Landlords charging Toronto immigrants illegal rent deposits

By Michael Niren January 30, 2012 1 min. read

 

Renting tips for immigrants

According to this article in the Toronto Star, landlords across the Greater Toronto Area and Ontario are forcing immigrants to pay huge rent deposits (between a year to three years’ worth of rent) before they can secure an apartment – even though it’s illegal.

Landlords are only allowed to ask for first and last month’s rent, but many newcomers to Canada don’t know their rights under the Landlord Tenant act.

The main problem is that Ontario has some of the most comprehensive and protective laws when it comes to renting – but they protect tenants, not landlords. Landlords can have a very difficult and expensive task ahead of them if they need to evict someone for not paying their rent. This is why landlords run extensive credit checks on potential tenants – but what if someone, like a new immigrant, doesn’t have a credit history in Canada?

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