One of the greatest social needs of our society is providing safe, affordable housing. Unfortunately, many of the vulnerable people in our society, including many of the associates of small and medium-sized organizations do not have access to this type of housing. A safe, affordable place to live should be a basic human right, which due to its scarcity in our communities is the single greatest contributor to poverty.
Those vulnerable people have their situation made worse by a very Darwinian market of supply and demand, where certain property owners take advantage of the lack of knowledge of processes, rights, and availability. The points in this post, in a small way, will help to illuminate some of the gaps solutions and information that is available for those people.
MAKE A PLAN:
Decide what you want
- Make of list of the things that you want and/or that are important to you. For example, number of bedrooms, a ground floor apartment, location, parking, elevator, house/apartment.
- Consider: access to public transit, grocery stores, schools, distance to work.
Calculate what you can afford
- Ideally, you should not be spending more than 30 or 40% of your income on a place to live (according to the experts). This might seem to be impossible, but try to ensure that you have enough money to pay your other bills. The lack of affordable housing is a huge problem in many communities right now; however, that does not mean that you should accept whatever you can find.
- Consider heating costs, for example, an apartment in an older house, a Victorian home with 10-foot ceilings, no ceiling fans, and electric heat may not be affordable on a tight budget.
- Are there subsidies to assist with your rental payments?
- Get advice: United Way offers free financial advice, as do other charitable organizations. It’s worthwhile to ask for help when trying to find a place to live and could save you a lot in the long run.
Questions to ask
- Are the utilities included? Regardless, who controls the thermostat or the air conditioning? If the utilities are not included, you have the legal right to ask for copies of the most recent bills. Never sign a lease or rental agreement without understanding how much to expect utilities to cost.
- Does each apartment have a separate hydro and water meter?
- Are the appliances supplied, do they work, do not assume that they do.
- If you have a vehicle(s), is parking available? Be careful if the only parking is on the street because many municipalities forbid parking in the winter months.
- Will they change the locks? It is impossible to know who might have extra keys to your new apartment.
- What is the neighbourhood like? How the surrounding buildings are maintained or not maintained will provide some valuable insight into the type of place you are considering moving into?
- Is there a tenant organization?
- If there is more than one apartment in the building, does each apartment have a separate hydro/water meter?
- What information do they require for a credit check? (Usually your employer or income source)
- What kind of references do they require? (Might be an employer or reference who will say you are trust worthy)
- Who is responsible for snow removal?
- Who is responsible for maintenance, and what is the process to get things fixed?
- What about internet, cable, telephone, hydro, water connections?
- How often will the property owner issue rent receipts? They should issue them monthly or at the very least annually. Try to avoid paying by “cash”, if you do pay by cash INSIST THAT YOU ARE GIVEN A RECEIPT WHEN YOU PAY. Remember the amount of money that you pay in rent is usually something you can claim on most income tax forms.
- Where is mail delivered to, is it secure? I have seen apartments where the mail is left in a cardboard box in a common area.
- What about garbage collection? How often and where the garbage is stored awaiting pickup.
- Does the property owner allow for decoration and painting?
- If the housing is on a well, how often is the water tested?
- How does the property owner want to receive payment?
- Are there laundry facilities? In the building, within walking distance?
Things to have or arrange before searching
- “Contents” insurance for your belonging. The property owner will have their own insurance, but it does not cover your things. If the monthly rate is too high, look at increasing the deductible.
- Sewage backup/septic protection should be part of your insurance package.
- Enough money for first and last month’s rent.
- If you are renting a basement apartment, look into getting a dehumidifier.
Searching
- Ask friends, neighbours, co-workers to let you know if they know of a place that is available.
- Create automatic “saved searches” on platforms like Kiiji to advise you of opportunities in the areas that you want to live.
- Beware of “scams”, do not e-transfer funds unless you have toured the property or know that the person requesting funds is authorized to rent out that unit.
- Check out the “bed bug” registry. Try Googling and enter the address. (Especially for apartment buildings).
Things to watch for when you check out the place
- Is it clean?
- Are their water marks on the ceilings, walls, or floors?
- Flush the toilet and check the pressure, compare the refill time to your current place. Very slow toilets to fill or drain could lead to problems.
- Does everything work? (lights, fans, etc)
- Make sure the fridge and range work if they are included in the payments, with the range check the oven element.
- If you are paying the utilities, check out the windows for cracks and broken seals and ask them to be repaired.
- Where are the electrical outlets, are there enough, where are they, are there enough, are they cracked or broken?
- What are the closets like? Are their storage places for bikes and other large items?
- Make a list of anything cracked or broken when you move in, so you are not responsible for those repairs when you move out, if it hasn’t been fixed.
Signing a lease or rental agreement
- In the province of Ontario, property owners are required by law to use a standard rental/lease agreement. If a property owner tries to use something other than the government provided agreement you should read the next paragraph in “What If.”
- READ IT and do not sign anything you do not understand.
- Everything that you have agreed to must be in writing, avoid verbal agreements.
- Take pictures of all of the rooms, the walls, the ceilings and ensure they have a date-stamp to protect yourself from false damage claims.
What if …?
In Ontario make sure you check out the Community Legal Education Organization (CLEO) website for easy-to-understand legal questions. In addition, Tribunalsontario.ca will also be a great resource for helping to navigate your rights and obligations, particularly the brochure “information for new tenants” which will summarize your rights and obligations under the “Residential Tenancies Act”. Other provinces and states will have similar protections in place.
The following questions are examples of the answers that these links can help you with:
- Your property owner asks for a deposit for security, damage, or for the key. In Ontario, it is illegal for property owners to ask for deposits of any kind other than last month’s rent.
- You are concerned you are on an “unofficial, do not rent to list”.
- The property owner asks for extra money on top of the rent because many other people want the apartment.
- The property owner demands you make a decision right now, because many other people want the apartment.
- Your property owner asks for sex, (in addition to checking with CLEO, call the police, or crimestoppers or your local women’s crisis centre or 211).
- You have an issue with mold and mildew.
- The property owner tries to raise the rent, more than what is legally allowed.
- Your property owner wants to have constant access to your apartment.
- You have pets and the property owner objects.
- Something does not work.
- Drug use in the building is a problem.
- You have problems with another tenant.
Remember:
- Many property owners are very good to deal with and want to make sure they are happy and that you are too; however, protecting your rights is something good property owners will appreciate.
- Do not be afraid, many tenants are afraid to complain, in case they are evicted. There are protections in place, remember KNOWLEDGE IS THE KEY TO DEFEATING FEAR.
- Try to build a good relationship with your property owner, if you are complaining about something like mold or mildew: speak to them at least twice about the problem, give them a chance to solve the problem, then if nothing happens then escalate to public health
- Do not jump at the first place you look at, just because you are afraid that someone else will take it.
- Do not allow anyone to put pressure on you, including yourself.
This post would not have been possible without the assistance of Misty Schonauer of the United Way of Bruce Grey.
Paul.