Rent to a Student

If you are thinking of becoming a landlord, carefully research the legal obligations and responsibilities you’ll assume once you’ve entered into a tenancy agreement. In addition to clearly understanding a landlord’s legal rights and responsibilities, you must also realize the significant commitment you are making when you rent to someone. What may seem like a fairly benign requests from a tenant (or potential tenant), or a small decision made about the rental space, could result in the landlord being in a costly legal predicament!

This guide published by the Landlord Self Help Centre outlines some considerations that landlords are obligated to follow through the Residential Tenancy Act (2006) including: security of tenure, setting the rent, tenant screening, discrimination, rental deposits, tenant information package, interest on deposits, receipt provision, access to vital services, and termination of tenancy.

• Before You Rent Guide

In 2012, the City of North Bay created the Residential Rental Housing by-law 2012-55, which created the Residential Rental Housing License. This license needs to be obtained by landlords who rent out 3-5 bedrooms in a single house. Once an application for the license has been made, an inspection of the house will be conducted by at least 2 members of city staff from the Fire, Building, and Zoning departments to ensure the building is up to code and follows the city by-laws. Another inspection by an electrical contractor is also required.

Once these inspections have been passed successfully, the landlord will obtain their license. A certificate proving the landlord has obtained this license must be displayed within 1 meter of the main entrance of the rental house. This license is valid for 2 years and must be renewed. The license puts ease of mind to both the landlord and the students renting because everyone involved knows that the house is up to code and is safe. 

For more information check out the links below:

• Residential Rental Housing Licensing (RRHL) By-law
  • RRHL Information Brochure
  • RRHL Compliance Checklist 2019
  • Residential Housing Accommodation Flyer
• Residential Rental Housing License Application
• Residential Rental Housing License Renewal Application
• Residential Rental Housing Change of Ownership Application
• Short-Term Rental (STR) Licensing

Every person has the right to be free from discrimination in housing because of Code-protected grounds. You have the right to equal treatment when buying, selling, renting or being evicted from an apartment, house, condominium or commercial property.

The Government of Ontario has a standard lease for landlords in Ontario to use. As of April 30, 2018, most private market rentals are required to use this created standard form (lease) when entering into a tenancy agreement. Both the tenant and the landlord must sign the lease at least by the date the tenant is scheduled to move into the rental unit.

The landlord must provide the tenant with a copy of the lease within 21 days after the tenant signs it and gives it to the landlord. There is a view-only version of the form and a fill-in version as well. The forms can be found available on the Government of Ontario website here.

Landlords are required to provide tenants with rent receipts for income purposes.

A sample rent receipt created by OCL is provided HERE, however, a simple online search will give more examples for you to create your own. If you would like an editable version of the OCL rent receipt, please send us an email so that we can provide you with a digital copy.

Landlord Self Help Centre provides a number of resources for landlords. Landlord’s Self-Help Centre is a non-profit community legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario and mandated to support Ontario’s small-scale landlord community exclusively. LSHC provides information, summary advice and referrals. It develops educational materials and delivers educational outreach programs which aim to help small landlords better understand their rights and responsibilities and navigate the regulatory environment to which they are subject. This site offers information on a variety of topics related to residential tenancies and rental relationships in Ontario, it is geared toward the needs of small-scale landlords.

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The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) resolves:

• disputes between residential landlords and tenants
• eviction applications filed by non-profit housing co-operatives

The LTB also provides information about its practices and procedures and the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants under the Residential Tenancies Act.

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The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA 2006) is the law in the province of Ontario, Canada, that governs landlord and tenant relations in residential rental accommodations. The Act received royal assent on June 22, 2006, and was proclaimed into law on January 31, 2007.

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