Archive

Landlord news and opinion we wrote between 2012 and 2021. Laws, figures and links may have changed since.

Nova Scotia Needs Better Enforcement Of Their RTAThe provincial government has introduced changes in the bill Nova Scotia’s population is booming. The pandemic-driven influx of people moving to the province coupled with the trend of rental…November 1, 2021
Ontario Lawyers Help Tenants Pro BonoAs per the CBC, The Ontario Bar Association has launched a new pro bono legal service to assist tenants who are at risk of losing their homes when residential evictions resume soon across the…February 21, 2021
Sudbury’s Landlords Have Had EnoughA combination of Covid 19 and the province’s budgetary restraint are to blame for ridiculous eviction hearing backlogs Months long waits for tribunal hearings are leading the Greater Sudbury Landlord…October 31, 2020
Nova Scotia Needs To Revisit Their Residential Tenancies ActThere’s a serious loophole in the province’s law This is a doozy of a story that both CBC and the National Post reported on. Jason Selby just wanted to rent his house out to a good tenant. When he…October 24, 2019
London Mulls Making Landlords Pay For PartiesThe city is known for epic illegal student street parties – also known as FOCO – or “fake homecoming”. London, Ontario is a party town, evidently. In a classic case of municipal policy clashing with…May 1, 2019
Canadian Bank Survey Reveals Interesting Landlord StatisticsMore than one quarter of Canadian homeowners are landlords Back in May, CIBC published a survey entitled So… you wanna be a landlord? Tax considerations for rental properties. The report outlines tax…July 2, 2018
Kathleen Wynne Makes An Attempt To Mitigate Lease and Tenancy Issues*Photo by Jason Hargrove Kathleen Wynne and Minister of Housing Peter Milczyn have introduced a new standardized lease in Ontario and guide book, set to begin use by the province’s private landlords…February 27, 2018
Quebec Landlords Introduce No Weed Clauses In LeasesJuly 1st, 2018 marks the day the drug will be legal, but landlords are taking steps to ban smoking and growing pot in units which fuels what will ultimately be a national debate Under Quebec’s…January 15, 2018
Criminal Fraudsters Too Often Effectively Game Provincial LegislationThe eviction process in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec typically takes between 3½ to five months. Due diligence is an absolute essential. Go Public published a really interesting story this week…November 30, 2017
B.C. RTB Rent Increase Creating Tough Dialogue With PoliticiansMuch Like In Toronto, The Issue Is Supply As per the CBC, The B.C. Residential Tenancy Branch has set the maximum allowable rent increase for 2018 at four per cent — making it the largest potential…August 29, 2017
Report Reveals Renting From Small Landlords Is CheaperBig news from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation! They released their Housing Market Insight report at the beginning of the month. Individual investors and private corporations own about 90…July 18, 2017
“Illegal” Rent Deposits Illustrate The Frustration of Landlords in QuebecApparently, it’s true, as per the CBC. About a third of landlords in Quebec have requested an illegal deposit, according to a recent survey by the landlord association CORPIQ. Landlords claims the…July 5, 2017
Landlords Have Legitimate Issues with Canada’s Half Baked LegislationThe Federal government didn’t bother to get into specifics on upcoming marijuana legislation. The tabled cannabis law proposes allowing Canadians to grow 4 plants per person at home – whether they…April 23, 2017
An Argument Against Rent Control To Deal With Ontario’s 1991 Rent ExemptionLiving in Downtown Toronto Condos Is Not A Right. We made the news this week! The CBC’s Lisa Naccarato called me on Monday to offer a comment on Ontario’s 1991 Mike Harris rental “loophole” –…March 30, 2017
Guys, You Should Tell Your Landlord If You’re Going To Grow Pot.A grow-op, whether legal or not, is still a high-risk activity In August of 2016, Health Canada expanded rules for medical marijuana patients through the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes…March 7, 2017
A big update for RentingwellMan! Four years just whipped by. We launched Rentingwell back in 2012 with the novel idea that we wanted to create simple and cost-effective software for landlords to manage their rental properties…February 2, 2017
Absolute Idiocy On Unpaid Electrical Bills in Prince Edward IslandIn another fantastic assumption that landlords are rich, entitled building owners, the wise city councillors in Summerside, Prince Edward Island are contemplating what to do about unpaid electrical…September 11, 2016
Perfect Storm For Landlords in AlbertaThe slow down in the oil patch is affecting Alberta’s major city residential landlords. Seriously. The market was once quite hot. Now…not so much. CBC reported a doubling of the vacancy rate late…August 9, 2016
Tenant Assured Isn’t What Landlords NeedBritish data mining startup Score Assured has developed a system that claims to accurately determine a person’s financial and personal worthiness based on their social media reputation and history…June 23, 2016
No… Tenants Can’t Just Airbnb Their Place in QuebecIt seems like you can do everything on the internet these days. Airbnb is and has been a wonderful way to make a bit of extra cash when it comes to renting out your home, cottage, or vacation…May 26, 2016
Ontario’s Landlord & Tenant Act Has More Holes Than A Block of Swiss Cheese.I’m pretty sick and tired of hearing the variety of gripes about landlords. Very few people like landlords and it’s easy as pie to pick on them. Too easy. As a matter of fact, I’m going to take it a…January 16, 2015
What Is Up With Mayors and Mayor Hopefuls Piping Up About Landlords?I don’t get it. Naheed Nenshi told Calgary’s landlords to be “ethical” last week and not gouge tenants. Ok fine. Now -Toronto mayoral hopeful Olivia Chow is on the campaign trail saying she’s going…October 25, 2014
Mayor Naheed Nenshi Thinks Calgary’s Landlords Need To Take It Down A ChevronMayor Naheed Nenshi is a great mayor. The majority of Calgarians think so. He’s a responsive and witty guy, and clearly he’s doing something right. I’m personally quite fond of him too – especially…October 21, 2014
Home Insurance Industry Kicks Montreal Landlord To The Curb After RepairMontreal property owner Sari Buksner is in the midst of a nightmare of sorts, courtesy of her insurance company, and she’s yet to wake up from it. Back in 2012, one of her tenants alerted her to a…October 8, 2014
Yukon’s Landlords Get A BreakLandlords in Yukon got a break recently with a decision by the government to cancel a 13 million dollar affordable rental housing program in what is already a highly crowded rental market. Terry…June 28, 2014
Professional Tenants Need To Pay Or They’re Going To The Big HouseLast month…we talked about Susan and Chris Perret, the notoriously terrible tenants who have been professionally squeezing a bunch of B.C. landlords. On April 28, a judge in Port Coquitlam small…May 6, 2014
Landlord Sues Grow Op Operators For Destroying The Place!A landlord in Calgary is suing former tenants for $105,000 after police discovered a grow-op in the rental property in 2011, which caused extensive damage to the house. David Gin and Michelle Chen…April 21, 2014
6th Time’s a Charm For Deadbeat Tenants!Susan and Chris Perret have been served with an eviction notice again — the sixth time in two years and only one day after the CBC first broke the story on these two. Cara Falconer said she rented to…April 15, 2014
Professional Tenants Royally Screw Multiple B.C. LandlordsCBC ran an exclusive story this morning on two highly professional tenants who are working the system in a huge way in British Columbia. Susan and Chris Perret, have lived nearly rent-free in at…April 10, 2014
Saskatchewan Reviews Dumb Law That Allows Landlords To Discriminate Based On SexSaskatchewan’s Justice Minister Gord Wyant is reviewing a decades old section of the province’s Human Rights Code that permits discrimination against some renters over sexual orientation. The code…March 28, 2014
Landlords Are Getting Pooched By Utility CompaniesLet’s be honest. We’re all kind of getting pooched by utility companies. With that said, it’s clearly a dog’s breakfast in New Brunswick, where everyone is paying 8 times what people are paying in…March 25, 2014
Holy Geez! What The Hell Is Going On In Halifax?So…this happened in January. Halifax resident Devon Berquist had some house issues to return to after a short trip away. While those were being addressed, she claimed the landlord put her up in an…March 23, 2014
Acorn Calls For Burnaby Standards Of Maintenance BylawBurnaby, British Columbia renters require more protection against landlords who don’t keep their rental units safe and healthy, says ACORN Canada. The reason? Landlords are sometimes keeping their…January 24, 2014
Get A Free iPad When You Rent In HalifaxAdd this to the curious situation file. Caught this piece today about the glut of vacant apartments in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Apparently – being a landlord lately in the provincial capital is not an…November 19, 2013
Ottawa Couple Face Eviction Over Autistic Son’s Wall Shaking NoiseAdd this to the “difficult situation” file and try coming to a conclusion on how you feel about this one after hearing the whole story. The Ottawa Citizen reported parents Keri Oastler and John From…October 15, 2013
Freemen On The Land Is Not So Free After AllAs reported earlier this weekend, Andreas Pirelli (a.k.a. Andreas Antonacci) was arrested and removed from Rebekah Caverhil’s duplex after a being ordered to evict the premises by the court of the…September 30, 2013
Embassy Tenant Andreas Pirelli Arrested This Morning In CalgaryHere’s an interesting development to the story with Andreas Pirelli. According to the Globe and Mail, he was arrested this morning in Calgary without incident from the duplex he “rented” from…September 28, 2013
Judge Orders Eviction For Freeman On The Land EmbassyGood news this morning. CTV reported that Andreas Pirelli has been ordered to leave Rebekah Caverhill’s duplex by a judge of the court of Queen’s bench – by this weekend. As in 12:01 a.m. Saturday…September 25, 2013
Alberta Freeman On The Land Makes Life Difficult For Alberta Pensioner LandlordEvery landlord needs to be made aware of this situation. I read this piece in the Huffington Post today, and it made me quite angry. It ups the game in professional tenancy and redefines people…September 22, 2013
Vancouver Landlord Redefines Being AmazingWhen tenants hashtag #amazeballs to a picture of their landlord, they’re thinking of George Woolsey. For the uninitiated, I’ll give you a quick recap of the situation involving Vancouver’s best…September 17, 2013
Why You Can't Just Look at a Cap RateWhat a cap rate tells you about an income property, and the four things it doesn't: tenant quality, condition, appreciation and income potential.September 15, 2013
Welcome to Rentingwell: GastownHey folks. Welcome to “Gastown”, our newest version of Rentingwell. This has been about 4 months of work under the hood, which we decided to name after Vancouver’s historic Gastown district. Our old…September 9, 2013
The End Of A Basement Apartment RenovationWell….it’s done. 3 months, $33,000 later, and about 700 views on this video – the basement apartment from hell has been transformed. Check out the gallery of before – midway – and after images I’ve…August 31, 2013
Why Landlords Need To Change Their Perspective On Energy EfficiencyCame across this great piece about two Chicago landlords who decided that energy efficiency was going to be a central focus on their investment. Sandeep Sood and his wife own Chicago’s Jeffery…August 16, 2013
It’s Time To Give Secondary Suite Landlords A BreakLandlords aren’t just people who own multi families and apartment buildings. Secondary suite landlords are numerous in Canada and the United States, and it’s on the rise. I’m going to give a bit of…August 2, 2013
The Continuing Saga Of A Basement Apartment RenovationSo the continuing saga of my basement apartment renovation moves forth. I say continuing saga because it feels like a journey to Mordor. Since my last post about this, I’ve managed to get a lot done…July 26, 2013
A Little Glimpse Into Why We’re Doing This…Two years ago, we all teamed up in Vancouver with two things. A revelation and an idea. The revelation was that we knew that the web could make what we considered to be the thankless job of being a…July 19, 2013
Vacancy Rate Hits 7.8% in Prince Edward IslandCame across this interesting piece this morning. The vacancy rate in Prince Edward Island’s urban centers hit 7.8%. According to the CMHC, this is a 3% increase versus last year. The number of vacant…July 7, 2013
Basement Unit Renovation 2: This Time We Mean BusinessConstruction on the basement apartment is continuing. In my first post on the project, I discussed some of the obstacles I was facing as I transformed a dank and crappy basement unit into something…July 1, 2013
Landlords, Tenants, and Floods. This Is For You Alberta.Came across this great piece at Law Now, that touches on the mess that Alberta’s floods have wreaked on both landlords and tenants in the province. The Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta has…July 1, 2013
Ottawa’s Vacancy Rate Has Almost Doubled Since Last YearLandlords in the national capital region – take notice! Ottawa’s vacancy rate has almost doubled since last year according to this piece by the CBC. John Dickie, chair of the Eastern Ontario Landlord…June 22, 2013
Vancouver Landlords May Lose The Right To Deny Tenants With PetsCame across this great article by Jesse Ferreras at the Huffington Post B.C. As landlords, all of us have been faced with the question of renting to a pet owner. Denying tenancy because of a pet is…June 20, 2013
10 Traits of a Great LandlordResponsive, fair, firm and well informed: ten traits that make a landlord great, from a landlord.June 7, 2013
Lions…Tigers…and Renovating A Basement Unit. Oh My…I’m going to share a progressing story with all of you. I’m renovating a basement apartment that desperately needed some attention. 3 weeks ago, I had a tenant move out of said basement apartment…June 3, 2013
The Do’s and Dont’s of Eviction For Repairs in British ColumbiaGod Bless Lisa N. Mackie. She’s a lawyer at Alexandar Holburn Beaudin and Lang LLP in good ole’ Vancouver. She wrote an article at Mondaq about what you can and can’t do when evicting a tenant for…May 15, 2013
Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Landlord?The Globe and Mail published this great piece a few days ago entitled, “Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Landlord?”. It offers a sober look at the pros of being a landlord and the benefits of income…May 12, 2013
Introducing Rent ReceiptsDear landlords, We rolled out a cool new feature for our active trials and current customers. It’s a rent receipts feature in Rentingwell, that makes supplying receipts for rent received from…April 15, 2013
Scamming Puts Landlords In A Bad LightI was disappointed to come across this article today. http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2013/04/03/online-rental-scams-pose-as-landlords We’ve covered this topic before. The guy in the piece was caught by…April 14, 2013
Saskatchewan Kyboshes Rent ControlsThe provincial government in Saskatchewan says it will not implement a system of rent control for residential tenants in the province. This was in response to the plight of a group of tenants who…March 11, 2013
To-do Lists Have Been Pushed Live! Welcome to v1.2Dear landlords, We’ve pushed out a new update (v1.2 for those keeping score) of Rentingwell this morning. First thing you’ll notice is that your dashboards look a little different: we’ve added a new…March 8, 2013
Canadian Real Estate Needs An Innovative Kick In The AssSmall landlords are a component of arguably one of the least innovative markets on the web in Canada: real estate. When it comes to using services in the cloud, it’s a bit behind the pack. Strange…February 15, 2013
Rentingwell Gets Nominated For A 2013 Bootstrap Award!Boot-strapping: A situation in which an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital. An individual is said to be boot strapping when he or she attempts to found and build a company from…February 13, 2013
Why A Mortgage Broker Is A Landlord’s Best FriendHad the opportunity to sit down today with one of our customers, Jacquie Bushell, of Oriana Financial, to discuss why a good mortgage broker should be one of the main contacts of every landlord and…February 4, 2013
No One’s Happy with Rent Increase Propositions In QuébecRead this piece yesterday in the Montreal Gazette. The province’s Régie du logement du Québec announced proposed rent hikes for 2013 on January 25th, and the ire of both landlords and tenants was…January 28, 2013
Professional Tenants Create Pain For LandlordsProfessional tenants who know how to work the system cost small landlords months of rent. Due diligence before move-in is the best defence.January 23, 2013
Oh No! I Have A Marijuana Grow-Op In My Rental Property!I don’t really, but what better way to get your attention? As landlords, most of us have heard of that old urban myth. You know the one… a guy who knows a guy, who’s a landlord, who suddenly finds…January 15, 2013
When To Consider Selling Your Rental PropertyCame across this great piece in the Globe and Mail that talks about a couple who became landlords after keeping the previous residences they had prior to moving in with one another. Robert and Tara…January 14, 2013
The Anatomy Of A Killer Rental ListingYou have a vacancy and you’re keen on getting a great tenant in the unit. You want your available unit to stand out from the crowd in a big way. I mean – everyone does – but, you don’t know where to…January 4, 2013
Rethink Your Rental ListingsYou have an apartment for rent. It’s awesome. You are going to rent the hell out of it, right? Quickly too! You’re going to hit up Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr, every directory you can get your…January 3, 2013
RCMP Warns Alberta Landlords and Tenants About Kijiji Rental ScamCame across this informative piece courtesy of the Alberta Landlords Association. The RCMP issued a formal warning to landlords and tenants in Canmore, Alberta about a Kijiji scam. I took special…December 27, 2012
My Two Cents On Sizing Up A Rental Property Before Purchase….I’m a strong advocate of approaching property investment as a business first, and as an investment second (a close second) — especially if you’re planning on managing a rental property like one of…December 24, 2012
Coin-Operated Laundry For TenantsWhatever you’re doing… stop. We need to talk about something important. Laundry. Everyone does it. Some of us are ashamed by it. Some of us do it in private. Whatever way you do it, it’s essential to…December 21, 2012
Landlord Fumes Over Tenant Damages in SarniaCame across this piece in the Sarnia Observer. A local landlord got burned by tenants who had been evicted. I think this really emphasizes the necessity to inspect a unit prior to a tenant leaving as…December 20, 2012
Christmas Cheer!Hey everyone, Christmas is upon us (it’s the last Wednesday before the big day), and we had a few things we wanted to share with everyone. As you may or may not know, we have a handy listings feature…December 19, 2012
Dealing With Difficult TenantsDifficult tenants are a reality for every landlord. Four ways to handle them: set expectations, stay responsive, know the law, and avoid the Board when you can.December 19, 2012
Ottawa’s Residential Rental Vacancy Rate Climbs to 2.5%A few days ago, Ottawa realtor Roch St. Georges sent this my way, courtesy of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It’s the CMHC’s rental market report for 2012. The Ottawa Business Journal…December 17, 2012
The Crazy Awesome Landlord FormHad this video sent to me recently and I’ve found myself watching it a few times. While not totally my style, it’s interesting to watch. The video is courtesy of J.P. Moses at REI Tips (Real Estate…December 17, 2012
Nova Scotia Changes Their Landlord & Tenant ActChanges are a brewin’ in Nova Scotia. The province has made some amendments (what many landlords and renters consider to be overdue) to their landlord and tenant act that have taken effect November…December 12, 2012
Being A Landlord Isn't EasyMost landlords aren't rich. They're regular people who took on a mortgage, a building and a hard job. Why we started Rentingwell, now Rentingwell.November 2, 2012