techwizard

Hi all,

When we move to BC in a few weeks, it is our plan to rent a place for a little while before deciding whether to buy.

A lot of adverts for suites and condos for rent ask for references. If I have owned property in the UK and never rented, who do they expect the references to come from ?

GW

Helena81

I would also like to ask this question. My husband and I live in Cyprus, and it would be easy for us to obtain rental references from our previous two landlords. Would they even be considered in Canada? We wouldn't like the thought of moving there and not being able to rent a place of our own!

AmyDavid

When we rented in BC we didn't need to give any references though did say if there was a problem we would be willing to put down a larger deposit. This always seemed to do the trick - even though no-one actually asked us to put down a larger deposit!

Helen Parnell

As a property manager, I always make sure that expats have a job to come to if they have no references. I have told people (and it has worked) to get a letter from your current neighbour, stating that you are nice ( only if you are) cut the grass, quite and that you have looked after your current house.

bazzz

That's not actually legal though is it? I thought they were only allowed to hold half a month's rent as damage deposit.

AmyDavid

Well no, it isn't legal, which we knew, so we knew no-one would take us up on the offer, but it sounded good....

Helena81

haha - that's great, Amy.

Zap0ne

Hi,

The majority of landlords are looking for your ability to pay the lease and also how responsible you are to look after the property and how financially responsible you are. Most will not be interested in handing over the keys to the castle just because you say you are a nice person....and I am sure you are. This is also a product of supply verses demand as in Toronto Landlords can be a bit picky with this as another potential renter will be along shortly.

Here in Ontario, most landlords require a Rental Application, employment letter to show that you have income and a credit report. Like most things, things change from Province to Province. Looking good on paper is key to renting a place quickly and in a location that you want to live. Without employment it is tricky.

Here is an Ontario standard Rental Application as an example.

Hope that this helps