You need to know the rental market.
Like many Homeseekers these days looking for a rental home, your search will likely begin online. But before you start peeking at listings, it’s good to know some basics about the market you’re thinking of moving into.
Start by knowing the median asking rent for the size of the unit you want. This is often reported in local news, but you can get a good rule-of-thumb estimate by seeing average asking rents. If you see most listings asking for around $2,000 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, plus or minus $200, then you know that anything significantly less than this should be approached with skepticism. That’s not to say you’ll never find a bargain, but rather determine what “too good to be true” means in your case.
“And that's not hard to tell because you can just do a search. You have several sites. You can kind of very quickly go over the map, put in your filter and be like, “OK, well, how many one-bedrooms do I have?” says Ronis.
Keep an eye out for fraudulent rental listings.
Once you start filtering through listings to find potential rentals, it’s worth it to know some of the common ways scammers and fraudsters create listings. Learning what the red flags are now can save lots of headaches later.
While you may initially be wary of listings without photos, as Ronis points out, “actually if I saw a listing without photos, I would not think it's a scam at all. That's more typically a landlord that's doing a rental and doesn't have pictures or they have a tenant in there currently and they can't get in there and take photos.” Rather, as Ronis notes, “if you're a fraudster, you want to attract a lot of prospects. And two good ways of doing that – and this is another way that you can potentially catch a fraudulent listing – they want to show you nice pictures, [a] simple description and extremely attractive price because that'll attract as many bees as possible to the honeypot.” So instead of being wary of listings with no photos, be suspicious of listings with immaculate photos and suspiciously low asking rents.
Ronis also recommends trying to find the listing address on multiple websites as well – Craigslist, REW.ca and other sites. If the information for the same listing address is different on each listing site, there’s likely a fraudster in action here. For example, if the photos, description or contact information keeps changing from listing to listing, that’s suspicious. But however you choose to approach those listings, it’s important that you do not hand over any deposit money without first seeing the unit in person.
Know what to do when meeting your potential future landlord.
After you find a listing that you like, it’s time to schedule a meeting with your potential landlord and see the unit itself. This is another opportunity to make sure the listing is legitimate and avoid fraudsters.
Always make sure you see the unit from the listing in person. If the person behind the listing claims to be “out of town” or gives an excuse that prevents you from seeing it in person, that’s a major red flag. Even if there is a tenant occupying the unit, the landlord can schedule a time when they’re away for your visit. It’s important for you to stand in the space and make sure it matches the pictures and description from the listing. Apart from that, you want to know that the unit meets your general expectations. If you are out of town yourself – maybe you’re a foreign exchange student or will be moving to Canada, see if the landlord can do a video walkthrough of the unit, or ask a trusted local contact to do an in-person walkthrough for you.
“The idea is to make sure that the person who is claiming to be the manager or the property owner of that listing is who they say they are and has access to the advertised unit,” says Ronis.
This is also an opportunity for you to ask to see the landlord’s or property manager’s ID. This might feel unusual, but remember that they will ask for yours as well during the application process. So, you can phrase it as a mutual exchange of documentation. Ronis suggests to frame it like, “I want to make sure that you are who you say you are and I'm happy to show you my ID and give you all my documentation. Before I do that, can we mutually trade and verify that we are each who we say we are?”
Landlords in BC may ask for documentation including employment records, credit history and other supporting documents. But be wary of landlords asking for your social insurance number (SIN) or for fees to process your application.
“I would never give anyone a deposit until I probably met them in person or over a [video] call and verified their ID. Because it's a lot of money, right?” says Ronis. “You're exchanging thousands of dollars.” You may also wish to ask to speak to a previous tenant reference, if possible, in much the same way your potential future landlord will ask for a previous landlord reference. And regarding security deposits, in BC landlords may only ask for half a month’s rent as a security deposit. If they ask for more, that’s a red flag.
Read your tenancy agreement carefully.
Be sure you thoroughly understand your written tenancy agreement before signing it. If no written agreement is offered, either as a physical document or in the form of a PDF or other digital file, the person offering you the apartment may be a fraudster. In BC, all residential rentals are subject to the Residential Tenancy Act the moment you sign the tenancy agreement. While the Tenancy Act protects you during your time as a tenant, it can’t do much for you before that point. So, bear that in mind when dealing with potential future landlords and verify as much information as you can beforehand.
If you find the idea of staying on high alert for rental scams overwhelming, you could go down the path of only searching with corporate landlords who have established brands – along with hundreds, or even thousands, of units. As Ronis states, “If you’re really worried about fraud and you don’t want to deal with the uncertainty that can be associated with the mom-and-pop landlord side of the market, there’s lots of big companies that have by-the-book leasing processes where you don’t have to worry about fraud. If you go with a big name, you’re probably going to be safe from scams.”
With some preparation, knowledge of your local rental market and awareness of red flags and signs of fraud, you can avoid rental scams and find your new home. You can search for rentals on REW at REW.ca/rentals.
