Hi CDs,

We might be renting a part of our house to prospective tenants.

This will be our first experience.

Would appreciate all the pointers we should keep in mind to be careful landlords and to avoid the common pitfalls.

Basement is not legal and we were thinking of renting to students and new immigrants after verifying their antecedents , IDs , residence status and credit / income check if any .

How should we screen the tenants ?

Should we restrict to desi community only or be indifferent to that?

Should we sign a written lease or be on an oral one ?

How do we clarify that we do not want any kind of substance abuse ?

Should we prefer families or singles ?

Should we give it furnished to singles / unfurnished to families ?

Please share your thoughts as I have found that in addition to what google provides, we get a new perspective on CD.

Thanks in advance.

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Fido.

Fido - if you see there R no complications as well as there are lots of complications . So all in all its complicated.

Best solutions: Put Indian students , try to go with girls- problem solved.

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'Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail.' (Param Vir Chakra awardee Lt. Manoj Pandey)

Hi Fido

Always sign a written lease even if the basement is not legal.
Ask for the employment letters and pay statements and gauge yourself the stability of jobs and skills of the person before signing the lease. Do not entertain people on EI.
You will get interest from students in case there is nearby educational institute or good transit. Prefer for desi girls students ( boys , desis included may not keep the place clean and will not take collective responsibility of surroundings) , this is my personal experience. I do not care how people react to this.

keep it unfurnished unless there is demand from the tenants.

Thanks a lot BPF & San Hugo.

There are educational institutions nearby and the seller informed me that there's always an interest by students.

Since the house is in a Chinese dominated community and the previous owners were Chinese, there are Chinese girls currently putting up but would be vacating soon.

Due to difference in cultures Chinese and Indians may not gel comfortably when the kitchen is sharing, hence it makes sense to keep only one community people. I will go ahead with your advise and go ahead with Desi girl students or working ladies unless the interest is not enough , in which case I will switch to Chinese gradually since I do not have any issues with them either.

What are the advantages of a signed lease in case of a not-legal basement ? Isn't is more risky than an unsigned one as push comes to shove , one can claim short term accommodation arrangement in the absence of a signed lease ? Or are there some things I am unaware of.

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Fido.

1. Inform your insurance company about the tenants. You don't want to take a chance. If the house gets damaged or goes up in flames, because of the tenants or boarders, you won't get a penny from them, if you hide the tenants from them.

2. Insist that the tenants take their own tenant insurance policy too. Just as you take one when you rent in an apartment building. Basement apartment is NO different.

3. Iron clad lease agreement. Usually a standard one. But you can add clauses to it as long as its legal. Basically see the lease agreements of big apartment bldgs and make a similar one.

4. And certified cheque for the first and last month. Post dated cheques for the rest of the months. Any bounced check will be charged to them along with any fees. Plus the ability to en cash the cheque at places like Money mart. Nowadays most big apartment bldgs take rent by DIRECT DEPOSIT. You can do the same if you want, with a VOID check and permission from the tenants.

5. 2 pieces of Photo ID and SIN number a must. Check the authenticity of both.

6. Credit check with both Equifax and TransUnion.

7. Latest pay stub. Bank balance letter from the bank with bank manager signature or branch and stamp. Its easy to fake these things, so verify them.

8. Utilities can be included with them paying 1/3 or something like that. Or you can have a separate meter for the basement ( usually only for Hydro ), which they pay.

9. Parking. Make clear if its included or not. And for how many cars.

10. No sub-lease allowed, without your permission. No additional boarders or tenants allowed than the ones on the lease.

11. WORK references. Previous landlord references. These can be faked so be careful.

12. You are allowed to visit the premises occasionally with a prior 24 hr written notice.

13. Anything illegal, means instant eviction like drugs, crime, weed.

14. You can put no smoking, no pets clause. Not sure if its legally enforceable or not. But put it anyways.

15. Take a walk around with them and video tape, photos of the BEFORE and AFTER condition of the apartment. So you have evidence and proof if they lie about any damages and repairs later on. Some of them have a habit of going to the LTB board and filing false cases against the landlord.

16. Keep a strictly landlord and tenant relationship. Be polite, but professional. Don't get too friendly with them or chummy with them. That's when they start taking advantage of you.

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I am a Mens and not a Womens.

Thank You so much icame for the exhaustive list.

The last point being very meaningful.

While I was reading some tips on the internet as well I came across these 2 which were sort of unusual but made sense.

1. Use a google phone number redirected to your voicemail and advise the tenants that you are available for non emergency purposes from 10 to 4 at that number.

2. Tell the tenants that you are a property manager instead of the owner so that when they want something , you are not comfortable with , you can take guard under the property manager cap and tell them that the owner does not approve of it or it is not the owner's policy .

More suggestions / experiences welcome.

In case of working people we can check

a. Pay stubs
b. Bank statement
c. SIN & credit check


But what financial docs should we check with regards to students or new immigrants ?

Bank statements
IDs
What else ?

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Fido.

Fido : send me your personal email.. i will send u lease form , specific for student... very useful

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'Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail.' (Param Vir Chakra awardee Lt. Manoj Pandey)