Housing V - LEASE

Finally, you need to know about lease details, your rights, your responsibilities, and other details.

1. Housing I – FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
2. Housing II – HOUSING OPTIONS
3. Housing III – RESOURCES
4. Housing IV – DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
5. Housing V – LEASE

A lease is a contract between you (the Tenant) and the person or company you rent from (the Landlord). Sometimes a landlord will not ask you to sign a lease.

You might have a verbal agreement instead. “Month-to-month” rentals are often verbal agreements.

You can choose to sign a lease, or rent month-to-month. In both cases, you and your landlord must obey the Residential Tenancies Act, the law that governs rental housing in Ontario.

Read your lease carefully and make sure you understand and agree with all of it before you sign it.

A lease states:

• The rental period (usually 12 months)
• How much you must pay for rent
• When the rent will increase
• What is included in the rent (for example, parking or utilities)
• Other information and rules about the apartment building, house or room

At the end of the lease, you can renew it or start renting from month-to-month.

You do not have to sign a new lease. If you want to move out, you must write a letter and give it to the landlord 60 days before the month you will leave.

As a tenant, you must:

• • Pay rent on time. Usually, the rent is due on the first day of each month, but your lease will say when it is due.
• • Keep apartment clean and put garbage in the proper place.
• • Not let extra people live in the apartment. (Visitors may stay with you for a few days or weeks, but not for a long time.)
• • Not disturb other tenants.

As a tenant, you have the right to:

• A clean, well-maintained home with electricity, running water, appliances (fridge and stove) that work and heat.
• Privacy. Usually, a landlord must give you a letter 24 hours before entering your apartment. In an emergency, such as a fire or flood, your landlord may enter without notifying you.
• End your tenancy within the time allowed in the lease or by law.
• It is a good idea to get tenant insurance for your household.

I hope I have covered everything regarding housing in Canada, if you need further information please leave a comment or send me an email.

Best Wishes

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Housing IV - DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS

Now, it's time to learn about Rent related Documents & Application and required deposit in Ontario.

1. Housing I – FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
2. Housing II – HOUSING OPTIONS
3. Housing III – RESOURCES
4. Housing IV – DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
5. Housing V – LEASE

You might need to provide one or more of these documents with a rental application (depends on the Landlord):

• A letter from your employer stating your income (if got a job that soon, which is not most likely to happen specially in your profession)
  
• A bank statement showing that you have enough money
• A credit check (that means what financial history you have in Canada. I will talk in details about Financial issues in Canada in later posts)
  
• A guarantor or co-signer (a person who promises to pay your rent if you cannot pay it), if your income is low, or if you do not have an income
• Personal references, such as a previous landlord, friend, settlement worker or language instructor If you cannot provide all these documents, try to provide as many as you can.

DEPOSITS

When you rent, usually you will have to pay first and last month’s rent for a deposit. You can pay this with cash, certified cheque or money order. Your landlord must give you a receipt.

Your landlord must pay you interest each year on the deposit. The landlord will pay you any interest owing when you move out. This is the only type of deposit allowed by law.

It is illegal for a landlord to ask a tenant to pay a "security deposit" to pay for possible damages or "key money" that is more than the cost to replace the keys.

If utilities such as water and electricity are not included with rent, you must contact the utility company to open an account and start the services.

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Housing III - RESOURCES

Today i'm ganna write about Part III of Housing Series, which is HOUSING RESOURCES:

1. Housing I – FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
2. Housing II – HOUSING OPTIONS
3. Housing III – RESOURCES
4. Housing IV – DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
5. Housing V – LEASE

Here are some places where you can find out more about housing before you come to Ontario.

Real Estate Rental Services:
These services are also called Property Rental Management or Rental Locators. They are companies that help landlords find new tenants. They can help you find a place to live, for a fee.
Ask them what services they provide. Will they refund your money if you are not happy with their service? If they will not, do not pay any fees and do not use these services.

Relocate Canada:
This is an online guide for people relocating or moving in Canada. You can look for the city you want and find information about housing, child care, weather, expenses and many other things.

You can also download a telephone directory for many cities in Canada at: http://www.relocatecanada.com/

Yellow Pages:
The "Yellow Pages" is the section of a telephone book that lists business and professional firms in alphabetical order. The businesses are organized by categories.

You can search for Real Estate Rental Services through the Yellow Pages on the internet at: http://www.yellowpages.ca/

Classified Advertisements:
Most newspapers in Ontario have a Classifieds section where many landlords list places for rent. Landlords usually list apartments 1-2 months before someone can move in.

Reading these ads will help you learn about the cost and availability of the type of home you want. You can find these housing classified ads on many Ontario newspaper websites, like: www.kijiji.ca , http://www.rentersnews.ca.

As I said before, you will have to wait until you arrive to find a home here if you approach landlords yourself.

You can call a landlord before you arrive in Ontario; most landlords want to meet you in person before they rent their apartment or house to you.

Settlement Agencies
Settlement agencies can refer you to Housing Help Centres in your area and let you know about your short and long-term housing options.

Housing Help Centers
Many communities have Housing Help Centres to help people find low cost housing. You can use this service only after you arrive in Ontario. This service is good for people who do not have much money. A settlement agency can help you find the Housing Help Centre in your city.

Here are some services you can get at a Housing Help Centre:

• Help looking for housing
• Information about legal services and about the Residential Tenancies Act, the law that protects tenants and landlords
• Information about budgeting your money
• Help talking with social workers, legal aid providers, social housing providers and property managers
• Lists of private landlords
• Landlord information and education
• Help applying for subsidized housing
• Hostel / shelter information
• Help finding programs for food, clothing or health

Bulletin Boards:
You can find bulletin boards at community centres, laundromats, grocery stores and other local businesses. These bulletin boards often have information about places to rent.

Most universities and colleges have housing bulletin boards, websites and
housing offices to help their students find places to rent. If you are a student, check the bulletin boards at college and university housing services.

Sometimes you can see "For Rent" or "Vacancy" signs in front of apartment buildings or in windows of houses with rooms or apartments for rent. You can also ask superintendents at apartment buildings if any apartments will be vacant soon. You can ask them to put your name on a waiting list. You do not need to pay a fee or deposit to do this.

Your family and friends might know about places for rent. Tell them that you are looking for a place to live.

Look first in smaller buildings or look for landlords with apartments or rooms to rent in their homes. Some large rental companies want you to give them names of people in the city who know you. Or they may want you to pay a large deposit of money before they will rent to you.

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Housing II - HOUSING OPTIONS

here I'm ganna talk about the HOUSING OPTIONS, based on this structure:

1. Housing I – FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
2. Housing II – HOUSING OPTIONS
3. Housing III – RESOURCES
4. Housing IV – DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
5. Housing V – LEASE

You can save money if you share an apartment or house with other people.

Rent costs are different in different parts of the city. Usually, rent costs are higher near the centre of a major city. Learn as much as you can about the rental market before you arrive.

Questions to ask before you rent:

• Is it close to a bus route or subway station?
• Is it close to other services? (schools, stores, laundry, parks, playgrounds, community centres, medical clinics, places of worship)
• Is the apartment building or house quiet?
• What are the other tenants like?
• If you have a car, is there a place to park? Do you pay extra for parking?
• Is the neighborhood safe?
• If you have children, is it close to a school?
• Do you pay extra for heat and electricity?

So my advice to you now is go for apartment rent at the beginning while you settle and find a job, then you can think of buying a house or Condo (Condo is a short name of condominium, which is a fancy apartment with five appliances). The rental for apartment varies between $800 to $1300 depending on the area and room numbers.

As for me, I live in a big building 20 minutes to the Islington Subway Station (which is the junction between Mississauga and Toronto City), I pay $1055 for two bedrooms (1 big and other is small that they call it here DEN, so it's 1 bedroom plus DEN), it has indoor free swimming pool, free Gym, and all utilities included (that means I don't pay Electricity, Hot Water, Water, winter heating. but I pay for my phone bills like mobile, home phone, and Cable TV). The only bad thing about it is Elevators they are JUST OLD and SLOW.

The building is located at 3400 Riverspray Cres. L4Y3M5, company name is The Westwood Management, I can provide you with some pictures of the building and the apartment if you are interested ... just leave a comment.

[Update] Here are the building pictures: www.rentersnews.ca/pixeltours/tour.html

To be continued in RESOURCES post.

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Housing I - FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE

I know I have talked about housing in “where to stay” post, but it seems you guys need more details about housing in Ontario, as I got many requests to talk more about it. So as the subject is big, I will divide it to the following 5 parts:

1. Housing I – FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
2. Housing II – HOUSING OPTIONS
3. Housing III – RESOURCES
4. Housing IV – DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
5. Housing V – LEASE

So today I’m ganna start with FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE:

As I mentioned before, if you can, before you arrive, arrange a place to stay for your first few nights in Ontario. You can contact a travel agent anywhere in the world to find and reserve a place to stay.

When you are in Canada or the U.S., you can call Tourism Ontario at 1-800-ONTARIO (1-800-668-2746). Tourism Ontario can help you to find a room and make a reservation. This service is free.

You can stay temporarily in a hotel, bed-and-breakfast, apartment hotel, travel hostel or a student residence in a university or college. You can stay in travel hostels or student residences for days, weeks, or months for less money than a hotel. A bed-and-breakfast is a room in a house where the owner gives you breakfast every day.

However, from my own experience, staying in Studio6 for the first month was very convenient and great value-for-money. It was $1500 per month (you can rent it daily or weekly, but it would be more expensive), sully furnished, with cleaning once a week, wireless high-speed internet connection (if you have your laptop with you, and TV Cable.

If you arrive at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto without a place to stay, look for the Immigrant Reception and Information Services (IRIS) sign or phone 905-672-3660. They also have information about hotels and places to stay near the airport. The hotels near the airport are expensive, so you might want to find a hotel closer to the city.

Many homes in Ontario are expensive. Your first home may not be the one you want. You need time to learn about the rental and real estate markets, and different neighborhoods. Most newcomers do not find a job for many months. Keep this in mind when you decide how much you will spend on housing.

Most experts say you should not spend more than one-third (33.3%) of your total income before taxes on a place to live.


To be continued in "HOUSING OPTIONS"

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