Tenant Wants to Pay Cash: 4 Reasons for Landlords to Worry

August 19, 2019

A rental applicant who offers to pay in cash may seem like the dream tenant. No worries over bounced cheques. In reality, cash payments are a red flag. Rather than streamlining the leasing process, a landlord needs to use extra vigilance when screening these applicants. Here are four reasons to scrutinize tenants who offer to […]

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Why Standard Tenancy Agreements Fall Short

August 19, 2019

The idea of a standard one-size-fits-all rental lease is appealing in theory, but it rarely works out that way in practice. Simply stated, standard leases are too generic to do the job. Another flaw in some standard tenancy agreements is an underlying misconception that a lease is about protecting tenants from unscrupulous landlords and must […]

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Tenant Evicted for Smoking Marijuana Claims Discrimination

August 19, 2019

A landlord who brought an eviction action against a tenant whose marijuana smoking was disturbing other tenants now must face a human rights action for discrimination. According to Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario records, the landlord initially filed for dispute resolution with the Landlord and Tenant Board to evict a tenant who smokes medical marijuana […]

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Is Your Applicant Lying About Income?

July 29, 2019

Is your rental applicant telling the truth about employment and income? It’s a question every landlord needs to ask. And with tenant fraud on the rise, it’s information that must be independently verified. Private landlords aren’t the only ones who struggle with income verification. Mortgage lenders, banks and major property managers need to have accurate […]

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Nightmare Tenant Remodels, Sublets Rental Home

July 29, 2019

Landlords in Connecticut are picking up the pieces after their tenant added extra bedrooms to their single-family rental home, sublet the property on Airbnb, and then stopped paying rent. Neighbors say those nightly visitors included a 40-person party. According to a report, the landlords contacted Airbnb to cancel any outstanding reservations, but Airbnb declined to […]

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U.S. Rental Market Surges

July 29, 2019

The demand for rental housing spiked this summer, climbing to a five-year high, according to real estate technology and analytics firm RealPage, Inc. While summer is primary leasing season, demand this year is up 11 percent over the same period last year. RealPage chief economist Greg Willett attributes the climb to solid economic growth coupled […]

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Lawmakers Blame Tenant Screening for Lack of Housing

July 29, 2019

At a recent city council meeting in Portland, Oregon proponents of rental regulations that bar landlords from rejecting tenants for bad credit or violent criminal history scolded those landlords who objected, accusing them of disseminating misleading information and stoking fears. Now, Minneapolis lawmakers are considering similar regulations that would, among other things, block landlords from […]

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Tenants Want Landlords to Report Rent Payments

July 22, 2019

The ability to report rent payments each month to a credit bureau is a significant breakthrough for landlords in the battle for on-time rent. Before that service became available, landlords were the most likely creditors to be ignored. A new survey points to another compelling reason landlords should report rent payments: tenants want them to. […]

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Facebook Rental Ads Under Scrutiny in Canada

July 22, 2019

The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Ontario Human Rights Commission are expressing concern that rental ads placed on Facebook Canada potentially are discriminatory. The concern was triggered by a lawsuit filed in the U.S. against Facebook alleging that its rental housing platform allows — and even encourages — discrimination. The lawsuit was brought by […]

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Ontario Announces 2020 Rent Increase Guideline

July 22, 2019

Ontario landlords are allowed to increase rent by 2.2% in 2020. The guideline represents the maximum amount a landlord can raise rent without applying to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an above-guideline increase. Due to a recent change in the residential tenancy laws, the guideline now applies to most private rentals. However, it does […]

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