All Forum Posts by: Robert Burciul

Welcome Eric, 

I’m also from the Niagara Region. Let’s chat!

Perhaps @Jacob Perez could help in this area. 

@Samantha L.

Consider yourself very lucky. In Ontario a month to month tenant is basically the same as having a lease that never ends. Serving them a notice to vacate is illegal unless the owner or their immediate family is planning to move in and even then I believe you have to give them 3 months notice. And as of last year you must pay them an additional months rent. All the rights land on the side of tenants here. 

@Steven B.

The seller wasn’t willing to give vacant possession unfortunately. But yeah, I planned on raising their rent the 1.8% I was just hoping I might have an opportunity to weasel more out of them. Their rent is currently at an odd number (something like $944.65) so I’m pretty positive it’s been raised by the legal minimum yearly anyway and I’m guessing that means they know their rights with regards to that. 

Though their rent is below market value I don’t have intentions of evicting them. The process is just too big of a headache and it wouldn’t be worth it to buy them out, then make repairs and have to go through the process of finding a new tenant since they wish to stay for another 5 years and seem to be responsible I’m not concerned. My concern is that A) I have no written lease with them and B) I don’t have their last months rent deposit. Raising their rent is an after thought. I purchased the property under the expectation that these tenants would remain there at their current rate and factored this into my calculations. The reason I’m considering raising the rent is because I’m thinking that I may possibly have an opportunity to do so at this point by getting them to sign a new lease (which was suggested by my lawyer) however, it’s most likely that they have the right to refuse to sign a new agreement. 

@Roy N. 

This is what I had anticipated. Thanks for your confirmation, haha. 

I don’t fear them disappearing to save their deposit however. My fear is that they’ll refuse to pay if forward to me and since landlords have very few rights in my province there isn’t much I could do. 

I clearly didn’t do enough due diligence and this is certainly a learning experience for me. In the future I will always use an estoppel agreement which up until now I’ve never even heard of. 

Thanks for your advice I plan to do exactly that.  

@Roy N. do you think I can have my lawyer demand that the deposit be transferred to me as apposed to the tenants? 

I’ve certainly got some reading to do! Unfortunately I close on Monday so I’m pretty crunched for time. I was under the impression that I would be given a lease and the deposit would be transferred to me. Unfortunately the property management company is impossible to get in touch with and my lawyer was surprised to hear that there’s were even tenants. 

I appreciate your input!

@Sivakumar Ganapathy are you absolutely positive that you are billed on a monthly basis? Where I am I get my water bills every three months and they average about $240 each time. Possibly you’re billed the same and haven’t realized since this is the first property you’ve owned in this jurisdiction?

Either way I’m sorry you even had such a poor experience with this PM company.