Real Estate Wolf

Services

Leasing, from both sides.

I represent landlords who want the unit filled by someone who pays and stays, and tenants who need an application strong enough to win the place they actually want.

If you own the unit.

The steps, in the order they actually happen. Most of what protects you sits in the middle of this list, not at the end.

  1. Decide what you are actually renting

    Whole house or a suite, parking and utilities in or out, furnished or empty — each choice changes who applies. A secondary suite also has to be legal to rent, and the municipality and the fire department decide that, not me.

  2. Set the asking rent

    I look at comparable units in your pocket of the city, what has leased and what is sitting unleased. Then we agree on a number, and on what we do if the phone stays quiet.

  3. Prepare and photograph it

    Empty, clean, every light on, blinds up. Photos, measurements and a description that answers the questions people would otherwise phone to ask.

  4. List it and field the inquiries

    The listing goes on the board's MLS® system, which feeds the public portals. Inquiries come to me and I qualify each one, so your evenings are not spent on showings that were going nowhere.

  5. Collect a complete application

    Rental application, photo identification, a credit report, an employment letter with pay stubs, a previous landlord reference. Self-employed applicants can show a notice of assessment. Newcomers and students often have no Canadian credit file — proof of funds, a guarantor or a letter of enrolment does the same job.

  6. Verify it rather than read it

    I call the employer on a number I found myself, not the one printed on the letter, and I ask the previous landlord questions a friend posing as one cannot answer.

  7. Choose, within the rules

    The Ontario Human Rights Code governs this. Income, credit history, rental history and references can be weighed. Family status, place of origin, receipt of public assistance, disability and the other protected grounds cannot.

  8. Sign the standard lease, hand over keys properly

    Most Ontario tenancies must use the provincial standard lease, with anything unusual written into the additional terms. Photograph the condition on move-in day, move the utilities across, and give receipts.

If you need the unit.

An application is a small pitch. The goal is to be complete before anyone else is.

  1. Build the package before you tour

    Identification, a credit report you pulled yourself, an employment letter, pay stubs and a landlord reference, together in one file. The unit you want will not wait while you chase documents.

  2. Know your ceiling

    Rent, utilities, parking, insurance and the commute come out of the same paycheque. Set the number before you see something above it.

  3. View quickly, and in person

    Seeing a unit the day it lists rather than at the weekend is often the whole outcome. I book showings as they come up instead of batching them.

  4. Apply the same day, and apply completely

    A landlord reading a finished file that evening will act on it. A stronger applicant whose documents arrive piece by piece loses to that file regularly.

  5. Offer terms, not just money

    Start date, lease length and how fast you can sign all matter. Extra months up front can be offered, but no landlord can require them and not everyone will accept them.

  6. Read the added terms, then move in properly

    Guests, smoking, pets, snow and grass — the surprises live in the additional terms, and none of them override the Residential Tenancies Act. On move-in day photograph everything, put the utilities in your name, and keep every receipt.

What people get wrong.

None of these are edge cases. They come up in ordinary files, on both sides, and every one of them is easier to handle before it arrives than after.

  • There is no damage deposit in Ontario

    What you collect is a rent deposit, and it can only ever be applied to the last month of the tenancy. It is not a repair fund, and damage cannot be taken out of it.

  • Post-dated cheques cannot be a condition

    A tenant may offer them, or set up automatic payment. A landlord cannot make either one a requirement of getting the unit.

  • A fixed term does not end the tenancy

    When the term runs out, the tenancy generally continues month to month on the same terms. Assuming the tenant is simply out on the last day is the classic mistake.

  • A signature does not make a clause enforceable

    Added terms that conflict with the Residential Tenancies Act are void even though both sides signed them. Worth knowing before you write one, or agree to one.

  • Money changes hands after the agreement

    A deposit is taken once the tenancy is agreed, never to hold a unit while someone decides. Be wary of anyone asking for funds before a viewing.

  • Know where my job stops

    I am a Realtor®, not a lawyer or a paralegal. Notices to end a tenancy, arrears and anything headed to the Landlord and Tenant Board need proper legal advice.

Where I lease.

Rental demand and the mix of what is available shift from one town to the next. Each area page goes further.

The rest of what I do.

Leasing sits beside the rest of my work, and files move between them — a tenant who is buying the next year, an owner who leases a unit now and comes back to selling when the season is right.

Or start back at the home page.

Tell me which side you are on.

Send me the unit or the search and I will tell you honestly what it needs. If you own it and are weighing a lease against a sale, start with an evaluation.

Get my home value416 800 0680s.farhan@century21.ca

Farhan Amdani (Samiullah)

Realtor® · Durrani Real Estate Group

Century 21 Property Zone Realty Inc.