Toronto newcomers are paying up to 12 months of rent up front to secure housing
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- Some newcomers in Toronto say they’ve had to pay between six and 12 months of rent up front to persuade landlords to offer them housing. That’s because they lack documents like credit scores and recommendation letters, so they have to prove their reliability with cash. It's technically legal, but lawyers and housing experts say this unregulated grey zone leaves many newcomers, and other would-be renters, vulnerable to exploitation.
#housing #realestate
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Housing in Canada is a FN joke.. totally unaffordable. Especially for those of us on disability.
100% AGREE. im on disability , time to rebuild housing w out corperate anything forget the rules 4 a min and make a house out ofa train car or something .
Rekt
when you allow renters to move in, pay first and last and then decide to stop paying because they know there are no consequences... well this is the result.
This exactly is the problem.
When you allow a landlord class of paternalistic privelege, this is the result.
What percentage of new renters do you think "stop paying rent"? Versus the percentage that are forced to essentially pay a down payment to secure a rental. Really curious.
@@RandomPerson-dl8qs Alot more recently, since more and more know about the absurd loopholes of getting to live rent free for over a year or longer. And as a land lord, why would you want to take that risk to see if your tenant is honest or a scum??? Therefore because of the weak eviction system here, you protect yourself and demand full yr in advance.
@@omidnamin9004 Great story, now try again to answer my question.
Toronto has thousands of empty condos. What is going on? Builders are left with thousands of empty buildings.
Most of them live in China, Russia etc.. I talked to a real estate agent friend downtown Toronto and he said the worst part is the condos cns never get anything through a vote because more than 50% are foreign owned and don't even respond to these matters.. it's a joke... this country is a joke. Our entire economy is based on 500% increase in housing prices.. the owners are now set for life...non home owners noe have mount everest to climb to get into the market
because they say it's worth X but refuse to put it to market and realize a loss.
Pretending they aren't broke by basically saying their TV is a million dollars.
They’re building condos for single people, not families. There’s the problem. Single people can’t even afford to rent them.
Trudeau: there is nothing wrong with Canada, lets bring in 4x the amount of migrants in a year than we usually do 🤨
And in mississauga and Brampton, they live no joke between 8-14 people per home... thats how they can afford it , they have 8 adult incomes.. so the 3rd world style of living, share a bed with your cousin and a room with 7 people... is coming here. The quality of life here is falling off a cliff as we all have to now adapt to this... imagine living with your parents, your friends , your kids, your friends kids and your grandparents... this is the reality of the GTA now
@@user-fq8zg6ow4e Canadastan
Yeah it’s the poor immigrants with nothing who are hurting you… not the rich who employ you, own all the property and bribing the politicians🤦🏾♂️
The elites favorite trick is making you believe that the other poor people are your enemy.
You act as if it's not a problem due to Air BnB screwing up the market, international property owners, and greedy landlords. There's ALWAYS been immigrants, the housing problem wasn't caused by them. The people telling you to blame immigrants are the ones stealing from your pockets
When you have a regulatory body that takes over a year to evict the bad apples that don't pay, what do you expect to happen? Either we invest in taxpayer-funded government-run housing for people with an absent or bad credit history, or you let private citizens provide housing. If it's going to be private citizens as it is now, then no, they're not going to risk bankruptcy for a stranger who may or may not pay rent. People can crap on landlords all they want, but most of them are normal people like anyone else. The problem is that they're being scapegoated for issues they didn't cause (insane housing prices and rising interest rates).
Out current system makes it impossible for people to buy a house the moment they become an adult, and in some cases makes it impossible to buy a house ever. Rather than waste time crapping on people who didn't cause this (landlords who do provide housing to such people), we should be focusing our attention on government policies that prevent us from sufficiently funding government-run housing for those who can't afford to buy a home.
Very intelligently argued, I appreciate this perspective.
As much as we wish all actors within a capitalist economic system (no value judgement in this statement, just an assessment of facts) would act in more forgiving ways; truth be told its not set up for that. This is why it's important that govts who rely on private enterprise for the bulk of their economy, especially when it comes to things that maybe shouldn't be commodities like housing, there should be a publicly-funded wing of that enterprise offering affordable products/service for the people *guaranteed* to exist - ie those less capable in a capitalistic sense. Not providing for them is a moral and economic failure of any responsible govt.
And so I don't scare anyone off, the size of that publicly-funded or subsidised service can even be a fraction of the private sector if the market is healthy enough. So govt-subsidised social housing should be what, 5-10% of the market share maybe???
Housing is a joke yo
I know cbc likes to focus on newcomers and immigrants but this is happening to ALL Canadians not just nee comers.
This was addressed in the video.
I don't really think this is so odd for internationals. When I moved from Canada to the UK, I had to provide the entire year's rent up front. The only difference is is it was held by some middleman who paid the landlord every month. They would arbitrate if anything happened that would mean the landlord wasn't owed the rent, but basically if I left the country early or some such, all the money would be forfeit to the landlord. You generally need a guarantor of some sort when you go international.
That being said, most of these problems would solve themselves if more housing was built. The government doesn't need to add more red string to anything, they should just be supportive builders and investing in housing, removing limitations on builders to build (like zoning etc.) Landlords cannot afford to be picky if there are a lot of units available.
Yes, I also lived overseas for a while. I had to pay rent ahead of time, too and I didn't blame the owner... I was a perfect stranger, living in a home that cost the owner tons of money compared to what I was paying in rent each month. It would have been ridiculous of me to expect them to just trust me, given that I was a perfect stranger with no long-term proven roots in their country. People complaining act like this is unique to Canada - meanwhile, it's the same for newcomers all over the world (including Canadians who move overseas).
If you dont have verified income, you will have to pay upfront. Seems reasonable to me considering the risk.
It's fair. If someone come and ask to borrow something valuable from me. If i have no way to check the background of the person, the only way for me to guarantee my vauable will be returned is to get some collaterals. Same idea here.
The brainrot is real.
They aren’t talking about collateral. Collateral would be given back after the transaction. They’re actually just keeping all that money
@@rohanshah7559 yes the renter don't have to pay rent towards the end of the lease term. money given back. exactly your point
@rohanshah7559 yes. In the form of rent
The stuff you’re paying up front before you move into the place isn’t rent…
Perfectly legal, perfectly fine. Landlords need to protect themselves from tenant delinquents, especially in provinces like Ontario where tenants now have the reputation of abusing the backwards system of the tribunals and courts. Like I am not sorry, if you as a tenant just decide not to pay rent and for up to 6-8 months (sometimes more) still not pay it because the courts are backed up because of the same thing (renters deciding to not pay rent), then yes this is perfectly fine. Landlords need protection too. Ontario is not a landlord friendly province.
It's definitely not fine - many hardworking people who need housing have no way of securing that much money up front. It's not the landlords fault though - the horrible backlog at the LTB has made the housing market completely non-functional for renters and landlords alike.
@@coolcreep It's not just fine, but now required because Landlords need to protect themselves from the shortfall of the low quality of tenants that this Liberal government has allowed in. It SHOULD be required, and I believe it actual is that you as a newcomer have enough income saved to live here. Problem is all these people lie in their applications. But I do agree that the LTB is a problem, and this liberal government needs to go.
@@michaelzanella1933 Firstly, the LTB is based on Provincial legislation - its up to Doug Ford to fix, not Trudeau.
Secondly, it's naive to think this will only apply to newcomers - if Landlords can get away with this, they'll start expecting it of everyone. That is going to make it even harder for working class Canadians to find housing.
@@coolcreep Whose in charge of immigration?
@@coolcreep Federal is in charge of immigration so nice try trying to deflect Trudeau from the blame. LTB is backed up because there are just so many more renters now... I wonder why?... And secondly, it's not naive, we've entered over more than 1mill people into our country in the last few years. They all need a place to live, and its law that when they come, they must register that they have enough money saved to sustainably live here. Guess what, they all lied to get PR.
Well that's the breaks. You don't have reliable credit then that's what it is.
Even with good credit, the realtors ask for many months upfront.
@cuybueno yep. Too much risk to allow renters in without full and accurate screening policies
If only there were far fewer "newcomers", like, in line with our ability to build housing ...
Comments on CBC - Great
Finding a place as a new PR is an absolutely ridiculous experience in the GTA. Thanks to insane legislation and red tape where landlords have no rights. I had to pay about $4k to stay in airbnb for a month while looking for long-term rent. Applied for more than 10 places, multiple offers in every single case. Had to offer 12-month rent upfront ($30600) just to get a chance for my offer to be considered. 2 things I would never want to do in Ontario - coming as a new immigrant, being a landrolrd😄
...being a Canadian.
Have you considered moving to Edmonton or Winnipeg instead?
@@noseboop4354 valid point. But I got my PR as a nominee from the province of Ontario, so had to land here + the biggest job market in my occupation. However seriously considering Alberta at this point.
@@maximbadenko7506 If you have to be in Ontario, consider Thunder Bay or Kingston, do the bare minimum to satisfy your nomination, then move elsewhere asap.
If the tenant returns to their home country then the landlord has no recourse for damages unpaid rent etc. Federal government could post a guarantee through an lnsurance scheme to assist with this risk
Lol. Landlords property values are increasing so fast they can leave it empty. It's overleveraged landlords that are insecure, and that's their problem.
They're all scamming each other and the rest of us.
No pitty.
@uncouver says someone who has never and will never own a home or understands what a mortgage is.
Who is gonna pay the bills? The owner.
And let's be real it isn't mom and pop owners trying to set up their life and retirement. It is foreign buyers using dirty money running scams on rentals and jamming 6 or more people in a unit and charging them up the wazoo. Scammers. All of them. The same ones that want to clean your ducts.
And what is the measure for a tenant to be reimbursed? Or what protection does a tenant have to not lose their home?? Currently any landlord can kick a tenant out within 60 days. What protection does a tenant have?
Even if a tenant does everything right and pays their rent even early, a landlord can kick them out in 60 days by simply saying they're moving into the home or they're doing renovations, or if it's a house built after 1981? They raised the rent by 20% and the tenant can no longer afford it.
Every renter lives with housing and security because they can be kicked out within 60 days.
Have you tried to find a new rental in 60 days, that's also near your job, near your child's school, your story system and that's for to your current rent? You won't find one, your rent will increase, you'll lose everything like your job, your support system and your kids school.
@TheJuniorAccountant Exactly! People in the comments who weirdly think landlords are rolling in cash to bankroll newcomers blows my mind. Almost all rental homes are mortgaged... add up the mortgage, property insurance, property taxes, and maintenance costs, and owners will go bankrupt if the tenant doesn't pay.
The answer isn't to scapegoat landlords, but to demand government invest in subsidized housing for newcomers and others who have no credit history (or a bad credit history). This should not be the responsibility of private citizens.
Most individuals who invest in real estate do so because it's tangible. They don't trust big faceless corporations... rather than invest for retirement in billion dollar companies via index funds and mutual funds etc, they'd rather invest in their local community by providing housing to people who can't afford to buy yet. That shouldn't be demonized. Landlords didn't cause high home prices or high interest rates.
Now corporate landlords who buy thousands of homes and apartments are a different story... they can impact their local markets and manipulate rental rates.
Good. It was a huge issue in our building, new comers paying first and last and stopped paying and landlords couldn't do anything about it.
Who are these people that forge documents?
Are you asking for yourself or for a "friend"...
Both.
Canada is a mess due to this government. Realtors are always trying to increase the prices, and many times talk on behalf of the landlord requesting 6 or 12 months upfdront. That's why I always avoid renting with realtors and instead rent directly from the owner. On the other side, there so many scammy tennants, and it takes more than a year to evict a tenant if that's the case. Landlords must protect themselves requesting a year of rent upfront.
how do you even have 12 months rent in the bank?
People who owned property or a business in their home country sell it and can use that money to get started in a new country.
There is nothing wrong for landlord. They needed to be protected as well. A lot of landlord needs to pay mortgage, which is aligned on the rent. The reason to cause this issue is because government doesn't provide the good eco-system on both landlord and tenant. The risk is all on the landlord now. There is no consequence from bad tenants. The rule is misused by bad tenants to break the rental market. Government doesn't take its responsibility to provide fairness. Government may think that the the rules or laws give the advantages on tenants to protect tenants. Actually it is not. The consequences of these kind of rules or laws makes new comers or tenants extremely hard to find the place to rent.
Yes there are bad tenants who take advantage but there are bad landlords who take advantage as well. Landlords are protected.... Don't lie about that. Any landlord can kick a tenant or within 60 days for no reason. Have you seen the increase in bad faith evictions that the landlord tenant board? That's because landlords have evicted people in 60 days kicking them out of their home and possibly onto the streets because they lied and all they wanted was to raise the rent.
Maybe landlords shouldn't be allowed to have a huge mortgage. being a landlord is more of a responsibility than being an employer because you are affecting people's lives.
Realtors don't make 1 months rent commision, they make half months rent commision. Common CBC, get it together...
Makes sense.
A bad tenant is an absolute nightmare.
They have no references, credit score and possibly even a job. Thus superb candidate for rent delinquency.
Don’t move to TO 🤷🏻♂️
It's a scam, then you get kicked out and loose all your money, the lawyers did nothing and took more money from me.
because of the law, lots of tenants don’t pay their rent.
Agree
Genuinely don't know, but which law is this?
@@john-tr8jy RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES ACT, it is not a fair law. if the tenant does not pay the rent, he still can live , the landlord can do nothing.
Don’t worry, Governments will jump on this real soon, anything to protect tenants…. But if tenants not paying? Not the governments business….
Comments on CBC? What happened, finally recovered from getting roasted all the time? Well, to respond to the video. Pretty sure that's the norm for everyone, not just newcomers. I get that it's harder for them when you actually watch the video but title still is misleading.
It’s pretty simple, don’t come.
what about living somewhere else than Toronto? like Winnipeg or Saskatchewan. We have a big country, no?
There's no jobs
I payed 4 months upfront and felt like that was a lot but a whole year! That's insane
Is mass immigration the issue?
Obviously something is wrong. What lengths people have to go through to have housing. It is so sad that this is happening in Canada. And if someone is able to pay 12 months up front, isn't that enough to put down on a mortgage? It's all out of control, baffling, and unjust. We're all screwed if you don't own property and have that property paid off by now.
New trend is 2 years upfront. Landlords need to take care of themselves. Government won’t.
Totally agree !
The incompetent government causes its people to hate each other. Renter vs Landlords. Local vs newcomer. Young vs Old.
These are actually the people Canada needs. They're skilled and have money before they arrive.
Canada doesnt need unskilled people taking advantage of social programs.
Toronto has been a rich people city for a while, nothing new.
Too many immigrants. Simple as.
They do this in many countries
Another reason why people like myself cannot find housing. LL will favor those that cannoay for months upfront, while persons like myself on a limited income can barely afford first and last. Right now three if us are living in a bachelor apartment. While it is large it isn't suitable for a family of three. It's what we can afford and were able to get.
Newcomers SHOULD have money to support themselves if not able to did they lie on their application ?
live in toronto? uugghh
I don’t really understand what’s wrong with this! It pretty common practise everywhere I lived. It’s a great way to get ahead other people trying to get the apartment. I lived in Europe and Australia, in both places I would pay min 6 months rent in advance.
…and let’s not forget, foreigners comes here on condition having secured cash to live for several months if not year without any salary. It’s part of the visa requirements. Just use part of that saving!
This is not a new thing, and I love paying upfront. Get something informative and useful to show people.
I know someone (who has lived in Canada her whole life) who did this 6-7 years ago, to secure a townhouse rental in the windsor ont area. At the time rentals were hard to get and it gave her the advantage over others who also wanted to rent that unit. It's not a new situation and not specific to new Canadians. On the upside, once housing has been paid a year in advance, you have less expenses. Assuming you have a job, you can start putting that money back into your savings.
The housing market in Toronto is a joke now compared years ago, a friend of mine needs to move out and find a place as soon as possible but when they do found one they were asked to pay 6 months in advance while they have a full time salary jobs and Canadian not international, so if the international foreign migrants have that issue well so as we. Canadians first before anyone else.
We can all agree the former high school drama teacher is responsible for this mess.
How are you just doing a story on this now? It's been happening for over a decade.
If the tenant offers it, then what is the problem ? Must be a slow news day for CBC…
The tenant offers? hahahah don't be naive. The realtor requests is the right phrase.
Usually in a new Comer situation, they get a CO-SIGN on the lease by a family member or friend that has credit or a job.
This should be made illegal, the loop hole is an issue. Nobody ever should have to be more then 1st, last up front. If anyone is willing to pay more the landlord must refuse.
This country is huge! Ppl need jobs, why not building home? For families? The condos are not selling because ppl want homes, condos aren't for most families, only more fir bachelor or small families
DO NOT RENT YOUR PROPERTY without getting 12-24 months rent up front. There are WAY too many tenants refusing to pay or GET OUT once they move in!!!!
If you don't like it - go back to wherever you came from.
This is what I had to do in 2021 for a 1+1 when I immigrated. When I was looking for another place in 2023, I was out bid by someone who payed one year in advance, I offered 3. I had a stable job and good credit score in 2023.
I don't see why this is legal. Either legalize requiring it to prevent blind side, or outlaw it altogether.
THATS BECAUSE REALTORS ARE SCAMMERS
All of this is not a Canadian problem but rather something that persists almost everywhere in the world. Historically - housing has always been a struggle. The post war economic boom in Canada/USA was an aberation to the paradigm. Don't move to Toronto if you don't have good job prospects, good credit rating and at least a three month emergency fund. The 1950's - 60's are long gone.
Now come out to Vancouver and look at the hundreds of empty condos and houses every night.
Canadian real estate is being used as an asset, not a residence
That's exactly how they want it!
They know what they're doing!
There is 10 000 condos to sell in Toronto, if their credit was that good they would be able to buy the condos no ?
No one in their right mind would buy those places for the ask.
Short answer is yes. But these people don't want to. They're happy owning nothing but will blame those who do own.
I grew up here , when I was in relationships with dual income it's not bad.. when you are single even if you make $100k you have slim to no chance of securing a place. You almost have to pay 1 year up front ...aka like $30,000 ... imagine another country in the world where you need $30k cash just to rent ... it's unbelievable
If that's the case, why you guys need to go to Toronto. WTF is that.
"bidding war" and "housing rental" should never be in the same sentence.
as a landlord i like to squeeze and get what i can
Nothing new I did this from 2002 to 2004 and my rent was 1500 a month.
Got rid of stress that year.
This is happening bcoz tenants are misusing tenant rights resulting in landlord to take 12 months rent.
Canada needs more immigrants... like 5 million more.
Condo market has cooled but rental market is bidding war
Great piece of journalism, well researched, well presented.
Who is making life harder? The government, the laws or the home owners charging?
How is that legal? Thats unfair.
Bro we are so cooked, lol 😂
The same is the case with all Tier 1 cities across the world. This is just a demand and supply issue and also there is a huge risk involved in giving your property to new comers without any financial credit history in the country. The other issue is, people only wanting to stay in GTA leading to over saturation.
You really think Toronto is a tier 1 city on par with London, New York or Los Angeles?
@@noseboop4354 country specific Tier 1 and not globally Tier 1. Like for example; Lagos in Nigeria will be Tier 1 for Nigeria but it won’t be globally Tier 1.
The goverment must fund to build rental building to accommodate the immigration policy for bringing so many immigrants and refugees.. When the law allows tenants not to pay and still occupied the rental unit, then the landlord is struggling with the mortgage. Tenants can get away with non rent payments and landlords are not protected by the goverment. LTB forms for end the tenancy explicitly instruct tenants not to move out if they like. The chaos is created by the Landlord and Tenant board.
Because the LTB is so slow and backwards, landlords now have to do this to protect themselves. I would be doing the very same thing if I were the landlords.
What did you think would happen when you vote a drama teacher to be prime minister
Maybe this is because some tenants are abusing the landlords and this is a way to protect themselves?
1 year advance rent should be made requirement for leasing because it takes more than 1 year to evict tenants if they don’t pay rent
That doesn't make any sense
You need to be in this situation like many others to make it sense
Supply and demand. you got 2 identical tenants, one offers 2 months while other 6months upfront no credit history, which would you pick?
"corporate landlord are less likely to ask to more rent upfront", they also just don't respond to emails straight up 😇
1:03 sums it up, it's not "exploitation"
People should stay in there own country Canada is full 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Not just newcomers people who were born and raised here
Stop bringing people in
Whatever you say lady.. Time for Mr.JT to step down or get kicked out
This has been happening since 2018.
Lol, this is due to liberal policies.
Don’t like it here, just don’t come then. Simple.
I'm not a newcomer. When I moved to a small town, north of Toronto, in 2003, I offered 3-6 months of rent for the real estate agent to rent to me and not list the 'rental listing' for public to see. I was a good tenant, fortunately. What if a landlord gets stuck with bad tenants who paid upfront for a year?
Stuck with a bad tenant that paid is probably a lot better than...... with same tenant that doesn't pays....
This is the norm in Ghana.
Que abuso, conozco personas que hasta 7 personas en una sola habitación 😢
Supply and demand🙃
Renters don't pay
omg you are allowing comments....
This is new? I paid 9 months lol
And i only did because it i got a slight discount
My wife and I arrived in Canada from India during peak covid, and as an IT consultant I was fortunately able to find work in just a couple of weeks. Despite the fact that I was working (a permanent resident with stable income but no credit score), the Chinese owners of our condo in Fort York asked me to pay 6 months rent in advance. A few days before moving in, I met the owner's Chinese agent and said "the house is so dirty and was never cleaned after the previous tenants left". He replied "I am doing you people a favor by letting you rent, be grateful".
I would be so appalled if that happened. What an arrogant and entitled these people are.
Yeah he's right, you are lucky to have a job here in Canada, you took a job from a Canadian, took a home from a Canadian and still complain, if it's so bad go back home.
Should leave and let him pay his leveraged mortgages himself...
Would be funny if you're in the same building as me. I'm in Fort York area and Chinese building with no 2,4,13,14 floors in the building. My landlord is Chinese and has a mortgage on the place he's renting TO ME and has been worried about affording his mortgage since interest rates went up.
Guess who's been looking to move.
To get a canadian evicted .
owning is expensive, rent is expensive. can we all collectively stop paying lmao
A complete disgrace
This is all the alphabet groups fault.
Hey mate it's 14 months of payment for a 6 month lease
Confirmed! I was asked to pay 12 months in advance in 3 basements my wife and I were trying to rent back in january
This is disgusting.
This is perfectly legal, and perfectly fine.