September 9th, 2013
Last weekend was the start of the month and the start of university and college programmes all over Ontario.
It’s a time when thousands of students arrive at the cities and towns where their schools are located. Some arrived for the first time while thousands returned to continue their studies.
It’s a huge market for landlords.
One place of learning that was busy was Georgian College and that meant lots of students moving to homes owned and operated by Barrie and Orillia landlords.
In fact, according to a report on CTV news over 650 students came to Barrie and Orillia over the Labour Day weekend.
The First On-Campus Residence in Orillia
Parents were impressed by Orillia’s new college residences. The two new buildings have 64 dorms in each leading one of the student’s Dads to say the fact that the buildings are new and clean gave him a good feeling.
It’s always nice when you know you are moving into a nice rental you are confident in.
Students moving from home for their very first time like Amanda Summers explained how she felt both “nervous and exited” at the same time.
At Georgian College lots of returning students were on hand to help frosh and their parents make it through the day.
Lots of Students Coming To Off-Campus Housing
Some students are happy to be out of university housing and living off-campus. The chance to live with friends, share cooking duties and hanging out together is an exciting time for them.
Students and Tenant Insurance
Many students aren’t aware of the value of getting tenant insurance.
Student landlords have a great opportunity to ‘educate’ their student tenants and protect themselves (and help students know how to protect themselves).
Help Your Student Tenants Protect Themselves
A simple phone call can protect students from all kinds of mishaps in and around campus.
There’s the obvious— fire, water damage and theft—concerns but there are also liability concerns.
If someone is injured on the premises or a toilet floods over and causes water damage to a few floors below, it can hugely expensive and time consuming without insurance.
Not every rental unit problem is the landlord’s responsibility either.
“There can be a lot of misconceptions out there,” one insurance expert said. “It depends who was found to be negligent. Tenants can be held responsible.” Without proper insurance, tenants who are found to be at-fault are on the hook for damages.
Tenant insurance is especially important for students because student housing can be more risky than single-family homes thanks to high turnover rates—not to mention the parties.
Protecting possessions from theft is reason enough to seek out coverage.
Students may not have accumulated many material possessions but the belongings they do have is usually pretty valuable like notebook computers, TVs, textbooks and even musical instruments.
For those trying to make ends meet, tenants may be tempted to skip tenant’s insurance to try to cut costs.
Explain to them they should consider the cost of replacing their laptop or smartphone if they were robbed.
Now is a good time to hold class to teach basics of tenant’s insurance and ensure your renters have the right coverage in place to protect themselves.
To Discuss Insurance, Student Housing, and Other Issues Welcome to the Ontario Landlord Forum
