8 Secrets to Renting
by Christopher Kellett
(Calgary, AB)
8 Secrets on How to Protect Youself when renting in Calgary
You can also use this advice if you are looking to do rent to owns
When you start your hunt for a rental property, there are a few things that can help to make the process a little smoother.
Renting is similar to purchasing a house in many respects. Most of the time everything will go smoothly, and precautions wouldn’t have been necessary, but the rest of the time, the problems can be expensive, and could even lead to legal action.
Here are 8 Secrets that You need to know if you are looking to rent in Calgary.
1. Find out what you can afford.
Most banks and mortgage brokers will tell you that the standard rule is to set aside 1/3 of your income (before taxes) for housing. This applies to rentals as well, and many Property Management companies will avoid renting to someone if their income is not 3X the rent.
Most Property Managers also have a wide variety of properties, and figuring out how much rent you want to afford will play a large part in determining which property to show you.
2. Try to compile all your references and personal information before you go looking.
If you have a print-out for the person showing you a property that has your last 3 years of rental references, employment references, personal information and rental requirements; it will make you look very professional and organized.
The reason that is important to a property manager is because it will leave them with the impression that you will be a professional and organized tenant, and that will save them a lot of trouble in the long-run. The rental requirements that should be included are # bedrooms, location, price of rent, and style of property (apartment, single family home, townhouse).
It’s also a good idea to have all this information ready because if you find a property that is perfect for you, it may be in high demand, and you may have to act quickly.
If another applicant applies who has all the same qualifications as you, but they haven’t contacted their references ahead of time, then you would be accepted because it was easier for the management company to process your application.
3. Allow time for viewings.
Most successful property managers will be very busy all the time, so can be late and throw your scheudle out of whack if you book your showing stoo close together.
A Property Manager would love it if they could show a prospective tenant just one property, fill out the paper work, and then have the owner approve it. This doesn’t leave you very much time to look around and compare.
It’s a good idea to do your research first. There are many resources where you can find out about a property before driving down to see it.
www.rentfaster.ca
www.homerent.com
www.kijiji.ca
Successful Property Management companies will also keep an up-to-date listing on their own website;
www.powerproperties.net
4. Bring all the decision-makers with you to the viewing.
There is not point in doing 2 showings, when you could just do one. Also, make sure you bring all the documents you need with you to commit to renting a property at the time of the viewing.
Some property management companies prefer you fill out the application form with them at the time of the viewing instead of letting you take the form with you.
Most management companies will also require that the form be submitted with a cheque for the security deposit. The cheque can be cashed immediately, and if you change your mind about moving into this property then you will not be able to get that cheque or its funds back.
Leasing Agents do not want to show you the house one day, receive an application form by fax, and have to meet up with you somewhere to collect a cheque. All 3 tasks can be easily completed at once.
The reason owners and management companies do this is to avoid applicants that are not serious. A Property manager will then ask them if they would like to fill out an application.
If a property manager didn’t ask for a security deposit at this point, then the prospect would fill out an application and leave, thinking that they are off the hook and will never go back to the property again.
The Property manager or owner will go through the process of calling all their references and checking their credit before calling them again to let them know that they have the place. When the prospect says that they don’t want it anymore, the property manager has wasted a lot of time.
When you’re viewing the property and filling out the application, don’t be shy to ask for what you want. If you’re signing a 1-year lease for $1,500 per month, you will be paying $18,000 in rent over the next year.
The owner will probably be happy to put in a $500 dishwasher or change the color of paint in the bedroom to accommodate you. Ask your leasing agent about these requests. An application that has lots of conditions may give the impression that the tenant is picky, but it will also let the owner know that you care about your home.
Be sure to ask how the responsibilities will be assigned. Who is in charge of snow-removal, lawn maintenance, paying the utilities, and repairs of chattels in the property.
5. Get a dead-line from the property managers.
After you’ve submitted your application, you will have to wait for the approval.
Most applciations can take 2-3 business days to process. It could be even longer if there are multiple applicants, or if the it’s difficult to get ahold of references. After you find out from your leasing agent how long it will take to get the approval back, mark it on your calendar.
Call them if you haven’t heard by the dead-line. If you are declined you may have to make arrangements to pick up your cheque. You can also ask them over the phone to shred it.
6. They called you and told you that you’re accepted for the property.
The next step is to arrange for the signing of the lease and the move-in inspection.
Some owners will require that you sign the lease right away, others will have you sign the lease at the same time as the move-in inspection is conducted. Read the lease carefully. Ask questions about clauses that you don’t understand.
This is important. Remember that the lease is to protect you as well as the landlord. Also remember that you can not protect everybody from everything.
The Residential Tenancies Act in Alberta is about 15,000 words long, and its all in legaleze. There are still loop-holes in that document, so don’t expect your lease to cover every potential problem that will come up.
You will have to rely on a good relationship with your land-lord to help you through some things.
7. The Move-in Inspection.
The purpose of the move-in inspection is to take a snap-shot of the condition of the property before you move in according to you and the landlord. Pictures and videos are very useful because they provide an accurate representation of a property’s condition, and they are much faster to document than try to write everything down.
Most landlords do not use pictures or video’s, so you could bring your own.
The move-in inspection report will be compared to your move-out inspection report when you leave, and you might be charged for some of the differences between these reports.
Every landlord is different in regards to what they charge for.
The RTA (Residential Tenancies Act) states that a landlord cannot charge for regular wear-and-tear. This is very vague and would require another 100 pages to define every possible situation that should or shouldn’t be charged for.
Generally a property manager should try to be fair, but you should make it your responsibility to ensure that all defects that are not caused by regular wear-and-tear are written onto the move-in inspection report.
This meeting is also the time when the property managers will sign over the keys to you.
8. When you ask your landlord for anything that’s not already in the lease, be sure to put it in writing.
There are 2 reasons for this.
i) It covers everybody’s behind. In the unlikely event that a conflict arises, you will want proof of what you said and did. A landlord will want the same thing.
ii) A paper trail of dated letters is easy to review and creates less confusion than phone calls where requests have to be remembered and dealt with later. Property Managers and property owners can be very busy people.
Emails and letters can be dealt with when the person receiving them can give it appropriate attention. Phone calls or visits must be dealt with immediately, and its not always convenient.
