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The Pros and Cons of Turning Your Rental into a Smart Home

by TVS | Oct 18, 2022 | General

Over the past decade, home automation has gone from science fiction to reality. Now, everything from thermostats to security systems can be controlled from your smartphone. For homeowners shopping for themselves, the investment in smart devices can be an easy decision. However, landlords might find there’s more to consider when installing such a complex and often expensive system in their rental properties. The Pros of Turning Your Rental into a Smart Home Higher ROI According to a recent...

Where Should I Invest? Hot Rental Markets for Property Investors

by TVS | Aug 8, 2022 | Rental Property Management Tips

Real estate continues to be an asset that investors want in on and when the...

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What Is An Adverse Action Notice and Why Do I Need To Use One?

by TVS | May 19, 2022 | Rental Property Management Tips

Adverse Action Notices are utilized to inform consumers they’ve been denied...

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The Four Best Ways to Protect Your Rental Property Investment

by TVS | Apr 29, 2022 | Rental Property Management Tips

Rental properties can often seem like one of the easiest ways to make money....

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Tenant Trashes Unit, Wants Deposit Back

by TVS | Sep 16, 2019 | Tenant Screening

A Vancouver landlord recently detailed in the news how he found his rental unit after his disgruntled tenant moved out: cement in the drains, toilet, and appliances, holes in the walls, the dryer door glued shut, and the key glued into the lock. Only three weeks into...

Is Your Rental Application Doing Its Job?

by TVS | Sep 16, 2019 | Tenant Screening

There's a lot riding on a rental application. Getting it right means staving off tenant fraud and quickly eliminating applicants who are not qualified. To accomplish that, the application needs to contain all the requisite parts, without muddying the waters with...

Pet Policy Basics: What Works (and What Doesn’t)

by TVS | Sep 16, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

Whether to allow tenants to keep pets is an important decision for every landlord. The decision requires a balancing act, choosing between happier tenants versus the potential for more property damage at the end of the tenancy. The benefits of pet-friendly properties...

British Columbia Announces Rent Increase Guideline for 2020

by TVS | Sep 16, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

The annual rent increase guideline for 2020 in British Columbia is set at 2.6%. That figure represents the maximum most landlords can increase rent throughout the year. To increase rent, a landlord must provide notice to the tenant three months before the increase is...

Manitoba 2020 Rent Increase Guideline

by TVS | Sep 16, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

The 2020 rent increase guideline for Manitoba is set at 2.4 percent. That figure is slightly higher than the previous year. In comparison, the 2020 rent increase guideline for British Columbia is set at 2.6%, and the 2020 guideline for Ontario is 2.2%. To increase...

10 Worst Landlord Blunders

by TVS | Aug 26, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

Let's face it: we all make mistakes. The best thing we can do is set things right, forgive ourselves and move on. But that doesn't mean we can't learn from other people's missteps: 1. Frustrated over an unauthorized pet, a landlord entered a tenant's apartment when...

These Lease Add-Ons Help Prevent Evictions

by TVS | Aug 26, 2019 | Rental Forms

Standard lease agreements can work when enforcing a landlord's rights, like in the case of an eviction. But enforcement is not the only goal. The lease agreement can be a deterrent -- and prevent the actions that give rise to evictions in the first place. For the...

5 Easy-to-Fix Tenant Screening Mistakes

by TVS | Aug 26, 2019 | Tenant Screening

Make tenant screening as stress-free and effective as possible by avoiding these easy-to-fix mistakes: 1. Demanding cash rather than check for rent deposits or application fees. Some landlords prefer cash for application fees or rent and security deposits. The theory...

Small Landlords Battle Tenant Relocation Fees

by TVS | Aug 26, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

A couple from Oakland, California are taking on that city's new eviction ordinance that required them to pay $6,500 to a tenant for the right to move back into their primary residence. For many local landlords, that amount will be higher. Oakland is one of several...

Nightmare Tenant Leaves Behind Trash, Starving Dogs

by TVS | Aug 19, 2019 | Tenant Screening

A landlord in Ontario is reeling after he evicted his tenant for failing to pay rent and then found two abandoned dogs and heaps of trash inside the apartment. According to a news report, the landlord estimates he is out $20,000 in lost rent and property damage. The...

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

by TVS | Aug 19, 2019 | Tenant Screening

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...

Why Standard Tenancy Agreements Fall Short

by TVS | Aug 19, 2019 | Rental Forms

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...

Tenant Evicted for Smoking Marijuana Claims Discrimination

by TVS | Aug 19, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

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...

Is Your Applicant Lying About Income?

by TVS | Jul 29, 2019 | Tenant Screening

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...

Nightmare Tenant Remodels, Sublets Rental Home

by TVS | Jul 29, 2019 | Tenant Screening

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...

U.S. Rental Market Surges

by TVS | Jul 29, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

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...

Lawmakers Blame Tenant Screening for Lack of Housing

by TVS | Jul 29, 2019 | Tenant Screening

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...

Tenants Want Landlords to Report Rent Payments

by TVS | Jul 22, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

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...

Facebook Rental Ads Under Scrutiny in Canada

by TVS | Jul 22, 2019 | Tenant Screening

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...

Ontario Announces 2020 Rent Increase Guideline

by TVS | Jul 22, 2019 | Rental Property Management Tips

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...

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