Hi All!

.... that you can only put one offer in at a time on a place when looking to rent in Canada? Have a week booked (from 31st May) to get a place in Toronto from 1st July for me and the family, and have been having discussions with a GREAT Realtor (really, anyone looking in TO - PM me) but a little worried that time is short and if can only do one offer at a time then things could get dicey ... perhaps.

Guess you can spread bet by going via Kijiji/ViewIt etc too (yes?), but just wondered if anyone could clarify the above for me please.

Thanks
Mike

If the offer you make is contractually binding then it would be somewhat foolish to make two at the same time but, otherwise, there's no law against it that I'm aware of. Who told you otherwise?

Another Realtor. Presume that things are only contractually binding once an offer has been accepted ... ? Unless you sign an Agreement at point of making the offer? I'm obviously not looking to mess anyone around, but on the other hand what's to stop 3 people making an offer on the same property and two people missing out ...? Ta

Why would one put in an offer when renting?

Anytime I have ever rented, met with landlord/management company etc, viewed it, filled out rental application, approved generally same day or next day, signed rental agreement.

Never had to make an offer of any sort.

You got me confused.

I'm not sure what you mean by "putting in an offer when looking to rent".

You put in an application which the landlord will think over (possibly checking references etc.) then s/he will decide to rent to one of the possibly many applicants at his/her discretion.

At that point you would sign a rental agreement/contract which would be binding.

On edit: What he ^^ said

So no-one here has ever tried to negotiate on the rent/length of lease/size of deposit? Wouldnt that be making an offer??

Tbh, I've never heard of it being binding but I never really looked in to it.

FYI in Toronto for renting the only 'deposit' that can be legally required is the last months rent. The landlord can't demand any other dposit e.g. security or cleaning etc. The building the apartment is in, or more likely if you rent/sublet a condo off someone might have their own fees like deposits for duplicate keys etc. but the landlord can't demand extra deposits. They also can't demand post dated cheques although a lot do.

I guess you could try and negotiate, however if there are lots of applicants, may may keep missing out on the good places. Anywhere that's hard to rent you may get a deal. Nothing wrong with trying I guess.

Having spent half the weekend with real estate agents, I'm interested in this concept. What makes a "GREAT realtor"? One who knows the price of the property being shown and doesn't have half a dozen flyers with different prices? One who doesn't blatantly lie about the cost of renovations or the level of danger in other districts? One who is interested in selling the property in which he sits? One with a notion of timeliness? One who doesn't say "it would cost you nothing to use me"?

As a 'landlord' I have reduced the size of deposit required (and even waived it once) as a way to make it possible for a suitable person to become my tenant. Those moves have always come from me.

Not everyone who can afford the rent can also come up with a deposit for me and the power company (if needed) and moving costs all at the same time.

If someone 'offers' me less than the fair rent I'm asking I'm going to take the view that they might not be the sort of tenant I want.

Accepting a lower rent is something for when I have trouble attracting tenants. It's not happened yet.

I was in BC and the deposit is 1/2 month rent regulated by law, doubt a land lord will go much lower if at all since its not high to start with.

Never had a lease, always month to month, never had a landlord in BC ask for a lease, just a rental agreement for a month to month.

I've never negotiated and I think my past landlords would have laughed if I tried, the rent was pretty much set in stone and well within the going rates for my area.

All that's well and good, but the OP was asking about making an offer, and the response seemed to include a lot of blank faces, as if making an offer to a landlord was a strange concept....

The rent for my house was originally listed a $1800. I made an offer at $1500 and we agreed at $1600.
A work colleague made an offer to become a tenant in a condo but on the condition the damage deposit was waived... and it was.

haven't heard of anyone hiring a realtor for rentals before...nor negotiating a whole lot on rentals ...sounds like a money grab for those without access to/ interest in the internet?

We put in an offer for our place when we rented it. There was someone else interested so the landlord tried to start a bidding war, which we refused to participate in. We did offer the first year up front (just arrived from the UK), and that did the trick.

I've accepted 12 different tenants in my time as a landlord. For each of the 12 vacancies I've typically held 4 or 5 viewings, so as many as 60 potential tenants interested, liking what they saw and only once did anyone ask if I'd take a lower rent. As he was a 16 year old boy it wasn't difficult to say no.

Nobody has asked for reductions in, or waiving, the deposit. If I was happy to have them as a tenant and I was satisfied the only difficulty for them was everything coming in one go (Rent and deposit, moving costs, deposit to power company, any furnishings needed etc) then I might suggest flexibility in the deposit but not the rent.

Aside from the kid the only real 'offer' coming from a potential tenant has been around staggered payments on the initial outlay.