWAYS bill our rent based on a 30-day rental month.
(This is in the contract/lease that you signed.)

It does not matter how many days are in the actual month. Our billing is always based on 30-days.

So if you ever want to know the daily rate for your apartment, take your monthly rate and divide it by 30. This is one of the things we do to help us calculate how much to bill you when you move-in and also how much to bill you when you move-out.

Because the rate is ALWAYS based on 30 days ... this creates TWO interesting billing situations when a month does not have exactly 30 days.

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Situation 1

In January, March, May, July, August, October, and December there are 31 days.

If you moved in during one of those months, we did not charge you for the 31st day of the month... unless that was the day you moved in.

(Everyone who lives with us during a month must pay for at least one day during that month).

If you moved in on the 29th, you paid for 2 days from that month.
If you moved in on the 30th, you paid for 1 day from that month.
If you moved in on the 31st, you paid for 1 day from that month.

When you move out during one of these months, the most number of days you pay for is 30. So, if you move out on the 31st, just like a resident who continues to live with us, you pay only for 30 days for that month.

This situation is usually the easier of the two most common situations to understand.

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Situation 2

In February ... there is either 28 or 29 days ... depending on the year.

Anyone who moves in during February is charged for the month as if it had 30 days.

So... to see how this works, let's first assume as an example that your rent is $480 per month. If the rent is $480 for the month, then when we divide by 30 we can see that the daily rate is $16.

Using this as the example to help you understand February...

If you moved in on 1 February, you paid for 30 days of rent... $480

If you moved in on 6 February you paid for 25 days of rent ... $400

If you move in on 16 February you paid for 15 days of rent ... $240

If you move in on 26 February you paid for 5 days of rent ... $80

If you move in on 28 February you paid for 3 days of rent ... $48

If you move out in February it works in reverse.. whatever day you move out on is the number of days we bill you for.

Situation 2 happens because our accounting procedures allow us to bill you when you move out from the first of the month forward.

Whenever you move in, we must count the number of days you are moving in from day 30 and "work back" to the day you move in.

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The good news about Situations 1 and 2

At first, when you learn about situation 1 and especially situation 2... you may feel something unfair is happening with our billing. However, consider that there is only one month with less than 30 days and that there are ***seven*** months with more than 30 days.

So, it is very rare for a person to live us and have our billing system "work against them" over the entire time they are staying in Graduate and Family housing.

In fact, because of where February falls within the calendar... and because there are seven months of more than 30 days... there are ONLY two scenarios in which our 30-day billing system can "work against" you during your entire stay with Graduate and Family Housing.

To have one of these two conditions happen, you have to live with us for a VERY short amount of time.... much less than a year. Here are those two scenarios.

SCENARIO 1
You move in during the month of February in any year.
You move out before 31 May of the SAME year.
So you have to live with us four months or less in this example.

CONDITION 2
You move in during the month of January in any year.
You move out before 31 March of the SAME year.
So you have to live with us three months or less in this example.

In both of these examples, we are assuming that February has 28 days. During leap years when February has 29 days, these scenarios are even MORE challenging to have occur.

So it is very rare for anyone to be affected by this element of our 30 day billing system.

If you have questions about this page, we encourage you to email Evelyn Jackson.

NIV Billing and NIV Information

2010-07-16T14:45:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Friday, 16 July 2010
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If you have questions about turning in an NIV, please contact our office at 392.2171 extension 10321. Or you can email us HERE.

If you have questions about billing as it relates to your NIV, please contact Evelyn Jackson.

Please include your 8-digit UFID number in your message.

Rent -- The Main Page

2010-07-16T14:44:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Friday, 16 July 2010.

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The amount we bill you each month for rent is determined by our RENTAL RATES. There are three normal types of rental billing that each person can experience. There is also one special type of billing when a person transfers from one Graduate and Family Housing apartment to another.

Each of the four types is listed below with a link to more information about that type of billing.

Move-In Billing
Normal Rent Billing
Move-Out Rent Billing

Transfer Billing
(This happens only if a person moves from Graduate and Family Housing apartment to another.)

In addition to the four types of billing is is helpful to know our "30-day principle." This principle is a part of all four types of rental billing. You can learn about that principle HERE.

When is my Housing Bill Due?

2010-07-16T14:38:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Friday, 16 July 2010.

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Remember that your rent and electricity bills are due to be paid on the first of every month. If your required payment is not posted to your account by that day, then your payment is late.

There are several factors such as weekends, holidays, and even our computer system, that can make it a little challenging to pay your bill by the first of every month.

So... to take these factors into consideration, even though your bill is due to be paid WITHOUT EXCEPTION on the first of every month, you will never be charged any late fee before the 10th of any month. Often, the late fee is not actually charged until sometime between the 13th and 17th.

However, your payment is due on the first of the month.

Please do not delay making your payments past the first of each month. If you delay your payment and there is problem with your bank, your account, or some other unforseen challenge, then your payment may not show up in our computer system in time to keep you from getting a late fee.

If you wait until the 13th, or the 14th or the 15th to make a payment... you might think you have paid with enough time to avoid the late fee, but sometimes this is not true.

In these cases, we will not remove the late fee.

Please remember... your payment is due on the first of each month. We already have created some "grace time" in the system to account for unusual situations near the first of the month.

So we are not able to give more "grace time" when we process a late fee.

If you can not make a payment by the first of the month, please contact Sue Hamel for instructions BEFORE your account becomes past due at the first of month.

If you contact Sue before your payment is due, then she has more options to help you with your situation.

Rent... Transfer Billing

2010-07-16T11:15:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 20 June 2009

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When you transfer from Graduate and Family Housing apartment to another, you do not have to pay any money at the time of the transfer. Instead, you are billed for any amount that needs to be paid and your account is also sometimes adjusted if necessary.

Because the calculations also involve electricity use and a few other variables, it is too complex a subject to discuss ahead of time in a manner that would explain every situation.

If you are receive a transfer offer and accept a transfer offer, we will explain to you how the billing will work for your specific situation.

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If you have any questions about anything you have read in this section, please contact Evelyn Jackson.

Please include your 8-digit UFID number in your message.

Rent... Move-In Billing

2010-07-16T10:40:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Friday, 16 July 2010
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When you move-in to your apartment, you will pay an amount that is pro-rated on our special 30-day calculation. The end result of this calculation is as follows.

If your move-in day is during the first five days of the month, you will pay only for the pro-rated balance of that month at move-in.

If you move-in day is any other time during the month, you will pay for the pro-rated balance of that month and all of the next month at move-in.

It is important to note that you are never paying "extra money". You are just in some cases paying more money "up front"in order to catch you up to our normal billing cycles.

When we send you an offer for an apartment, we tell you exactly how much you will pay at move-in, but here are the two examples which demonstrate both types possibilities.

Remember, these are only examples. Each actually "real" apartment move-in situation will not be exactly like these examples.

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Example 1

You are moving in on September 4th to an apartment with a monthly rent of $600. You will pay for 27 days of September at move-in. This equates to $540. A few days later, our automatic billing system will bill you for October rent. However, October rent ($600) is not due until 1 October.

Example 2

You are moving in on September 7th to an apartment with a monthly rent of $600. You will pay for 24 days of September at move-in as well as all of October. This equates to $480 (September) plus $600 for October ... a total of $1,080 that you will pay at move-in.

A few days later in September, when our automatic billing system bills for October, it will not bill you, because you have already paid for October at move-in. In early October, you will be billed for November ($600), but this $600 is not due until 1 November.

Remember, these are only examples. Each actual "real" apartment move-in situation will not be exactly like these examples.

After reading this section, you may also be wondering about security deposits.

Here is some good news for you ... we don't charge them anymore.

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Moving in AFTER your move-in day

You ARE permitted to move-in after your move-in day if you choose. For example, if your move-in day is for the 3rd of March, you can move in on the 5th of March, the 9th March.... or even later if you choose.

As long as you choose to move-in on a day when our main office is open, you can move-in whenever you want.

However, we DO NOT adjust your rent payment because this would equate to "holding an apartment" and we do not hold apartments without collecting rent.

So, if your scheduled move-in day is the 3rd of March and you choose to move-in on the 10th of March, you will pay for one week of rent even though you were not living in the apartment.

It is important to tell us WHEN YOU ARE accepting an offer (not before) if you plan to move-in after your scheduled move-in day. In some situations, we will let you delay that payment until you move in. In other situations we will have to collect payment from you before this time.

When you reply to the offer message to accept an apartment offer, be sure to indicate if you want to move-in later and on what day so we can give you correct information ahead of time about your ability to do this and when you will need to make your payment.

Billing -- The Main Page

2010-07-16T10:15:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Friday, 16 July 2010

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This is our main page for information about Graduate and Family Housing billing.

Most of our billing questions and information can be broken down into two categories...

RENT BILLING
ELECTRICITY BILLING

However, the following questions apply to both types of billing and we encourage all applicants and residents to read and understand the following three questions and answers.

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When is my bill due each month?
Once you have moved in to your Graduate and Family Housing apartment, your bill is due to be paid at the first of each month. You can read more about that HERE. When you first move-in, there is a special calculation for your first payment. This is explained above in the rent billing section.

What if I can't pay my bill?
We are never able to alter our rental rates or reduce the amount of money that you must pay. However, there are times when all of the variables in your situation will combine to allow us to provide you with some amount of flexibility in meeting your obligation. Because these situations are very dynamic and because everyone's situation is different, we can not tell you ahead of time what kind of flexibility (IF ANY) we can have with your situation.

However, the important thing is to let us know AHEAD OF TIME if you will have trouble meeting a financial obligation. This is done by contacting SUE HAMEL in our office.

What options do I have to pay my bill?
Circumstances are slightly different when you pay your move-in payment. Your move-in payment options are explained in the rent billing section above. However, for all following payments, you have two choices.

You can pay online.
You can pay in person at the housing office.

If you pay online, you have some additional flexibility in how you pay. However, you have NO flexibility in how your payment will be applied. In most cases, any payment you make online will go to your oldest university bill first. The Graduate and Family Housing Office has no ability to modify how your payment is processed by the university when you pay online.

Because financial situations can be complex with assistantships, fees, tuition waivers, loans, and other financial monies, you might have a situation where you think you are paying your housing bill, but in actuality the money you pay could end up going to another part of your university bill. Once this happens, we in housing will not be able to "reroute" that money to us. So, in this unlucky situation you will have paid a bill that you did not wish to pay and you will still owe Housing money.

To avoid this situation, we ALWAYS encourage you to come to the main office to pay your housing bill unless you are 100% sure that any money you pay online will only go to housing. If you come to the main housing office to pay, while you will not be able to pay with a credit card (we can only accept US Cash or Checks), you WILL have 100% assurance that your payment will go to your housing fees.

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If you have ANY questions about anything you have read on this page, please email gfhaccounts@housing.ufl.edu

Rent ... Normal Billing

2010-07-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Friday, 16 July 2010.

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In normal rent billing, we bill you early in the month for your rent that is due the next month. Normal rent billing begins once the time period covered by your MOVE-IN rent billing has ended.

So, for example, in early October, you are billed for November rent. However, November rent is not due until 1 November.

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If you have any questions about anything you have read in this section, please email gfhaccounts@housing.ufl.edu.

Please include your 8-digit UF ID number in your message.

How do I know the School my Children Will Attend?

2010-05-04T15:12:00.002-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Tuesday, 4 May 2010
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Each of our village communities is in a different school zone. By going to THIS PAGE, you can learn which village communities connects with which school zones.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Applications -- Basic Information and How to Apply

2010-05-04T14:54:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Tuesday, 4 May 2010

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Because we ALWAYS have MORE people that want apartments then there are AVAILABLE apartments, we have to have a system to handle this challenge in a fair manner.

Our system is to give preference to people who have been waiting the longest by using an application process and noting when each person has applied.

So in order to rent an on-campus apartment with Graduate and Family Housing, you must submit an application.

As long as you have any active application with the University of Florida, you can apply to live in Graduate and Family Housing. This means if you are currently an undergraduate student ... even a first-semester freshman... you CAN apply to live in Graduate and Family Housing... even if you have NOT YET applied to a graduate program.

We STRONGLY encourage all applicants to apply for Graduate and Family Housing at the earliest opportunity.

CLICK HERE for more information about applying and to submit an application.

(Only use the above "CLICK HERE" link if you are applying to Graduate and Family Housing for the first time. If you have applied for Graduate and Family housing ANY time previously, you will need to CONTACT OUR OFFICE for instructions. The online application system will not let you apply if you have applied before.

Critical Information for Our Current Residents

2010-04-07T08:35:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed
on Wednesday, 7 April 2010.

This page contains information about topics that we feel have a special interest.

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Here are topics that we feel are of special interest to current residents. Unless otherwise indicated, these topics pertain to current Graduate and Family Housing residents.

Here is the list of currently active topics.
Click on the topic to be taken to the page with the information.

Payments at the Housing Office
When is my Housing Bill Due?

Corry Renovation - Basic Information

2010-04-06T17:45:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on 7 April 2010.
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You may know our department's efforts to renovate CORRY VILLAGE.

At this point in the project, major underground renovation work is complete. We are all quite happy about that!

Now the work will be focused on buildings 289 and the Commons. Currently, we are not renting any apartments in this building.

We have no information about when the next building will be renovated or when it will be renovated.

Current residents should EMAIL THOMAS if you have specific questions about residential issues related to this project.-------------
CLICK HERE if you want to go to our "Other Questions" main page.

Village Office Hours

2010-04-05T09:00:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Monday, 5 April 2010
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To get the most updated information about when a local village office is open and when it is not, please visit your local village office and view information outside the office or ask staff members inside the office.

This message contains information on the following topics:

Purpose of the Village Office
Help with a Village Office
Hours at each Village Office

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Purpose of the Village Office

Your village office can assist you with any number of issues as it relates to your stay in Graduate and Family Housing.

Once you move-in, the village office is your best first contact for any situation that does not involve billing questions. (For billing questions, please EMAIL THE MAIN housing office.)

To keep reduce the costs associated with operating the village office, each village office is open for a limited amount of time. However, this time is usually centered on the time of day when most residents can visit the office if needed.

Additionally, even when the office is closed, a variety of helpful phone numbers and information is available outside the office.

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Feedback

If you have comments, questions, or concerns for any issues involving the operation of the village offices, please contact Thomas Germain, the Graduate and Family Housing Residence Life Coordinator.

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Village Office Hours

To see the current village office hours, please visit THIS PAGE.

How do I Cancel My Application?

2010-03-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed in March 2010.
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If you would like to have your application canceled, you simply need to SEND AN EMAIL to Graduate and Family Housing that tells us this.

However, in the email, please provide your 8 digit UF ID number and tell us that you want to cancel your application. You must be specific that you want us to cancel your application.

We can not honor a request that "only" tells us to take you off a mailing list, unsubscribe you, or to stop sending you messages.

We need to positively know that you want us to cancel your application. Following this procedure and requiring this specific wording helps to prevent us from misunderstanding your request.

When you send the message telling us to cancel your application, we will send a reply back to you within 72 hours.

Please remember that our application fee is non-refundable.

Sizes of Apartments

2010-02-23T10:15:00.005-05:00

This page was last reviewed on Tuesday, 23 February 2010

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Apartments are available in five general sizes.

These sizes are shown below with the locations where the sizes are available.

Efficiency - Tanglewood Village Only
1 Bedroom - All Villages
2 Bedroom - All Villages
3 Bedroom - Corry Village Only
TownHouse - Tanglewood Village Only

The sizes above are ordered from smallest to largest as compared to other apartments within the same village. In order to obtain more specific size information, we invite you to CONTACT US or CLICK HERE.

In 2008 in order to streamline our rental process, and to ensure occupancy levels, most restrictions relating to specific size eligibility were discontinued and all residents and applicants were informed of the changes at that time.

The only restriction remaining as it relates to the number of bedrooms in an apartment is that we will not knowingly rent a 1-bedroom apartment to a person if that person has communicated to us that they will have one or more dependent children living with them. The sole purpose of this rule is to accommodate noise concerns as it relates to upstairs/downstairs situations since apartments of equal size are always above and below each other.

For example, all one-bedroom apartments are above and below other one-bedroom apartments. Anyone choosing to rent a one-bedroom apartment can rent such an apartment and know that children will not be living above or below them. This sort of environment is desired by some of our renters.

Naturally, situations can (and do!) happen where a person in a one bedroom apartment goes from having zero children to one (or more) children. It is our policy to work with these situations as much as we can in a manner that is a best fit for everyone concerned.

There are many variables to consider in these kinds of situations and so it is not possible to have a policy that covers all possible situations.

If you have any concerns about how information in this section might affect your plans to rent an apartment, please contact Vern Rogers to discuss your situation.

Can I have Pets in Graduate and Family Housing?

2010-02-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed in February 2010.
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Yes... you can have some pets. To know which pets are permitted... and to go to a page that will answer many other MANY other questions about some of our community standards (rules). CLICK HERE.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Number of Applicants "by date"

2010-01-14T12:20:00.001-05:00

This page was last reviewed in early January 2010.
It usually updated a few times during the year.
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This page will give you information about the number of applicants we have in our applicant pool with respect to a particular date range.

Because our pool of applicants changes each day, we do not update this page daily. Instead, it is designed to give you a general idea of how many applicants we have and how long ago those applicants applied.

We feel this information can be useful in understand more about our process of renting apartments.

It is important to understand that we have a "rolling application" process.

Because people are always looking for apartments, because people can apply for an apartments as long as they have applied to UF or are attending UF, and because we offer residents the opportunity to cancel their lease with us on 45-days notice ... we always have apartments to rent each month. This is why we describe our application process as "rolling." It does not have "start time" or "end time."

For more information about ANY of our efforts to rent apartments, please see the "Available Apartments" links on the right side of this page in the "List of Popular Blog Pages."

Here is the applicant data.

It may interest you to know that of our
ENTIRE current active "applicant pool" of 1,548 people...

931 people have active applications at least 1 year old
400 people have active applications at least 2 years old
80 people have active applications at least 3 years old
8 people have active applications at least 4 years old
3 person has an active application at least 5 years old
(The above numbers are based on active applicants as of 14 January 2010.)

As you can see, we have many people with applications who have been "waiting" a year or more.

However, at some times of the year, a person with a rank number as high as 1,400 or even 1,500 can get an apartment due to low demand and moderate availability (and other complicated variables!).

At other times of the year, a person with a rank number as low as 88 may not get any apartment... especially if such a person does not give us many choices when we ask. This is due to due to high demand (and other complicated variables!).

So a rank number is ONE useful piece of information. However, it is also only ONE part of the apartment rental picture.

It it is NEVER the case that everyone who applied before you must get an apartment before YOU can get an apartment. That would create many VERY UNFAIR situations. So if you are #401 in our application database, 400 people ahead of you do not have to get an apartment before you can get one.

When we work to rent apartments, we offer the apartment to the person with the oldest application date (smallest "rank number") that asks for an apartment. Here are three examples to illustrate how this can work.

Example 1: We ask to see who wants to rent apartment X. Persons with rank number ... 88, 300, 750, and 842 ask for this apartment. We will make the offer to person 88.

Example 2: We ask to see who wants to rent apartment Y. Persons with rank number ... 842 and 1,488 ask to rent the apartment. We will make the offer to person 842.

Example 3: We ask to see who wants to rent apartment Z. Person with rank number 1488 is the only person to respond. Even though 1,487 people applied BEFORE person 1488, person 1488 was the only person to ask for that particular apartment. So, person 1488 will get an offer for the apartment.

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If you wish to go to the blog page that lists the most current apartments we are working to rent, then CLICK HERE.

If you wish to go to the blog page that features a variety of questions that we are often asked, then CLICK HERE.

Maguire Apartments - Income Evaluation

2010-01-12T13:20:00.000-05:00

This page was last reviewed in January 2010.
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Because of Federal Housing Regulations... In order to receive the Maguire rental rate mentioned in availability E-mails you can not have more than a set amount of yearly income.

The yearly income limits are determined by the number of people in your immediate family (spouse + dependent children) whether or not they are actually living with you.

To see the limits and to get more information about Maguire apartments, I encourage you to go to THIS WEB PAGE after you read the information below.

The Graduate and Family Housing office is required to define yearly income as including, salary, fee waivers, scholarships, grants, gifts, and any other financial compensation that you might get that does not have to be repaid.

So... sometimes even students and spouses who do not work full-time are close to the limit because academic funding is often included when we determine your income for Maguire rental purposes.

If you are above the limit, we can still let you move in, but it will add 20% to your monthly rent for Maguire apartments.

We apologize, but we cannot take advance requests to calculate your income using our "formula." Please evaluate your income using the criteria we have already given. If you are unsure of your income level using this criteria or if you are concerned about paying the extra 20% as required by HUD, then we suggest you avoid asking for Official Offers for Maguire apartments.

Regardless of your income, EVERYONE moving into Maguire must complete special paperwork regarding their family and personal finances.

This paperwork will be explained to you if you receive and accept an OFFICIAL OFFER.

These special regulations are ONLY for people who live in Maguire.

Preferences Information

2009-10-10T11:00:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 10 October 2009
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Currently, this page has limited information. As we update our blog, more information may appear here.

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CLICK HERE to learn how to change your preferences.

Changing Your Preferences

2009-10-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 10 October 2009
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You can change your applicant preferences online.

To change your preferences, go to the following website...

my.housing.ufl.edu

(Do not put a "www" in front of the web address)

... and then login using your Gatorlink user name and password.

Then choose the "GFH Preferences" link on the left side of the screen and follow the instructions.

The system is set up to send you E-mail confirmations whenever you make changes and they are accepted by the computer.

Remember, you can changes your preferences whenever you like without penalty.

Of course... many times during the year...we do not check your preferences specifically... we just ask you to tell us which apartments that you want from a list that we send you.

However, there are some times each year when we do look at your preferences first. So for these situations it can be helpful to have the right preferences on file with us.

Rental Price and Flooring in Apartments

2009-09-30T15:28:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed in September 2009.

If you are reading this page to learn about security deposits, this is the correct page. However, we use this page to give you some other related information as well.
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When we work to rent apartments, we do not initially provide the exact address of the apartment number. There are several reasons for this choice, the most important one is to help protect the privacy of the people currently living in the apartment.

However, we do try to provide some helpful pieces of information about the apartment. Two of the pieces of information we provide are the rental price and a description of the floor covering.

This blog pages will tell you about both of those pieces of information.

RENTAL PRICE

The rental price is the price for a full month of rent. Our rent is calculated on a 30-day rent cycle. For more information about billing, after you have read this entire page, you may want to click on the link on the right side of this page in the "List of Popular Blog Pages" that says 'Billing (All Information).' For now, we suggest you keep reading this page, however.

The amount you will pay for move-in is not always the amount shown, because the amount we require you to pay to move-in depends on the ready date of the apartment. To learn about this amount in more detail, you can go to THIS PAGE.

However, the amount will always be at least 25 days days of rent and may be as many as 55 days of rent.

We DO NOT however require a security deposit.

Whatever amount you are required to pay ... this is the amount to "catch you up" to our normal billing cycle. You are not paying advance rent payment.... not in the "traditional sense."

Once you are caught up to our billing cycle, the amount that is listed is the amount of rent that you will pay each month. As explained in other billing pages, the rent amount DOES NOT include electricity or gas usage. (Gas is only in Corry Village).

FLOORING in APARTMENTS

Although each apartment may have a little of both types of flooring, the flooring in an apartment is mostly "tile" flooring or "carpet" flooring. We list this information in the description of each apartment. "Tile" flooring can mean a linoleum or vinyl type of flooring.

Part of our regular apartment refurbishment procedures after one person moves out... and before another person moves in ... is to inspect and evaluate the condition of the flooring and make several decisions about it BEFORE the new person moves in.

Here are THREE MAIN decisions that are made during this refurbishment time.

1) Do we need to change the flooring from carpet to tile or tile to carpet?

2) Do we need to take out the current flooring and replace it with new flooring of the exact same type?

3) Do we need to give the tile or carpet an extra level of cleaning?

Whatever the apartment needs to have done, whatever we have the time to do, and whatever we have the funding to do, we have already made the decision to these things and we have already factored them in to the apartment ready date.

Additionally, since one apartment ready date can affect another apartment ready date ... since we have to plan where teams will be to do work on apartments ... WE DO NOT take any requests to change flooring or perform special work on flooring before someone moves in.

DO NOT ask us to change flooring type or if we can clean the flooring before you move in.

We have already considered if these two things needed to be done and we have already done them or plan to do them. It would be very inefficient for us if we did not already figure this out.

Additionally, there is no advantage to us in providing flooring that is not clean and the best we can provide for any apartment. It is more work for us if we do not "get it right" before you move-in. So, while we appreciate that you may have a special request for us about flooring, we regret that we cannot consider it.

Our long-term plan is to convert ALL downstairs apartments to tile apartments. Except in unusual renovation situations, flooring is changed only when someone is not living in the apartment.

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If you wish to go to the blog page that lists the most current apartments we are working to rent, then CLICK HERE.

However, you may have come from our page that talks about immediately available apartments. If that is the case, you need to CLICK HERE, to get back to that page.

If you wish to go to the blog page that features a variety of questions that we are often asked, then CLICK HERE.

Waiting Time - Overview Information

2009-09-28T13:40:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Monday, 28 September 2009
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The end of this page contains links to other pages that provide a variety of information about average waiting times. However, if you have not read the following information about the concept of waiting times, the information at those pages is unlikely to be useful to you and may be confusing.

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Because we almost always have more people that want apartments at any given time then there are available apartments, everyone needs to wait to get an offer for an apartment.

Sometimes this wait time can be very short.... a matter of weeks perhaps. Other times, this wait time can be very long. Some people wait more than a year for an apartment.

Usually, if people are waiting for much longer than a year, it is because they want a specific type of apartment or they want an apartment in a specific location or they want their apartment to have some specific features. In some cases, people have a very long wait because they want some combination of those restrictions.

It is important to realize that how long an applicant needs to wait before getting an apartment offer is VERY different for every person and every situation. This makes it very challenging, if not impossible to answer the question, "What are my chances?"

Your chances are tied to everyone else's chances. This is because every day... in some cases several times a day ... all applicants are reevaluating their own situation and making decisions about which apartments they want and don't want.

Stated as clearly as possible, here are the four main variables that factor into this process.

1) The number and type of available apartments.
2) An applicant's apartment preferences.
3) How long ago the applicant applied.

4) At any point in time how many other applicants also want an apartment and what apartments do they want?

This is last variable is very important and also the one that is almost impossible to predict. This is because the other three variables help to determine this fourth variable.

Whether or not a person is a NEW applicant or wishes to transfer from one Graduate and Family Housing apartment to another, does not DIRECTLY influence the offer process. However, sometimes the four variables are more favorable to new applicants.... and sometimes they are more favorable to transfers applicants.

Explaining this concept is beyond the scope of this page and is moot in any event. People can not choose whether or not they are a new or transfer applicant. These two situations are determined for each person "by definition."

However, there are some things an applicant can control.

In general, a person who is willing to accept an offer for more apartments and has an earlier application date, and is flexible with their willingness to move (variables 1, 2, and 3) will be in a more favorable position than someone who wants only a very specific kind of apartment, has applied only very recently, and can only move at a certain time.

Variable 4 is completely out of an individual's control because that variable involves the actions and decisions other people make for themselves.

Now that you have read this information, we are ready to give you some information about average waiting times.

HERE is information about general waiting times.
HERE is information about specific waiting times.

Both of those pages contain information that changes once or twice each semester so that we can give you the most useful and most updated information relative to the time of year we are currently in.

However, we only provide the information that is shown on each page and we DO NOT take requests for additional information.

Waiting Time - Average Times (General)

2009-09-28T10:45:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 20 June 2009

We will be updating this page again by Sunday, 11 October 2009.
Thank you for your patience.
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Your are cautioned that the wait times that are listed are average wait times.

In order to give people the most useful information, ANY waiting times on this page refer to any apartment rented between 1 April 2008 and 10 September 2008.

Keep in mind that we did not allow "non-families" to rent one-bedroom apartments until late June of last year.

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ANY apartment-- 15.3 months (200 rentals*)

ANY one-bedroom apartment-- 19.6 months (90 rentals*)
ANY multi-bedroom apartment-- 12.5 months (110 rentals*)

ANY UVS apartment-- 20.1 months (25 rentals*)
ANY Maguire apartment-- 18.0 months (50 rentals*)
ANY Diamond apartment-- 14.3 months (30 rentals*)
ANY Corry apartment-- 14.0 months (45 rentals*)
ANY Tanglewood apartment-- 12.3 months (50 rentals*)

ANY April apartment-- 15.1 months (15 rentals*)
ANY May apartment-- 14.3 months (40 rentals*)
ANY June apartment-- 14.8 months (40 rentals*)
ANY July apartment-- 17.3 months (30 rentals*)
ANY August apartment-- 16.2 months (50 rentals*)
ANY September apartment-- 13.1 months (15 rentals*)

(*Rental numbers are approximate.)

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ALERT!!! -- There is no data to suggest that people are more likely to move out of any particular apartment at any particular time.

So while we had approximately 50 Maguire apartments that were available from 1 April to 10 September 2008 there is no way to predict how many we will have this year (2009).

Past data is not helpful in this kind of prediction. However, the ***overall*** number of available apartments as well as the total number of apartments within each month are numbers that appear relatively consistent for the last few years.

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If you did not see an average rental time that you were hoping to see, there is a chance that we have that information on our "Average Times (Specific)" page which can be found HERE.

However, we only provide the information that is already shown and we DO NOT take requests for additional information.

Waiting Time - Average Times (Specific)

2009-09-28T10:30:00.001-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Sunday, 21 June 2009

We will be updating this page again by Sunday, 11 October 2009.
Thank you for your patience.
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Your are cautioned that the wait times that are listed are average wait times.

In order to give people the most useful information, ANY waiting times on this page refer to any apartment rented between 1 April 2008 and 10 September 2008.

Keep in mind that we did not allow "non-families" to rent one-bedroom apartments until late June of last year.

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ANY Tanglewood TownHouse-- 16.2 months (5 rentals)
Four of the TownHouses rented during the time period above were unremodeled. The wait time for the one remodeled townhouse was about 20 months. The average wait time of the four unremodled was about 15 months.

ANY Tanglewood Efficiency (remodel)-- 23.9 months (1 rental)
Only two such apartments became available during the 5+ months indicated. I tend to think a sample size of 2 is not good for making predictions. One of the apartments was unremodeled and the other was remodeled. The wait time of the unremodeled apartment was almost 16 months compared to almost 24 months for the remodeled apartment.

ANY Tanglewood Efficiency (unremodeled)-- 15.9 months (1 rental)
Only one such apartment became available during the 5+ months indicated. I tend to think a sample size of 1 is not good for making predictions. I think the average wait time is probably closer to 12 months for these types of apartments at this time of year.

Maguire or UVS, 2 Bedroom-- 15.5 months (35 rentals*)
Data comparing unremodeled against remodeled is not available. However, remodeled apartments tend to be more in demand so assume the average is higher than shown for remodeled and lower than shown for unremodeled.

Maguire or UVS, 1 Bedroom-- 21.6 months (40 rentals*)
Data comparing unremodeled against remodeled is not available. However, remodeled apartments tend to be more in demand so assume the average is higher than shown for remodeled and lower than shown for unremodeled.

(*Rental numbers are approximate.)

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If you did not see an average rental time that you were hoping to see, there is a chance that we have that information on our "Average Times (General)" page which can be found HERE.

However, we only provide the information that is already shown and we DO NOT take requests for additional information.

Alarm Systems -- Are they allowed?

2009-09-28T09:49:00.003-04:00

This page was last reviewed in September 2009.

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Unfortunately, residents are not permitted to install/use alarm systems inside their apartments. The reason for this is in keeping with your contract with Graduate and Family Housing ... there will be times when authorized Housing Team Members acting within the performance of assigned duties will need to enter your apartment whether you are home or not.

If you need additional information about this subject, please contact Rena Buchan, Assistant Director of Housing.

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If you wish to go to the blog page that features a variety of questions that we are often asked, then CLICK HERE.

Off-Campus Housing Information

2009-08-03T17:59:00.003-04:00

This page was reviewed in August 2009
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The Graduate and Family Housing Office does not coordinate or collect information about the availability, locations, or features of off-campus housing.

Information that we can provide about off-campus housing is limited to what is available in this message. However, the University of Florida does have an off-campus life office that you can contact for assistance.

The Off-Campus Life Office
provides the following services.

• Referral to apartment locator websites, businesses or realtors that students can search to find housing off campus.

• Education on leases, what to do to find the right place to live, transportation info, etc…through one on one consultation and through publications available at the Off-Campus Life Office.

• Answer questions about average housing costs off campus and the types of housing available off campus.

• Tips and resources to prevent crime and information related to possible criminal activity.

• Transportation resources including parking, RTS bus, walking and biking.

• Resources and fun things to do off campus.

The Off-Campus Life Office CAN NOT
provide the following services.

• Recommendations or referrals for specific apartments off campus.

• Roommate matching
(Although the referral/locator website has “message boards”)

• Advice on financial aid.

• Day care facility recommendations.

If you would like more information about or from
the Off-Campus Life Office, please contact...

Nora L. Kilroy

Assistant Dean of Students

Director of Off-Campus Life

202 Peabody Hall

(Phone) 352-392-1261 extension 214

Email norak@offcampus.ufl.edu

Here is website information that the Off-Campus Life Office has asked us to post:

Off-Campus Life Website

Housing Locator

Gator Guide

Ready Dates and Facing Direction

2009-08-01T15:31:00.004-04:00

This page was last reviewed in August 2009.
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When we work to rent apartments, we do not initially provide the exact address of the apartment number. There are several reasons for this choice, the most important one is to help protect the privacy of the people currently living in the apartment.

However, we do try to provide some helpful pieces of information about the apartment. Two of the pieces of information we provide are the ready date and the direction the apartment faces.

This blog pages will tell you about both of those pieces of information.

READY DATE

Every apartment we make available to rent has a ready date. This date is the first day the apartment is ready. The apartment is NEVER ready before this date and we do not take requests to make the ready date earlier than this date. Additionally the apartment is not ready for move-in until 4pm on this date.

There are several reason why we do not take requests to rent the apartment earlier than this date. Here are the two main reasons.

1) It is not good for us to offer an apartment AFTER it is ready and have it sit vacant without collecting any rent. So... whatever the earliest day we can collect rent on an apartment is... we want to do that. So the date we give is ALWAYS the earliest date the apartment is ready.

2) Interest in an apartment is often date specific. Sometimes a date that is only a few days different from a listed date creates much more (or much less) demand for an apartment.

An easy way to illustrate this is to compare apartments ready in October with ones ready in July. July apartments are much more desirable than October apartments. The interest might not change much when talking about on a few days change, but still... it would be enough of a change that it would determine who actually received an offer for an apartment.

The ready date is also the day we figure out what the initial rent payment will be. You can learn more about that topic if you CLICK HERE.

However, the important thing to know relative to the information you are reading now is that no matter when you actually move-in, the first rent payment is ALWAYS based on the ready date.

We will always allow someone to move in AFTER the ready date.
But the rent amounts to pay WILL NOT CHANGE.

We DO NOT take requests to hold apartments without collecting rent on them.

We DO work with your specific move-in situation to determine when we will collect money from you for that first rent payment. But the amount does not change.

We cannot provide you with an exact method of how we determine when we collect rent in situations where a person wants to move-in after a ready date, but we can provide a very easy example of the kind of flexibility we sometimes provide to people.

EXAMPLE: An apartment that rents for $480 per month is ready on the first day of the month. The person who has received an official offer for the apartment and has agreed to accept the official offer can not move-in until the 6th day of the month.

Even though the person is moving in 5 days later than the ready date, we do not deduct five days of rent from the first rent payment. When the person arrives in our office to complete move-in paperwork, they will pay $480 in rent for the first month NOT $400. The person still must pay the full amount even though the apartment was not being used for the first five days.

However, in this example, since the person was coming to complete move-in paperwork only a few days after the ready date, we did not require the person to pay us in advance.... we allowed the person to pay the $480 on the day of arrival... the 6th.

Again, each personal situation is different. So, what we allow is different each time.

We make every effort to make the situation work and we almost always can do this. Therefore, since we have great success with this, when you receive an official offer and chose to accept it, that is when we discuss the payment terms with you for the first rent payment. It is not productive to try and do this prior to accepting an official offer.

APARTMENT DIRECTIONS

We have learned that the direction an apartment faces is very important to some people.

Therefore, we provide some information about this rental element whenever we describe an apartment that is available for rent. It can be helpful to have a general idea of the information we provide relative to each apartment complex. So that information is provided below.

Please note that in all cases we do not confirm whether or not an apartment is a corner apartment or not. We choose not to provide this information because this information along with other information we provide would likely lead to a privacy violation for the person currently living in the apartment at the time we are first working to rent it.

CORRY and DIAMOND VILLAGE

Although the entry doors to these two villages are on the east or west side of an apartment, from a sunlight perspective, apartments get mostly either north light or south light.

Therefore, we always describe apartments in these two areas as facing north or south. It is true that a corner apartment would also receive either east or west sunlight, but the majority of lighting comes from a more northerly or southerly direction and we know this is what is of most interest to anyone wondering so that is the information we provide.

MAGUIRE and UVS VILLAGE

Apartments in these two villages can face any of the four primary directions (North, South, East, West). Our reference point for deciding what direction we tell you the apartment faces is the balcony door for upstairs apartments or the front door for downstairs apartments. This is also the side of the apartment that the sidewalk leading to the direct entrance of each apartment faces.

Most of the sunlight into the main living area of the apartment will come from this direction. Depending on the apartment and bedroom placement, sunlight may come from other sources as well. However, we only provide the information indicated.

TANGLEWOOD VILLAGE

Tanglewood Village has a variety of apartment types in a variety of locations within the villages. Additionally, each building faces different directions. Tanglewood also has other characteristics such as a Northern Complex and a Southern Complex that make providing a general formula for what information we give difficult to describe.

What we generally do is give the location of the apartment within one of two complexes. If the listing says the building is 2901 .... this confirms that the apartment is in the northern complex. Any other building number is in the southern complex. Then, a general location within that complex is also given. Some people use the word "district" instead of "complex."

This information can be used along with other information to get a general idea of the apartment's direction. For Tanglewood apartments, information on THIS PAGE is also very helpful in getting a general idea of the apartment location and facing direction.

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If you wish to go to the blog page that lists the most current apartments we are working to rent, then CLICK HERE.

However, you may have come from our page that talks about immediately available apartments. If that is the case, you need to CLICK HERE, to get back to that page.

If you wish to go to the blog page that features a variety of questions that we are often asked, then CLICK HERE.

Types (Kinds) of Apartments

2009-08-01T15:20:00.003-04:00

This page was last reviewed in August 2009.
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Graduate and Family Housing Apartments are in five different locations. Each location has one bedroom apartments and two-bedroom apartments. Some locations also have other types of apartments.

To see where each village is located in relation to the rest of the University of Florida, use the ONLINE CAMPUS MAP and in the search box provided, type the name of a village to find its location.

(Note: University Village is actually named "University Village South." However, to get the location to properly show in the online campus map, please just type University Village.)

All our apartments have air-conditioning and every apartment has at a minimum an efficiency type kitchen with an oven, stove, sink and refrigerator. Our apartments DO NOT come with any other furniture. Residents must provide furniture on their own and must wait until they have moved into the apartment to do this.

For information abou ther remodeling/rerfurbishment status of apartments ... CLICK HERE.

The information below gives general information about each location and describes any special types of apartments that location has. Remember, ALL five locations (which we call "villages") have one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom apartments.

CORRY VILLAGE

Corry village is near the law school and Lake Alice. Corry has eight three-bedroom apartments in addition to the regular one- and two-bedroom apartments. The three-bedroom apartments are only slightly larger than two-bedroom apartments and the third-bedroom is more accurately a "sitting room" that connects to the bathroom and the other two-bedrooms. Because a Corry three-bedroom apartment is only slightly larger than a Corry two-bedroom apartment, the two "other" bedrooms in a Corry three-bedroom apartment are somewhat smaller than normal bedrooms in Corry two-bedroom apartment.

For more information about Corry ... CLICK HERE.

DIAMOND VILLAGE

Diamond Village is in the southeast area of the main campus near the two tallest buildings in Gainesville... Beaty Towers. Diamond Village does not have any special apartments. All apartments are one- and two-bedrooms.

For more information about Diamond... CLICK HERE.

MAGUIRE VILLAGE

Maguire Village is in the southwest area of the main campus near 34th Street. Maguire and UVS were built at essentially the same time and have apartments that are similar to each other.

Maguire Village does not have any special apartments. All apartments are one- and two-bedrooms. However, Maguire Villages DOES REQUIRE residents to submit extra paperwork in order to live there.

You can learn more about that paperwork if you... CLICK HERE.

For more information about Maguire... CLICK HERE.

UVS VILLAGE

UVS (University Village South) Village is in the southwest area of the main campus near 34th Street. UVS Village does not have any special apartments. UVS and Maguire were built at essentially the same time and have apartments that are similar to each other.

For more information about UVS... CLICK HERE.

TANGLEWOOD VILLAGE

Tanglewood Village is south of the main campus on 13th Street. However, since Tanglewood is part of Graduate and Family Housing, it enjoys the same maintenance service as all four other villages. Additionally, since it is part of campus, the University of Florida Police Department patrols this area just like they do the main campus. Tanglewood is on a city bus line and also features a very unique situation for UF ... no parking decal is required to park there.

Tanglewood also has two types of apartments that are not featured in any other village. Tanglewood has TownHouses and Efficiencies.

A TownHouse is an apartment with an upstairs and downstairs and two-bedrooms.

An Efficiency is an apartment that is smaller than a one-bedroom apartment and essentially is one large room plus a bathroom.

Of course, like all other villages, Tanglewood has one- and two-bedroom apartments.

For more information about Tanglewood ... CLICK HERE.

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If you wish to go to the blog page that lists the most current apartments we are working to rent, then CLICK HERE.

However, you may have come from our page that talks about immediately available apartments. If that is the case, you need to CLICK HERE, to get back to that page.

If you wish to go to the blog page that features a variety of questions that we are often asked, then CLICK HERE.

Apartment Location Information

2009-08-01T14:05:00.006-04:00

Parking Information

2009-07-29T22:45:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on 29 July 2009.
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It is usually easier for us to explain parking situations to you when you plan arrive in our office to accept an official offer. However, the following basic information may help you ahead of time.

You should buy a parking decal online if you live in Graduate and Family Housing. You should not need to go to the Traffic and Parking office to do this.

Here is some more information for you.

Only residents can get decals which allow them to park.
Visitors can sometimes park near where you live.
Housing does not issue tickets.
Housing does not determine how tickets are issued.
Housing does not determine which lots allow parking.
Housing does not set rules for parking.

Everyone must pay for a decal to park on campus... except in Tanglewood Village where no decal is required.

You now probably have even more questions. Please try to reserve your questions about parking for when you actually meet with us when you come to accept an offer for an apartment. It is much easier to handle this in this manner.

In many cases, by the time you do this, you will have already been a student for at least one semester and the answers we give you will be easier to understand.

If you are still anxious to know more about the subject of parking, you may find THIS PAGE informative.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Important Clarification About Apartment Rentals

2009-06-27T08:15:00.002-04:00

This page was last reviewed on
Friday, 26 June 2009 at 5:30pm (1730)

We have given this page 2 updates.

Look for the GREEN labels to show you where update information begins.

All updates are at the top of the "added information."
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In our efforts to shorten the e-mail that told you about available apartments, we eliminated information in that e-mail that typically answers some questions that people have about apartment rentals. We can now see that while this did make the e-mail much shorter... it has caused some confusion... especially for our applicants who have not been applicants very long.

So, we will use this blog page to answer questions that people typically have about the process to rent apartments.

This blog page will answer some of those common ones.

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE PAGE

Here is the important "added information" that will answer many questions people have.

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Update 2 information begins after this sentence.

After update 2, there is update 1, there is the original information. You should read that information if you have not read it before.

It is after 5pm on Friday and the deadline is 8am on Saturday what if I send you a message. Will you see it?

Yes I will see it. I always make sure to read all email right up to the deadline BEFORE we start to work on who will get the offers for apartments. This is one of those times where the hours that I work are not "traditional."

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Update 1 information begins after this sentence.

After update 1, there is the original information. You should read that information if you have not read it before.

Many of you are asking about or talking about visitors that will come to live with you or only visit you. If you are thinking about having visitors for more than three days, you need to read THIS PAGE. The information applies to ALL visitors. YES... EVEN parents, grandparents, cousins, etc.

Apartments AFTER the current group ... We only have definite information about the apartment list we are working on. We NEVER have any confirmed information about any other future apartments and we can not make any promises about this subject.

For as long as your application remains active, whenever you have any questions about future apartments that we might be working to rent, that information will always be HERE. That page is the ONLY source for any information. Information from friends and even anyone else in housing is NOT a certain source. Only use information on THAT page.

"What are my chances?" is a very popular question. However, any answer we might give is a very uncertain answer. The variables and statistics involved are too dynamic. This is because one of the variables is "What are all the applicants thinking and doing? There are over 1,500 applicants and applicant decisions change daily... sometimes without us even knowing.

The best way to get a "sense" of your chances is to review our information about waiting times. That information is HERE. Additionally, if you want to review our recent effort to rent apartments (the one before the ones we are working to rent now), that information can also be helpful. That information is HERE.

I do wish we could give you better information. However, this is the best information we can give you. I will tell you that we are getting the most requests for apartments we have ever seen in one of our offer processes.

I think if your application was not submitted BEFORE 1 January 2009, your chances of getting an apartment anytime before 1 September are less than 20%. Currently people with application dates 1 January 2009 and later have rank numbers from 1,094 and higher. No information in these last few sentences should be taken as a promise to anyone. Having a rank number before 1,094 (so an application date before 1 January 2009) does not mean you are certain to get housing.

Anytime we rent apartments we don't know who is to get an offer until we see who asked for offers and what apartments they asked for... and then make the offers and see if they are accepted.

Please refer to the email we sent you when you sent us your choices for information about how quickly we send offers.

Online preferences and asking you for a list of choices... If you are new to our process it may confuse you that when you first apply to have our housing, we ask you for your preferences. But.... then when we give you a list of apartments, we ask you to tell us specific choices. The reasons we do this are quite complicated. However, all of our reasons give us a better chance to give you the BEST apartment that matches what you want at any give time.

So, to keep this explanation short, I will say, we do use your preferences to help us, but what is most important is that ANYTIME we give you a list of apartments, if you want any of those apartments, please follow whatever instructions came with those apartments choices.

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Original information to this page begins after this sentence.

Our message about apartments sometimes go to people who don't currently want an apartment. This is because of an unusual way our offer computer operates. It would be too long of an explanation to give you.

However, if you received the e-mail for apartments and you do not yet want an apartment, if you already live with us (and are not trying to transfer) or if you recently moved out...... it is possible you may still get an offer-related email from us for a few weeks. Simply ignore those messages.

We do not allow roommates. Only immediate family can live with you. A married spouse or dependent children the you have custody of. For more info on this subject you can go HERE.

Rent begins on the day any apartment is ready. You do not have to move in on that day, but rent is billed based on that day. We NEVER alter this plan.

If you can't be there on the day the apartment is ready, we will work with you on your specific situation to still have an apartment if you did get an offer for it. You can move in after the "ready date". But rent ALWAYS begins on the day an apartment is ready.

For example, if rent begins on an apartment on 16 July and you can't move-in until 16 August ... it is okay for you to move in on 16 August. However, in this example you WILL be paying for one month rent on the apartment without living there.

We DO NOT have security deposits. We only charge you for rent that you actually owe. However, when you move-in, the first rent payment is typically your first partial month of rent plus the entire next month. This is NOT a PENALTY payment or extra payment. It is to catch you up to our normal billing process.

NONE of the apartment are furnished except for an oven, stove, sink, kitchen cabinets and refigerator/freezer. You must provide ALL other furniture.

ALL apartments are ready at 4pm on the day indicated. It is never possible to move-in BEFORE 4pm on the day indicated for an apartment to be ready and the apartment WILL NOT be ready before that day. You cannot place items in the apartment before this day.

We will tell you how utilities work if you get an offer. We only bill you for electricity. Water, local phone service, basic TV service, and garbage service (you must take your trash out, we haul it away) are ALL included in the rent.

If you live in Corry Village, you will pay for gas service as well. (In this case, since gas in Corry is used for cooking and heating, your electricity bill will be less). We bill you directly for electricity with rent.

Once you move in to an apartment, you must wait at least six months before you can move to another apartment. We do not permit quick transfers. For more information, you can read THIS PAGE.

We are not able to show you an apartment ahead of time. For more information, you can read THIS PAGE.

Please check on this page a few more times to see if we have added few more "clarification statements." Remember, before sending a new message, please follow the information and instructions that were given at the top of this blog page.

Thank you for your patience!

Can a Single Person Rent a Two-Bedroom Apt.

2009-06-23T16:53:00.002-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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Yes.

The restriction that prevented this was eliminated in June of 2008 and at that time we sent a message to all applicants and residents telling them this.

For more information, we suggest you read THIS PAGE.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

When Will I Know my Apartment Address?

2009-06-21T17:28:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Sunday, 21 June 2009
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Because of our rental procedures and privacy concerns, we do not give out the exact address and location of an apartment to be rented until an OFFICIAL OFFER is made. When an OFFICIAL OFFER is made, that OFFICIAL OFFER will include the exact apartment address.

Because of our rental system, it is very likely that an apartment is still occupied by current residents at the time where we make OFFICIAL OFFERS and give this address.

The terms of our OFFICIAL OFFER include the condition that a person who has received an OFFICIAL OFFER on an apartment is NOT ALLOWED to contact the current residents of the apartment to request to see the apartment.

We are VERY strict about this rule.

If, during the course of an OFFICIAL OFFER, we learn that someone who has received an OFFICIAL OFFER has violated this policy, then the OFFICIAL OFFER is automatically rejected AND the person's application is canceled. So this person will not ever be able to live in Graduate and Family Housing.

The determination as to whether or not this policy has been violated is the decision of the Graduate and Family Housing Administrative Office.

So ... if you have received an OFFICIAL OFFER, do not think to yourself, "Well, I know what the policy is, but I know a way I can contact the residents and see the apartment and this will not violate the policy." Remember, the decision on whether or not the policy has been violated is completely at our discretion.

For example... do NOT send a friend to go knock on the door of the apartment and ask if you can see the apartment. This type of contact would still violate the policy.

This policy is NOT in place so we can hide the condition of the apartment.

This policy IS in place so we can protect the privacy of the people who currently live there.

If you have an OFFICIAL OFFER and you move into the apartment, we are sure YOU will want this same policy in place so that when you move out.... you also will be able to rest easy knowing that (during what is likely to be a stressful time when you are moving out!), people are not knocking on your door asking to see your apartment.

Thank you in advance for understanding our concerns in this area and for following this policy.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Am I Allowed to have Visitors?

2009-06-21T16:18:00.002-04:00

This page was last reviewed in June 2009.
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You are certainly allowed to have guests and visitors to your apartments.

You need to first understand that the Housing and Residence Education department and your local village housing office do not decide who is allowed to park near your village. That decision is determined by ANOTHER DEPARTMENT on campus.

A challenge with having visitors and guests is that sometimes it can be difficult to know when a guest or visitor suddenly starts becoming a roommate. Another part of this challenge is that you as one of our residents might "see" the situation differently then we do. For example you might think to yourself, "Oh, this is not a guest... this is my father!"

As you might guess, what is important is how we see the situation.

To prevent any misunderstandings or unpleasant situations, if you are planning to have any guests that are staying longer than three consecutive days or if you plan to have any guests visiting you for more than eight total days within any 30-day period, you should contact one of the following people depending on where you live.

Corry Village-- Thomas Germain, Residence Life Coordinator
Diamond or Tanglewood Villages-- Marah Alaloul, Residence Director
Maguire or UVS Villages -- Lesa Boykin, Residence Director

If you are not yet a resident of Graduate and Family Housing and you have a specific question about guests and visitors, please contact Rena Buchan, Assistant Director.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Can Two Applicants Swap Rank Numbers?

2009-06-21T16:08:00.003-04:00

This page was last reviewed in June 2009.
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The idea behind this question is that someone who has submitted an application a long time ago, but knows that they will not need to rent an apartment, would like to do a favor for a friend who applied three days ago.

While this is nice act for one friend to do for another, we do not allow this to happen because of ethical and logistical concerns.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Main Housing Office Hours

2009-06-21T15:57:00.002-04:00

This page was last reviewed in June 2009.
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The main housing office is open from 8am to 5pm whenever the university is officially open. However, there are times when we ask you to visit us during a certain time in order to complete a task... usually this is in response to an apartment offer. Please only come to see us during those times that we have asked.

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CLICK HERE to go back to the Other Questions main page.

Bookmarking a Blog Page

2009-06-21T08:49:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Sunday, 21 June 2009

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Some of our blog pages change frequently. Other pages have information that does NOT need to change frequently. As you read various page on our blog, you might see a page that you want to get to very easily and quickly. Most people call this "bookmarking" a page.

Some web browsers call remembering a web page a "favorite" or some other word, but the principle is the same... the desire to quickly get direct access (bookmark) to a web page.

Almost every web browser has a way to do this, but there is also at least one way you can do this so you keep track of your bookmarks no matter which computer you are working on... as long as that computer has internet access of course!

One way to bookmark many of your favorite web pages so that you can access them, search them, and get to them quickly..... from ANY computer is to establish your own "Delicious" bookmark account.

You might think this is a strange name for this service, but you will probably also find it very useful to use this service if you spend any amount of time on the internet.

HERE is more information about "Delicious bookmarking."

NOTE: Clicking on the above web page link will take you to a website that is not provided by UF or the Department of Housing and Residence Education. We do not receive any compensation or direct benefit if you chose to use this external service.

Eligibility for an Apartment

2009-06-20T19:23:00.012-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 20 June 2009

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In order to live in Graduate and Family Housing, you must meet at least one of the following three criteria.

Be working toward a graduate level, professional, or similar degree at the University of Florida.
Be married and have your spouse live with you.
Have dependent children live with you.

You only have to meet one of the criteria.

So, if you are a working on a graduate degree, you do not have to be married or have children. However, if you are working on an undergraduate degree... you must be married and have your spouse live with you and/or have dependent children live with you.

We encourage ALL undergraduates thinking about living in Graduate and Family Housing to CONTACT US prior to applying to make sure that they will be qualified to live with us.

We regret that our current policies do not permit "roommates" or extended family members to live in Graduate and Family Housing.

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While you live with us, you must maintain proper academic progress toward your degree and you must continue to be enrolled in credit hours each semester.

That last sentence often spawns several questions. Here is some more information to help you understand our requirements in this area.

"Proper academic progress," is determined by our office in consultation with your department when needed. Generally speaking, a person must be enrolled in at least one degree-related class in any semester the person is living with us.

We do allow for a semester off from time to time for a variety of reasons. Typically, the allowance is for one semester in any 12-month period. This is designed to accommodate research situations. However, depending on circumstances, we may approve it for other reasons as well. In any case, approval is not automatic and must always be requested.

At the end of a semester, we often allow people who are not yet enrolled, the opportunity to live in Graduate and Family Housing as long as they are enrolled the next semester. For example, it is common for us to allow people to live with us in November even if they will not begin coursework until the Spring Semester. Normally, we start to allow this about two months before the next semester. We clarify this each semester when you receive our messages about available apartments once you have applied.

When you graduate or finish a degree, we allow you to live with us for one week after graduation.

In the semester you graduate, you can also request special permission to stay for an additional length of time after graduation up to a maximum of approximately four months. We explain the procedures for this to all our residents each semester. It uncommon for us not to approve any such requests, but we do not promise the request. There are no extensions permitted when the request is granted.

If needed, we allow the request to last an entire semester to accommodate the ending of one degree and the start of another. For example, if you earn a Master's Degree at the end of the Spring semester it is likely that we would allow you to remain living with us the entire summer if we can verify that your Doctorate program is scheduled to begin in the following Fall.

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We have attempted to answer the most common questions as it relates to eligibility. However, individual situations can be quite varied. If you need clarification beyond the information provided here, we encourage you to E-MAIL us with an explanation of your situation.

Priority to get an Apartment

2009-06-20T18:57:00.004-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Sunday, 21 June 2009
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A very common question that is asked of the Graduate and Family Housing team is...

"How do I get priority in getting an apartment?"

Often when this question is asked, the person asking the question has a situation or challenge that they are facing and the hope is that the situation or challenge being faced will be one where we will give priority to get housing. Here are some common challenges that are often presented to our team in the hopes that they can be used to get priority to live in Graduate and Family Housing.

My lease is running out.
We are about to have a baby.
I need a larger place to stay.
My current roommates and I do not get along.
My current neighbors and I do not get along.
I do not believe where I live now is safe.
I do not know about Gainesville.
I do not know how to find an apartment.

There are, of course, many other challenges and situations that people face.

Unfortunately, our experience tells us that almost everyone has either one or more of these challenges or some other challenges that are not listed here.

The goal of our team is to help everyone get housing as soon as we can. However, we also must be fair in how we offer housing.

Therefore, we do not take requests for priority housing.

We know this decision seems harsh. We know that many people feel that if they could only explain their situation to us that it would make a difference.

However, in order to be fair to everyone, we offer housing based on application dates.

The simple explanation is that people with older applications are offered housing before people with newer applications.

We regret that it cannot be otherwise.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

2009-06-20T17:48:00.000-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 20 June 2009

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The symbols you clicked on serve as a dividing line to help us organize our blog.

However, in order to have these "dividing lines" appear, it was necessary to have them refer to a page.

So, this page was created for that purpose.

We hope our clever "hack" did not confuse you.

If you have any questions about this page, please email Vern Rogers.

Payments at the Housing Office

2009-06-20T15:37:00.003-04:00

This page was last reviewed on Saturday, 20 June 2009

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If you have a friend or family member pay bills for you at the Housing Office, please make sure that your friend or family member knows the amount to pay and make sure the friend or family member knows your UF ID number.

Because of student privacy laws, these two pieces of information can NOT be given to your friend or family member and without these two pieces of informtaion... your friend or family member will not be able to pay your bill for you.

Additionally, please understood that even if a family member or friend pays your bill for you, they will not be able to get a receipt. Our payments section is only able to give a receipt to the name on the account.

Graduate and Family Housing Administrative Services

Main Page -- Welcome!

January & February 2012 Offer Information Page

Current Rental Information for 2012

Future Apartments Information

Quick Rental Apartments

Application Update Messages

Moving Out of Your Apartment

End of Semester Info -- Spring 2012

October and November Apartment List

Are Rent Increases Possible?

Having a Roommate in Graduate and Family Housing

Other Questions -- Main Page

Rental Rates

Transfer Information

Offer Process Summary

Apartment Description - Line 4 (Normal Rentals)

Apartment Description - Line 3

Apartment Description - Line 2

Apartment Description - Line 1

Fall 2010 Apartment List

What Happens at the Acceptance Meeting

Viewing An Apartment Ahead of Time

Electricity Billing

Waiting Time - Quick Information

Apartment Description - Line 4 (Quick Rentals)

Rent ... Move-Out Billing

Thirty (30) Day Rental Month Principle

NIV Billing and NIV Information

Rent -- The Main Page

When is my Housing Bill Due?

Rent... Transfer Billing

Rent... Move-In Billing

Billing -- The Main Page

Rent ... Normal Billing

How do I know the School my Children Will Attend?

Applications -- Basic Information and How to Apply

Critical Information for Our Current Residents

Corry Renovation - Basic Information

Village Office Hours

How do I Cancel My Application?

Sizes of Apartments

Can I have Pets in Graduate and Family Housing?

Number of Applicants "by date"

Maguire Apartments - Income Evaluation

Preferences Information

Changing Your Preferences

Rental Price and Flooring in Apartments

Waiting Time - Overview Information

Waiting Time - Average Times (General)

Waiting Time - Average Times (Specific)

Alarm Systems -- Are they allowed?

Off-Campus Housing Information

Ready Dates and Facing Direction

Types (Kinds) of Apartments

Apartment Location Information

Parking Information

Important Clarification About Apartment Rentals

Can a Single Person Rent a Two-Bedroom Apt.

When Will I Know my Apartment Address?

Am I Allowed to have Visitors?

Can Two Applicants Swap Rank Numbers?

Main Housing Office Hours

Bookmarking a Blog Page

Eligibility for an Apartment

Priority to get an Apartment

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Payments at the Housing Office