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Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy
Make sure that you get their Social Insurance Numbers and permission to run a credit check in writing. Also, a rental history check is nice. You can perform both an equifax and transunion credit check (the two major credit bureaus in Canada), as well as a rental history report by registering at www.rentcheckcorp.com. In order to be able to qualify as a landlord with Equifax or TransUnion, which will allow you to go straight to them for reports, you need to have something like 30 tenants total (or something like that). I just did this last month and it cost $130. |
Just one thing, legally they cannot be compelled to give their SIN and you can't really refuse them if they don't (though if they go to the bottom of the application pile, that's fair
). You can still do a credit check without it, it's just a bit more difficult if they have a common name or your other info is incomplete.
I said this in the PM I sent but I'll re-state it here: Landlords make sure and read the privacy act in Alberta, every landlord organization (even if it's just you) is required to have a privacy officer, and there's specific requirements for private information and how it's to be handled.
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You also need to deposit their damage deposit in an interest bearing account. I just plonked mine into a one-year GIC at Royal Bank that technically matures in one year, but you can cash it out after 30 days without interest penalty. Which for me was suitable as my tenants are on month-to-month right now.
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You don't have to pay out that interest at this point as well, so it is a source of additional (though small) income.
Good advice.