Advice To Landlords

Finding the appropriate tenant for your suite is a absolute must. There are probably 100 prospective tenants for every suite in major centers. The art is choosing the tenant who best fits in with your complex. Neighbors who have common interests will get along much better and consequently, take a bit more satisfaction with where they are living. Hence, they tend to stay longer and cause less problems for you.

When your tenant serves notice to move, discuss times to view. Inform them that very often, early evenings are convenient times for prospective tenants.

Arrange convenient viewing times for the unit with your present tenant. These courtesies are appreciated even with the prospective tenants knowing that you do your best to accommodate your tenants.

When advertising for new tenants, describe your rental unit accurately with as much detail as is pertinent. Specify hours to call for an appointment.

Sample Ad

Give the area of your rental but not the address. You want to discourage lookie-loos, they are too often a waste of your time.

Ask the prospective tenants who and how many will be occupying the rental unit before making an appointment.

Take the prospective tenants name and telephone number and call them back an hour or two before their appointment.

Make viewing by appointments only.

Inform them that you require a deposit cheque with the application.

Only take cheques for the deposit, not cash. Once you have taken cash the application may be deemed approved by law. Only cash the cheque after you have approved the application and have the cheque certified or wait for the cheque to clear before informing the applicant. Monies first, then approval.

Make note of what your prospective tenant is driving. It is a hint to how he lives.

Only allow the prospective tenants to view, not a group of friends, especially if the unit is still occupied.

Keep the prospective tenants together in the same rooms. Call off the viewing if they each want to go separate ways. You may be held responsible if items go missing.

If you know that the prospective tenants have other viewing appointments, before taking application, advise them that they should view the others first and then return if they they like yours better.

Don't waste your time and theirs by filling out an application that you know ahead of time you will turn down. It is not discrimination to inform them that they are not the tenants you are looking for. It is less costly to miss a month's rent than accept an application just to fill the vacancy and have to deal with troublesome tenants later.

Have the prospective tenants fill out the application in front of you, ask for picture ID and witness their signatures. If they ask to take the application with them, they are probably just saying ‘no’.

Make sure at the time of application you go through the tenancy agreement with the applicant point by point and have him/her initial each point. Have them sign their portion of the agreement at time of application. Once you have cashed their security deposit they are legally bound to rent your unit. And vice-versa, you are bound to grant them tenancy.

Make carrying Renters Property and Liability Insurance part of the tenancy agreement.

Inform the prospective tenants that you conduct 3 inspections during the first 6 months of tenancy and twice per year during tenancy. This discourages those who are renting for illegal purposes and is appreciated by your present tenants knowing that you are keeping out undesirables.

Provide once per year free carpet cleaning (traffic areas only by your contracted service only) on the tenancy anniversary. This allows for intermediate inspection plus helps maintain your carpets. This will save you money.

Discrimination

The Human Rights Act of Canada prohibits discrimination based on: race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, marital and family status, religion, physical or mental disability, sex and sexual orientation, source of income, provided the source is legal, and age, except senior citizen buildings.