How To Rent A Property During Covid-19
The market is currently in favour of renters and you want to work with your existing tenants to extend their tenancy if you can. We have seen much more supply come to the market, especially furnished rentals, because short-term rentals like Airbnb have been banned in Toronto for the time being so hosts are no longer able to rent their units out and have converted them over to long-term rentals.
If you do have a vacant unit that you must rent out, follow this advice:
Pricing:
The market is currently soft so you will need to be reasonable in your expectations. Offer a reduction in rent:
If you are in a rent controlled building (i.e. a rental unit that was first occupied for residential purposes before November 15, 2018), keep the rental rate higher but offering a free month of rent. This protects you in the future because you will only be able to increase the rent by the provincial guideline next year, so you don’t want to start out with a rental rate that is too low.
If you are not in a rent controlled building, just cut the price until you get it rented. After the 1 year term is up, you can adjust the rent to market rates.
If you are converting an Airbnb property to a long-term rental, you are going to have challenges! Some buildings notorious as “short-term stay hotels” like 300 Front and 12 & 14 York have over 50 units each currently available for rent and you are going to have to cut your price significantly to get it rented.
Property Showings
People are renting (or even buying) properties right now sight-unseen is happening. Some people are just not able or willing to view properties due to physical distancing or self isolation. Some buildings are not even allowing showings of units at all.
You must utilize all available marketing materials and strategies, including: pictures, floor plans, videos, 3D tours, walkthroughs. Be creative!
If your unit is currently tenanted, do not do any showings for the property – do everything virtually. If your tenant says no to showings, there is nothing you can do to force them to show the property. Do not think that the “24 hours notice” to access the unit applies right now.
If you have a good relationship with your tenants, ask them to do a Zoom call where they walk through the property for the prospective new tenants but it will probably be best to have the tenants first leave before renting out the unit again. This way the unit can be fully cleaned/disinfected and you do not run the risk and liability of exposing your tenants to Covid-19.
Screen Your Tenants
Be even more diligent in screening your tenants right now. Do a credit check, call their employer to make sure they still have their job, check references, Google them online, view their Facebook pages – social media can give you A LOT of information about what your tenant will be like. Now is the time to do all of your homework because it can save you a lot of time and effort later if you need to evict a tenant. If you have a bad feeling, listen to your gut.
Leave It To The Experts
This is an unprecedented time and I’m sure you have other things to worry about. We rented over 150 condos in 2019 for our clients last year. Fees to have us manage this for you are only 1 month’s rent + HST when the tenancy starts, so get in touch if you need help.