Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
Did Your Tenants Pay September Rent?
Sunday, September 13th, 2020Ontario Landlord Tenant Criminal Checks – Take Your Tenant Screening System To the Next Level!
Tuesday, July 28th, 2020
With So Many Problems From A Small Group of Bad Tenants Out There More Landlords Are Using Criminal Checks to Protect Their Rental Properties…And Now You Can Too For a Discounted Price!
Ontario landlords are excited about how many great tenants are out there. These are tenants who pay their rent on time and respect both the rental property and their landlord in a mature and professional manner.
Many Ontario landlords have faced problems with their tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s now more important than ever to protect yourself and your property!
Take Your Tenant Screening System To A Higher Level (Not Just Credit Checks, Social Media and References)
It’s time to make sure you run criminal background checks on your potential tenants. And you can now do so with our Protection membership.
The Ontario Landlords Association has brought forth a revolution in tenant screening over the past decade.
Experienced and successful landlords in our community were the ones who educated others on the importance of screening your tenants very carefully. Before we came along there was very little talk about landlord issues and few Ontario landlords even knew they could run credit checks on tenants (and why they should run them).
With so many good people looking for a place to ‘call home’ and rent from you, it is essential that small landlords avoid the professional tenants out there.
These professional tenants know how to manipulate the system and can lead small landlords to not only sleepless nights, but to financial ruin.
Professional Tenants Hurt Good Tenants, Not Only Their Landlord
These types of people who make leave huge damages and owed rent behind not only hurt the landlord, it hurts good tenants who are looking for a nice rental property. Landlords who face huge financial losses often leave the industry. Or they will raise rents to help pay for the repair costs.
Sadly, we continue to see some landlords not being careful and being ripped off by these professional tenants.
Windsor Landlords Fed Up With Bad Tenants Now Looking At Criminal Checks As Part Of Their Tenant Screening System
After dealing with unpaid rent, destroyed rental apartments and a long process to even try to get paid money that is owed some Windsor landlords are saying they will make their tenant screening system even tighter.
According to a CBC report a property manager has had enough of professional tenants causing huge financial hardship on small landlords.
Huge Challenges For Ontario Landlords
Already small landlords aren’t making huge profits and many are just breaking even (and some even cash-flow negative).
So if you aren’t super careful and rent to a tenant who doesn’t pay rent, causes damages, or causes problems with the landlord or other tenants in the property it can lead to huge headaches.
Tenant Leaves Behind Huge, Expensive Damages
The Windsor property manager said one of the biggest problems he faces it from renters who leave behind huge messes to clean up.
Tenant Was a Drug Addict, Leaving 200 Syringes In the Rental
When one Windsor tenant moved out he made sure to leave a mess behind. This time it was more then two hundred syringes all over the floors.
Over 200 hundred syringes were left behind, and it got even worse!
Windsor Landlord Will Now Begin Running Criminal Checks
According to property manager Morawetz after so many tenant problems he wants to “take things a step further.” He says in order to protect rental properties he and lots of other landlords will be “tightening up” their tenant screening criteria “to a level never seen before.”
Make Sure You Follow The Ontario Human Rights Code On Screening At All Times
According to the CBC news report running criminal record checks in some circumstances may be considered discriminatory….but in other circumstances “it might make sense” The report uses an example where a single mom is wants to rent out a room in her house and making sure all the applicants interested require a criminal check could be reasonable because of concerns for her and her family’s safety.
And the Human Rights Commission states that: 4.2.9 Criminal or other police record checks, Nothing in section 21(3) of the Code or Regulation 290/98 permits the use of criminal or other police record check in the context of rental housing.
Of course, landlords must get permission before running a criminal check and if you have any questions contact the OHRC to make sure you are doing the right thing.
Ontario Landlords Can Now Begin Running Premium Criminal Checks on Tenants
Join our community and get the tools you need to succeed. This now includes CRIMINAL CHECKS at a great low price with our ONTARIO LANDLORD PROTECTION MEMBERSHIP.
We Are Proud To Be Partners With TRITON
Triton is the leading background company in Canada.
Regular criminal check price: $59.00/check + $75.00 set up charge
Ontario Landlord Member Price: $24.95 and no set up charge
And it’s all for only a one time fee (no annual fee). We landlords just like you and we know how tight the budgets are for many Ontario Landlords and this is why we want to keep your costs down for the best services out there.
Ontario Landlord Tenant Criminal Checks – Become a PROTECTION Member And You Can Add Criminal Checks To Your Tenant Screening System For A Huge Discount!
I Took Mercy On My Landlord And Saved Them From Bankruptcy – But With Conditions
Monday, May 11th, 2020
Treat Tenants Like the VIPs! You Need Our Rent Money!
I’m Proud To Have Helped My LL Survive & Not Go Bankrupt
When our premier announced that tenants do not have to pay rent during this horrible crisis tenants face I immediately felt better.
It was nice to know the government understood what I was dreading and said there will be “NO EVICTIONS” until the crisis is over. With businesses closed and workers being laid off, how could we pay the rent for the next six months or more?
I saw on FB and on signs in my area that many Tenants in financial trouble were saying we didn’t have to pay rent at all. The reason is because we can’t be evicted we didn’t have to pay rent.
So If You Don’t Pay Rent Nothing Happens?
This sounded almost too good to be true. I didn’t have to pay any rent for the next few months or more…maybe up to year.
The premier also said tenants should only “pay what you can” and not make paying rent a priority.
So he basically was saying, make up your budget and put rent last.
I Have A Great Relationship With My Landlord
Since moving in a couple years ago I’m very happy here in my Home.
The landlords are nice people who gave me a very low rent to begin with because I’m a working woman who is rarely at home with great credit so they thought I was their perfect tenant.
Ideal Tenant (Working woman, not home much, great credit) Gets Discount
They gave me 20% of market rent right off the bat because they praised me as being the type of person landlords want to rent to. Of course landlords are sexist and love renting to women and I love how this stereotype helps me.
This made me very happy to hear and they gave me the discount on what they were advertising because I said I was going to be renting for at least a few years while I built up my savings.
I Could Pay No Rent, But I Worked Out A Rebate Plan
Since I have such a good relationship with my landlords (they love me, I’m never home and never late paying) I learned a lot.
Most landlords are not independently wealthy and cannot afford to pay the mortgage out of their own pocket. They need rent every month just to survive. I understood that and they explained how tough their current situation was. So decided to help them survive.
I Paid Rent…But 40% That Was Fair To Both Sides
I made my own budget and made sure my most important expenses were on top of the list and the rent was at the bottom (but still there, as it’s only fair to my landlord).
I calculated my decreased salary due to less hours minus my main expenses for survival during this crisis. Most important expenses over rent:
-Stocking up on canned food and wine
-Buying food for fresh daily eating
-Costs of ordering Take-Out and the extra costs for UberEats, etc.
-Costs of feeding my cat and ordering her food.
-Ordering clothes I will need if I’m stuck in my Home for a long time. Fresh panties are always refreshing. A girl in a cage needs comfy too!
-Order creams to keep me looking youthful at L’occitane
-Saving for masks and potential medicines.
-Entertainment such as renewing my Netflix, CBS, and Amazon Prime accounts.
I Paid Rent…And Helped My Landlord Stay In Business
After all my budget expenses I ended up paying my landlord 40% of the usual amount.
My landlord was happy to get the rent without any issues and with no haggling.
This was not a ‘deferral’ it was what I would pay, period. For April and for future months up to the end of my lease.
They appreciated me even paying and I’m happy I did the right thing to help them would I could have paid $1 if I was the evil, nasty type of bitch.
Work With Your Landlord Like I Did
I could have just said I didn’t have the money but I know my landlord who are a nice couple so I decided to work with them like the Premier said.
40% Paid And I Saved My Landlord’s Life
I paid 40% of the rent for April and will pay that same amount as long as the pandemic continues.
If you have a good small landlord consider paying them at least a little bit because they are in need of rent for their families.
I also told my landlord to always remember I didn’t have to pay, but I did pay 40%. I told them how about a little gift for me, like some Lancombe make up or some expensive champagne? KEEP ME HAPPY OR ELSE!
Let’s work together and at least pay your landlord a little bit to keep them also surviving…but don’t pay them the full amount because you need to spend your money on your needs first! This is a Win-Win Relationship.
Should I send Christmas gifts to my good tenants?
Saturday, December 3rd, 2011December 4th, 2011
It’s December. There’s already been a little snow and you are feeling the Holiday Spirit. Deck the Halls is playing from your CD player and you are planning to buy your tree this week.
Who’s naughty? Who’s nice?
Part of your holiday tradition is to buy Christmas gifts for your family and friends. Since you became a landlord, you now have some tenants. Hmmm, you think how the past year has gone and you realize you have some great tenants. Not only do they pay on time, they have been very understanding of your need to get an appraisal done, were patient when it took the plumber an extra day to fix that leaky toilet, and even called you about some potential maintanence issues allowing you to go in and repair before a larger (and more expensive) problem hit you and your wallet. They saved you a small fortune!
My tenants are nice. Should I buy them gifts?
You truly appreciate your tenants. You want to thank them and Christmas seems like a great time to do it. What about buying them a small gift? It could be a small gift for the entire family, right? You know they have two kids, so what about toys? Or a how about something for the parents?
You head for the mall to take a look and hope you come up with an answer. Hmm, Harry Potter novels seem like a good idea. At least you know your children love them. What about this nice calendar for 2012 for the family with pictures from scenes from the best Caribbean beaches? Hold on, look at these gift cards for Future shop, Best Buy…hey maybe this one for a family dinner at Boston Pizza? What about simply a nice bottle for red wine? Christmas cards? Movie passes?
Wait a minute, what if my tenants misunderstand my motive for the gifts?
Hold on. You served the tenants a notice of rent increase for January 1st. What if they taken the gifts the wrong way?
You’ve never done this before.
There’s the possibility they might think they are paying you a lot of rent money…perhaps too much rent money. You are getting rich “off their backs” and throwing them a token in return for your spoils? Will they think that? It’s not true, but what if they they do?
That calendar of Caribbean beaches? Could they think that’s your holiday thanks to December rent? Those gift cards? You have 50 inch tv and eat at restaurants all the time because you are a rich landlord (you don’t and don’t, but they might think that)? You only want to give gifts as part of the holiday spirit and to show your appreciation, but what if they are not Christian and think you are trying to push some sort of religious agenda on them?
Not only could you ruin your relationship, they might want to move out when the lease ends. Could this backfire on you?
There’s no set and easy answer
What do experienced landlords do in this situation? How can I learn from others with experience to make sure I don’t make newbie mistakes? Landlords have different ways of dealing with all sorts of situations. This is one of them.
Some landlords find sending gifts a great relationship builder. Others avoid it. Others take a middle position and send cards.
Read what landlords think at the Ontario Landlords Advice forum HERE
My tenant hasn’t paid the rent on the 1st? What do experienced landlords do?
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011December 1st, 2011
It’s the nearing the first of the month. You have a regular system with your tenant where you call them the day before and prepare a time to pick up the rent at the rental property.
For months, things worked well. You always meet at the rental property. Sometimes you set a time for 5 pm. Sometimes you set a time for 6 pm. One time you and your tenant were both running late so you set a time to meet at the front door at 7:45 pm! It’s all good.
This time you call to set up a time to pick up rent and no one answers.
You think “I can’t reach my tenant to set up a time to pick up rent, it’s shouldn’t be a big problem.”
Or is it.
You call a couple more times and no answer. You leave a couple voice-mail messages requesting a call back.
Nothing!
The First of the month comes. No contact, no replies, no nothing…and no rent!
No rent and you still have to pay your mortgage. You decide to go visit the property. You knock on the door, ring the doorbell…no one answers. You try back a few days later. You think you see a light on, but still…no one answers.
You read the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board Website and see you can serve a form called an N-4 for non-payment of rent.
Should you fill it out and serve it? You begin to remember how good your tenant has been for the past six months. Is this a one off situation? You also begin to read the form N-4 and does it ever look serious and confrontational. The form N-4 looks to want to create a fight!
You don’t want to fight. You just want your rent.
So what should you do?
Experienced landlords discuss this in a great thread at the Ontario Landlords Association advice forums HERE
What would you do?
