- Many companies illegally hold key deposits
- Legally key deposit cannot be more expensive than the cost to replace the key
- Under Ontario law, landlords technically need to pay interest on last month's rent if they withold it before the period when rent is due
- Read the fine print when signing a lease with the large companies; some of them automatically sign students up for multiple years of rental once they have your bank information
- When using housing groups, beware of bots and scams (prevented here because all users need to be registered with an official UWaterloo email address)
- Beware of signing for buildings that aren't completed yet
¶ Landlord and Tenant Board
- Asking for application fee
- Asking for deposit before the viewing and/or unable to schedule an in-person viewing
- Same ad (same location, same offer) can be found under a different name and contact information
- Asking for confidential information (SIN, bank account, etc.)
- Not asking for ID/standard information before requesting payment
- Prices are too good to be true (way below market rate)
- Rental’s exact address is not listed
- Photos look too good to be true/likely altered
General Information:
Recommended Neighbourhoods and Statistics
Reddit information page for housing *old, but still useful