JamesM

Air B'n'B for whole units will be banned in Toronto soon- they are just finishing the regulations so you may not have access to it come May.

Unfortunately without a credit history you will likely be asked to put up additional months in rent. When I arrived 4 months was quite common.

The Realtor I think has painted a realistic picture for you.

Siouxie

If you are looking outside of Toronto 'proper'you are better to find a Realtor who practices in that specific town or city. "The GTA" is a huge area - over 5000 sq km - and not all real estate agents are created equal.

Have you looked at any of the rental websites in the wiki? If you have a good real estate agent you should be able to let them know the kind of thing you want - if you see an advert, you could ask them to look on your behalf and have some lined up for you. Houses that will be available from 1st June, for instance, will start being advertised late April / early May as in Ontario the tenant has to give 60 days notice. As an example, here's a few on Kijiji in that area (you can change the filters, I guessed at 3 bedrooms = house or townhouse) there are a lot available, mostly for a move in of 1st March or 1st April.. so there are properties available... https://www.kijiji.ca/b-apartments-c...01?furnished=0

Jerseygirl

good point...then my realtor is of no use i_seeker.

HGerchikov

I am a realtor - not in the Ajax, Pickering area though so not looking for business, just I can give you my perspective on your requests to the guy you are dealing with.

Point 1 - First and last month's rent is all a landlord is permitted to ask from a tenant in Ontario - there are no security deposits (apart from for replacing keys which cannot be greater than the value of the key - relevant for condo buildings where it might be $100+ to replace a lost entry fob). Sometimes the tenant offers to pay more up front to secure a place, and the offer HAS to come from the tenant - it happens a lot and that is probably what your guy is referring to. I have known cases where the tenant has done this to secure a place and then gone to the landlord and tenant board and got his overpayment refunded to him on the basis of its illegality. I have once had tenants pay up front - they were new arrivals and they did not have jobs, so we were asking landlord to accept them without either credit history or employment letter (not easy).

Point 2 - Good luck with that one, massively reducing an already very small market - this is probably the request that prompted the vast majority of the response that you got. Incidentally the landlord in the example I gave in Point 2 was in the Middle East somewhere - we dealt with his representative.

Point 3 - If you work with a realtor - they will be able to see the land registry information to confirm ownership - just ask that they do. Its not common to ask the landlord for proof of ownership.

Point 4 - fair enough

Point 5 - Refer to point 2 - but also the way it works here you will put in an offer to lease and that will be accompanied by a deposit cheque (either with the offer - highly recommended if there is more than one offer, or within 24 hours of acceptance). That cheque (again assuming you are within the organised real estate system) will be held in the real estate brokerages trust account until you take possession of the house at which point the money goes to the landlord. It is unlikely that you will have met the landlord before the deposit (first and last month's rent) is handed over, even if meeting the landlord is at all possible. Absolutely DO NOT hand over any money until you have seen the house, unless you really trust your real estate agent to act for you in choosing a property.

Point 6 - all residential tenancies in Ontario are now subject to a standard lease agreement - so yes it is a must, by law.

General points - the real estate agent has a point when he tells you that it can be a struggle to find properties for newcomers - the rental market has been very competitive the last few years with limited inventory. In addition the residential tenancies act is so skewed in favour of the tenant that a landlord is reluctant to take a chance on his tenant - so some of them are inflexible about the paperwork they wish to see accompanying all applications - paperwork that a newcomer just cannot provide. Having said that, there are enough landlords out there that will give people a chance - often ones that have been new to the country themselves at some point - or investors (which is where your point 2 might be an issue).
As a newcomer you have to recognise that you are not in a great bargaining position, and adding in too many requests and demands really won't help.

Also from the real estate agents point of view - rentals are a nightmare - every bit as much work (generally more) as for a purchase for very little pay compared to a purchase. You have to really like the process of finding homes for people to want to do rentals. The last thing you want is to be working for a high maintenance potential tenant which may be why his response came over as a bit snippy. He perhaps should have explained why some of your requests are not an option, and which ones are already a given.

i_Seeker

Thanks HGerchikov,

I appreciate the points you raised and accept that my email may have come off a bit "snippy" despite the fact that it was not my intention (it read well at 1 am after a couple of glasses of Glenfiddich).

My concerns were the stark differences between the UK rental market and the Canada rental market.

I have since had a good chat with the realtor and am in a better position of understanding what is possible, and what is not possible. Due to the way the market is and the fact that I am in no position of leverage, I have wiped points: 1, 2, 3 off. Point 5 is irrelevant as the first cheque I make does not go to the landlord.

The rest of your advice was brilliant. I understand that in order to secure a rental property, I may have to accept terms I don't agree with to alleviate the landlord's fear of renting to a person new to Canada.

I'll keep you all posted!

scrubbedexpat091

Landlords market us tenants in certain citys have no leverage as there is always someone else waiting who wont have so many requirements.

Ive never met the actual owner of any rental. Generally they are using a management company to handle it all and often the owner is not in Canada. Foreign investment into condos is common with the owner living outside Canada.

Been in our rental 3 years and never even met the property manager let alone the owner but they own humdreds of units in Vancouver and have no day to day contact with tenants which is why there is a property manager.

If renting through a realtor or known management company there is little risk its a scam.

scrubbedexpat091

I am so glad BC doesnt do last and first months rent. Would be impossible for us to rent in ON it seems. The first month rent plus 1/2 month damage desposit is hard enough.

Are fixed term leases required in ON? Is that what you mean by standard lease?

We have rental agreements in BC but they can be either fixed term or month to month.

Twitcher1958

We live in Whitby and a couple of realtors have high profiles - Lisa Fayle (who we used and would recommend) and Tanya Tierney. Neither seem to advertise rentals on their websites though.
A British friend, who rents in Whitby, suggests you contact Rosemary Brown, or her daughter (Century 21) on 905 683 2100 and mention her name - Aisha

HGerchikov

Generally leases start as a fixed term (but they don't have to) and then after that term expires they automatically go month to month, unless the tenant gives notice that they are leaving. Whatever the terms of the lease it is now mandatory that they are put on a standard lease form, basically it has all the information agreed - term of lease, rent, how rent to be paid, plus other things like what is included, but it also has several pages that outline the rules for landlords and tenants under the Residential Tenancies Act. It is really just a way of making sure the relevant information is available (and can be shown to have been available) to both sides.

HGerchikov

I am glad it helped, and that you had a productive chat with your realtor. The problem with emails is it is difficult to get the motivation behind your words across and its so easy to misunderstand where a person is coming from. FYI - all emails read great at 1am after a couple of glasses of Glenfiddich!

scrubbedexpat091

Thanks. BC encourages the use of the RTA rental agreement as its written in plain English easy to understand, but some management companies/realtors/landlords use their own, some try to sneak in clauses not allowed but any clause like that is null and void under the RTA.

Seems to vary here, some started fixed and then go to month to month, and others are month to month from the start, really just depends on what the landlord wants, tenants don't really get much choice unless your renting high end rentals where there is less demand and more of a tenants market, but normal renters its very much a landlords market.

The current government finally closed the loophole that used to exist, where fixed term leases used to have 2 options at the end, month to month or move out/re-negotiate, it was a way landlords used to get around the rent increase rules, so at the end your rent could sky rocket and you were forced to move almost every year if you could not afford the new rent being offered, but finally closed that loophole, and all fixed term revert to month to month and both parties have to give appropriate notice to end it at the end, otherwise it just continues on.

I was moving an average once a year before the loop hole closed as rent would sometimes double and I could never afford the new rent amount so always had to move, was a pain.

Engineer_abroad

Once a fixed term tenancy goes to month to month it allows the tenant to give notice to leave. A landlord must evict the tenant and can only do so for specific reasons. A landlord in B.C. cannot give notice just because it is month to month.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h...andlord-notice

DandNHill

I too am a realtor and also not in your area so this is just for advice, not looking for business.

I find in my area that the best place to look for a rental, when new to Canada, is in the new subdivisions. As an example in my city there is a new subdivision of townhouses and there must be about 30 towns currently listed for lease. This means that if the landlord wants to get the edge on the other landlords he is going to need to be open minded. So worth looking at new subdivisions even if that's not what you would ideally want. It's not like you're buying at this stage...

My experience with landlords and newcomers is that each landlords' comfort level is different. One landlord will welcome you with open arms and the next will prefer to leave the property empty. Some have accepted the Experian credit report others refuse because "they can't confirm it's authenticity". So you just have to try until one says yes. Offer more upfront, sometimes even as much as six months...

Somebody mentioned previously about a pet security deposit...that's illegal, but again if that's what you have to do to secure the property sometimes you have to just accept that it's going to be outside of the realms of the Landlord and Tenancy Board (I'm not encouraging it, just being realistic based on my experience).

MRCT

Adding on to Twitcher1958’s post (#23), I live in Whitby and can also vouch for the integrity and honesty of Lisa Fayle. She and her team can arrange rentals in Durham Region and she also has strong UK connections.

I do have a few comments and questions:

1) As others have said, “your provisos are very unrealistic”, new renters are not in a strong bargaining position in the GTA.

2) You wrote “My wife and I are relocating”, are you bringing all your household possessions? If not, you will need furnished accommodation, which reduces your options.

3) Is it just the 2 of you or will children come as well?

4) Where will you be working? Toronto is not like London, where you can live anywhere in a 360 degree area and communicate to the city centre. Toronto has 180 degrees of water (Lake Ontario), increasing communicating distances within the other 180 degrees.

5) You will almost certainly need a car, which I have not seen mentioned in earlier posts. Even if you plan to take a train to work, you will probably need a car to get to the station! Also the train options are not as good as you are used to in London.

I will be happy to answer any more questions or comments you may have!

sharkus

Depending on where you live, the local bus service might be good enough to get you to and from the nearest GO station. I certainly used to use Oakville Transit to get to / from Bronte GO. Yes it'll take longer than driving, but it can be done.
I've only used Lakeshore West GO line, so I'm not completely positive on the service level of Lakeshore East GO, which I presume is the line that'd be used, but I thought it was on the same level as Lakeshore West.