This looks like a housekeeping question and it is actually a placement one. Where a floor-standing plant can go is decided by the floor as much as by the light, and in a rented apartment the floor has a deposit attached to it.
Worth settling before the plant arrives, because the alternative is finding out under the pot.
What a pot does to a floor, in placement terms
Three things, and they are different problems with different answers.
It sits there. A heavy object in one place for years marks soft flooring, and it does so gradually enough that nobody notices until it moves.
It is a damp object above a dry surface. Whatever the arrangement underneath, a container of soil sitting on a floor is a different microclimate from the floor around it.
It gets moved, dragged and knocked. Which is when the scratches happen, and in a small apartment plants get moved more, not less.
What happens at the bottom of the pot is another site's subject. Drainage, saucers, what to do about water in a container: covered properly by people who specialize in that, and it matters. This page is about which positions the floor allows in the first place.
Know your floor before you choose the position
Not all floors have the same constraint, and the constraint decides where the plant can go.
Soft flooring takes indentation from sustained weight. The mark is usually permanent and it is worst under a heavy plant that never moves.
Wood and wood-effect are generally more sensitive to moisture than to weight, and the sensitivity varies enormously by product and finish.
Tile and stone are usually the most forgiving, though grout is not always.
Carpet hides a great deal and holds it, which is not the same as being fine.
I am not going to tell you what your floor tolerates, because it varies by product and I did not check any. The manufacturer's own guidance, or your landlord's, is the thing to read. What matters for placement is that you know which of the three problems above your floor has, before you decide where a plant stands.
The positions that avoid the problem entirely
The best answers here are placement answers rather than product ones.
Not on the floor. A plant on a stand, a stool or a low unit removes the whole question. It also raises the plant, which in a small room is usually better visually anyway.
On a hard surface rather than a soft one. If the room has both, the choice is free.
Where it will not be dragged. Away from routes and door swings. Most floor damage from plants happens during movement, not during standing.
Somewhere you can lift it from. A plant you can pick up is a plant that gets moved properly rather than pushed.
Not against the wall in a corner you cannot reach behind. That is where a problem develops unseen for two years. Tall plants for corners covers what corners can carry, and this is the constraint that comes with them.
Renting changes the weighting, not the facts
If you rent, the floor is not yours and any mark is a conversation at the end of the tenancy.
That does not mean no floor plants. It means prefer the placement answers over the mitigation ones: raise it, put it on hard flooring, keep it movable, and look under it occasionally.
Look under it occasionally is the whole of the maintenance advice on this page, and it is the part everybody skips. A plant that stands in one place for a year is a plant nobody has looked beneath since it arrived.
In a studio the floor is doing more work
One room means the floor is the circulation, the seating area and the storage. What works in a studio apartment covers the space trade.
For this purpose: in a studio, floor plants get moved more often than anywhere else, because the room reconfigures for different activities. So the movability point matters more, and the fixed heavy plant in the corner is more likely to be dragged than lifted.
The check worth doing twice a year
When you do the seasonal repositioning that every plant benefits from, lift each floor plant and look underneath.
Two minutes, and it catches the slow problems while they are still nothing. It also happens to be the moment you would notice several other things about the plant, which is why attaching it to a habit you already have works better than remembering it separately.
If you have pets
Anything you put under a pot becomes something an animal can get at, and a floor plant is the most reachable plant in the home. Check the species, by botanical name, against the ASPCA's toxic and non-toxic plants database.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is floor protection really a placement question?
Yes, because where a floor-standing plant can go is decided by the floor as much as by the light, and in a rented apartment the floor has a deposit attached to it. A pot creates three separate problems: it sits in one place long enough to mark soft flooring gradually, it is a damp object above a dry surface, and it gets moved, dragged and knocked, which is when scratches happen.
Which floors are most at risk?
They fail differently. Soft flooring takes indentation from sustained weight, and the mark is usually permanent and worst under a heavy plant that never moves. Wood and wood-effect are generally more sensitive to moisture than to weight, and that varies enormously by product and finish. Tile and stone are usually the most forgiving, though grout is not always. Carpet hides a great deal and holds it, which is not the same as being fine. This page will not tell you what your specific floor tolerates: the manufacturer's guidance, or your landlord's, is the thing to read.
What is the simplest way to avoid the problem?
Take the plant off the floor. A stand, a stool or a low unit removes the question entirely and raises the plant, which in a small room usually looks better anyway. Failing that, choose hard flooring over soft where the room offers both, keep the plant away from routes and door swings, and put it somewhere you can lift it from, because a plant you can pick up gets moved rather than pushed.
Does renting change the advice?
It changes the weighting rather than the facts. It does not mean no floor plants. It means preferring the placement answers to the mitigation ones: raise it, put it on hard flooring, keep it movable, and look under it occasionally. The corner you cannot reach behind is the one where a problem develops unseen for two years.
How often should I check underneath a floor plant?
Twice a year, attached to the seasonal repositioning the plant benefits from anyway. Lift it and look. It takes about two minutes and it catches the slow problems while they are still nothing, and it is the moment you would notice several other things about the plant as well.
The part worth remembering
The floor is a placement constraint, not a housekeeping afterthought.
Raise it, keep it movable, put it where it will not be dragged, and look underneath twice a year. If you are choosing positions from scratch, the room-by-room survey is the list to make first, and the floor question narrows it further than people expect.