1451 replies to this topic

[Citified.ca]

5,000 units of rental housing are currently underway. Is that a lot, a little, or just right?

 

5,000 rentals currently under construction in Greater Victoria, with another 16,000 planned

https://victoria.cit...16-000-planned/

[Mike K.]

Right across the country, the stories are the same:

But since February, those tenants haven't paid rent at all and now owe her around $7,000, said Romero. Lengthy delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) mean she'll likely have to wait months more for a hearing to try to evict them, while her family is at a "breaking point financially," she said.

"I want them to leave and I want to sell and never ever, ever [be a landlord] again," she said. "We are extremely upset and discouraged with the system."

In addition to the financial impact, Romero said she is also experiencing insomnia and a chronic rash from the stress.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-rent-1.6869973

So while I know a lot of people decry the REITs and bigger corporations taking over the rental market, this failure of provincial tenancy resolution process is a big part of that. Small landlords are selling their buildings and units, to get out of the game. Not that long ago small landlords dominated the industry.

[Victoria Watcher]

Why don’t they just place the ones where literally the tenant is not paying any or most of the rent at the very top of the pack? And ensure it’s dealt with in 60 days. It honestly can’t be that hard.

That serves the landlord and sends the message to these very few tenants gaming the system.

Many/most landlords would also be happy to pay extra filing fees for these types of cases too. Use that to hire more tenancy branch staff.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2023 - 06:44 AM.

[Mike K.]

I imagine the majority of those cases are in relation to unpaid rent.

There is no recourse for the landlord. And short of a registry, zero motivation for tenants who game the system to stop. Maybe it’s time to introduce criminal charges for unpaid rent.

[Victoria Watcher]

I think the majority of those cases are not people refusing to pay absolutely any rent. That’s likely still rare.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2023 - 06:51 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Windsor student says he's on the verge of homelessness because of soaring rental prices



Damon Farnworth-McCorkle shares an apartment with his sister, and says their rent was just increased to a number they simply cannot afford.

The 24-year-old Windsor student says he lives off of $600 per month from Ontario Works, and now his sister is moving out.

"I've got two months to either pick up the lease on this apartment that I'm currently living in or I'm on the verge of homelessness," said Farnsworth-McCorkle.


https://www.cbc.ca/n...-cmhc-1.6824791






Maybe get a job, dude.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 June 2023 - 07:04 AM.

[lanforod]

I got out of the small landlord business as soon as my last tenant decided to vacate. No sign of relief from the NDP and actually continuing to make things worse, the writing was on the wall. Now instead, the money is in a REIT.

[Barrrister]

There should be a system where the tribunal orders the rent to be paid into court while awaiting a hearng. No payment by the tenant, immediate eviction. 

[Victoria Watcher]

There should be a system where the tribunal orders the rent to be paid into court while awaiting a hearng. No payment by the tenant, immediate eviction.

Or something similar, for sure.

The complete and utter refusal to pay *anything* should result in expediency, it’s not that difficult FFS.

[Victoria Watcher]

The owners of a Downtown Eastside single-room-occupancy building say a well-viewed TikTok video featuring one of its renovated rooms for $2,000 per month was “unauthorized” and removed from the social media site.

 

The video, which attracted the attention Thursday of Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, features a young woman showing the inside of the 200 sq. foot furnished room located in the Lotus Hotel at 455 Abbott St.

 

Forum Asset Management, which is based in Toronto, owns the Lotus Hotel.

 

“The video was unauthorized and when we learned about it, was taken down immediately — no further comment,” Greg Spafford, Forum’s managing director of real estate management and head of the firm’s real estate income and impact fund, said in an email.

 

The video was produced by reAngle Consulting Inc. and has since been removed from TikTok, although it is still live on the media platform formerly known as Twitter, where Poilievre retweeted a post Thursday from CBC journalist Justin McElroy.

 

“$2,000 a month to live in a 200 sq. ft. room in one of the most drug and crime-heavy neighbourhoods in Canada,” Poilievre wrote. “Housing, after 8 years of Trudeau and the NDP.”

 

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh followed with this response: "None of this is an accident. Conservatives and Liberals have let rich investors use housing as a get-rich quick scheme. Now their greed is so out of control that a 200 sq. foot 'apartment' is going for $2,000/mth."

 

Glacier Media left phone and email messages Wednesday with reAngle but had not received a reply before this story was posted. The company’s newest TikTok video features a 5,000 sq. foot home in Whistler, listed for $14.9 million.

 

 

https://www.timescol...s-hotel-7421230

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 August 2023 - 03:31 PM.

[Citified.ca]

Q&A with developer Jordan Milne on factors impacting housing prices, and Victoria's rental market

https://victoria.cit...-rental-market/

[max.bravo]

I know so many people who stopped renting suites in their homes because tenants rights are too much. More than a handful of friends got dragged thru the RTB unfairly and have either stopped renting altogether or are doing Airbnb.

I have a rental suite that’s gonna be available soon. So far I haven’t found a tenant worth giving up so many rights for. Sadly I think I’m just gonna use that unit as a dedicated home office instead because the couple shekels it brings in rent don’t justify the risk and headache. Even at todays “exorbitant” rents.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ you can’t find a way to thoroughly vet a tenant with employment and landlord references? Real ones.

There must be some renters that are very good, and if you do extraordinary diligence, surely you can find one/some.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 September 2023 - 08:42 AM.

[max.bravo]

^ you can’t find a way to thoroughly vet a tenant with employment and landlord references? Real ones.

There must be some renters that are very good, and if you do extraordinary diligence, surely you can find one/some.

I usually do reference checks. But it’s more of a way to avoid obvious problem; and not an assurance the tenant will be good, quiet, not entitled, or easily offended and starts a quiet war against you.

This unit brings in <$2k /month and is close to my family home. For the hassle of finding a good tenant and the risk of getting stuck with a loser, I think I’d rather work harder in my business and keep the space available for other uses.

But I have more showings today. Will see what turns up. Sometimes you find the needle in a haystack. My last tenant got below market rent because she was so good.

[Victoria Watcher]

I usually do reference checks. But it’s more of a way to avoid obvious problem; and not an assurance the tenant will be good, quiet, not entitled, or easily offended and starts a quiet war against you.

 

Don't just do simple reference checks, have the renter explicitly detail their last 15 years of rental experience and deliver singed letters from all their past landlords, plus their employer and two personal reference letters.    If they can't do that, move on.  It either means they are too lazy to deliver this, or they can't get that level of support.

 

Extreme scrutiny should deliver you a good tenant, even if it wipes away 98% of the applicants.  You only need that one good tenant.

[max.bravo]

Yeah, it’s just not worth that level of effort for a suite that brings in marginal income. Im not a professional landlord.

Despite serious vetting the tenant could turn sour and the law is heavily in their favour.

If a good tenant makes it easy I’ll rent it out. I’d like to help the housing crisis. But if it’s gonna be more work than it takes to make the same extra $ from my business each month, then its way less attractive.

This is the natural result of the heavy-handed ndp tenancy rights laws. It pushes out amateur landlords (like me) who would give below-market rent to the right person… but I’d like to retain the right to end a tenancy on a fixed term, or raise rent commensurate with my mortgage, or evict them when I need to. Ndp policies have made being a landlord so risky only professionals can afford to make a go of it

Edited by max.bravo, 10 September 2023 - 09:42 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In the above scenario, you ask the tenant to do all that work. Then you also make 8 phone calls. 30 minutes work maybe?

I dunno.

Even Andrew Wilkinson does not gross $24,000 annually for a one-time 30 minutes of work.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 September 2023 - 09:55 AM.

[max.bravo]

You ever done reference checks by phone? 1/3 of people won’t answer your call (I rarely answer unknown numbers). Half of those you leave voicemails for will eventually return the call. But you need a spreadsheet to track it all. Even then, no guarantees your tenant isn’t going to use the law to make your life hell.

[Victoria Watcher]

Have you ever hired an employee for a real key position? You take the time to get it right. But it’s still only 30 minutes work.

Banks rely on credit reports and strength of employment. It’s also not perfect but it’s pretty darned accurate. Yes you still might get a crazy tenant, but at least you get one that has not shown that in past behaviour. And past behaviour is most indicative of future behaviour, even if it’s not perfect.

[Nparker]

Have you ever hired an employee for a real key position?...

Employers have a greater ability to dismiss a poorly performing employee than landlords have to evict a terrible tenant.