Compare to the relatively slow property buy and sell market, the rental market is even more competitive and rent is increased from more than 20% than last year, some types of units increased close to 30% due to the dramatically increased inflation rate and multiple times aggressively increased bank interested rate try to control the inflation rate, and a lot of international students, new immigrates and new comers. On one side some qualified potential buyer hold on themselves and are watching the interest rate and housing price with the hope the housing price go down, on the other hand some people are just disqualified due to increased interest rate and higher mortgage threshold, more people either voluntarily or involuntarily remain in the rental market which drive the rental market very competitive.
So how to well prepare ourselves to stand out and tell the landlords you are the best fit?
Document preparation
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1. Rental Application - Residential
Form 410
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Personal reference - preferably previous landlord
Question usually will be asked:
- Promptness to pay the rent
- Cleanness and tidiness
- Quietness
- Etc.
2. Passport / Driver license
Usually Driver license preferred. If you do not have one then Passport can serve the same purpose too.
3. Credit Score
Where you can obtain a credit score:
- Equifax
- transUnion
- Online banking account
Credit score more than 720 is good, and a score more than 700 is not bad too.
4. Job letter and / or most recent 3 paystubs
You need to prove to the landlord you can afford the rent, ideally rent is better less than or close to 30% of your income, if this rate go up and close to 50%, the landlord or listing agent will start to worry and question your ability to pay the rent.
5. Bank Statement
If you bank statement can show a balance can support you half to one year’s living expense include rent that will very helpful too.
Guarantor and / or co-signer
Guarantor and co-signer are similar but they are not the same.
A guarantor is an individual who promises to pay the rent in the event that the tenant defaults on their rent obligation.
A co-signer takes full responsibility for paying the rent, along with the primary tenants. He / she also agree the rest terms of a rental agreement. Usually when rent a property, guarantor is required more common than co-signer; usually family member such as parents will agree to be the guarantor for their college child’s guarantor.
Multiple month deposit
Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act does not permit landlord require more than one last month rent deposit. But in reality, a lot of tenants voluntarily offer more month deposit from 6 – 12 months deposit to secure their chance to get the property, especially when people especially new comers or students are not able to provide the previous mentioned documents, this strategy will largely increase their chance to successfully rent the property, landlord sometimes will require jot down in the contract that tenants are voluntarily pay more than one last month’s deposit to not violate the Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act.
Pets
Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act does not permit landlords to include “no pet” clauses in rental agreements. The only exception is if the property is a condominium and the condominium corporation's declaration prohibits pets. A landlord cannot evict a tenant simply because they were unaware of a pet, or because the pet was adopted after the tenant moved in. A tenant can only be evicted if a pet is making too much noise, damaging the unit, causing an allergic reaction to others, or is considered to be inherently dangerous.
Expand searching area
If after all the steps from above, we still not able to land a unit, we can consider to expand the search area. If you do not drive, the students of university of Waterloo already include the public transportation fare in their tuition fees, so they can take unlimited public transportation, if you can find some property along the bus, express bus especially ION the LRT route. It’s still a good option.
Find a good local real estate agent
Hire a good local real estate agent. A good local real estate agent knows the city, the area, the surrounding, transportation well, how your strength and weakness, where and how can make the improvement, and good negotiation skills all can largely increasing your chance and greatly save your time to rent a property at a reasonable price which can satisfy your need most, and you don’t have to pay fees! Since agent’s fee is covered by Landlord!
Now we did all work we need to do, let’s cross our figure for a good news!