All Forum Posts by: Mark L.

 Ask for references.  You could ask to see some photo id when they sign the lease.  When talking to the references, make sure they are not relatives.  Ask how long they've been at the current rental, why they are moving, etc.

Hey Mark!

Whether you use a realtor or find a tenant yourself is up to you. You should be able to advertise the unit and screen tenants yourself pretty easily unless you just don’t want to do that at all. To answer the rest of your questions:

1. You would need the Ontario Residential Tenancy Agreement for you and your tenant to sign where all the clauses and rules are basically outlined there for you. You can add your own clauses as well. That’s your lease agreement. 

2. The standard is 2 recent pay stubs, employment letter and credit report. 

3. That is, again, up to you. I would make sure they make a good enough income for the rent you are commanding, that their job seems more secure and they have a good credit score. 

4. If you get a good tenant they should pay if they break something. This can’t really be enforced though, Ontario is very tenant friendly. 

5. Like stated above, your leases are typically for a year and you can only raise rents once a year. There is a limit to how much you can raise them too and it fluctuates. I don’t remember off the top of my head but I think last I checked it was like 2% per year. 

Hope that helps! 

Ontario is very tenant friendly.  You should be able to find a standard lease for ON online.  You might want to talk to a property manager.  Once you set the price for rent, that is what it is until the lease expires (usually 1 year).  If it is a condo, give them a copy of the condo rules and make them sign in the lease that they have received and read the condo rules and will follow them.