The new standardized lease agreement was created by the Ontario government for private residential leases of various property types including single and semi-detached houses, apartment buildings, condos and secondary units.
Effective April 30th, 2018, all leases used by a landlord in Ontario must be drawn up on the new standardized lease. For any lease that is signed after this date that is not the standard lease, the tenant will have the right to ask the landlord for a standardized lease in writing. The landlord is required to provide one within 21 days of the request. If one is not provided, the tenant can withhold one month’s rent.
If you’re thinking about looking after the rental of your own investment property, here are some useful links:
The purpose of the standard lease: The purpose
Residential Tenancy Agreement (in all formats): Agreement in all formats
(Remember it must be downloaded or opened in Adboe Acrobat Reader only. If you open it another program there will be many sections missing.)
Brochure: Information for New Tenants: Brochure
Brochures about the rights & responsibilities of landlords & tenants: Other Information
When we handle a client’s rental income property, we do a thorough screening of any prospective tenant. Here’s the information that we gather:
- Photo identification such as a driver’s license and/or passport
- Letter of employment
- Last two Notices of Assessment
- Equifax or TransUnion Credit Report
- Full Contact Information (work, home and cell phone numbers)
- Last two places they’ve lived & landlord’s contact info
- Who will occupy the property (names and ages)
- Personal References (unrelated persons that they have known for 5+ years)
- Work References
- Banking Information
- Vehicle Information
If this seems like too much to take on, we can act as your listing agent. The fee for our listing service is one month’s rent (½ to the listing agent and ½ to the buyer’s agent.) Want a property manager to act on your behalf? We can do that too. Give us a call to discuss the various property management options available.*