Landlords: Valuable Resources Before During & After purchasing a Rental Property

September 29, 2020

Are you looking to purchase or sell real estate that involves either a current tenant or your're an investor wanting to tenant the property?  You could find yourself spending countless hours of your time and a great deal of money not to mention loss of rent unless you do your homework before during and after the tenancy.

Recently introduce to Jim Garrnett, President Canadian Tenant Inspection Services (CTI) during podcast episode hosted by the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast, I learned another valuable tenancy application reference tip:  Check individuals on court services online https://justice.gov.bc.ca/so/index.do.

CTI will help landlords during a tenancy by offering regular inspections of the property (hint: most owner insurance policy coverage of tenanted properties require regular interior property inspections quarterly or semi-annually).  More often though, CTI is called upon when there is a problem.  

Relationships can sour, Pandemics happen, tenants can find themselves in great hardship and perhaps transfer their issues to the landlord by way of not paying rent, hoarding, or subletting the property without landlord knowledge.  Our Tenancy Act and Residential Tenancy Branch have set out guidelines for Landlords and Tenants, but it's not always an easy (or safe) task.  

Let these professionals help guide you, follow correct procedures and you may be in a better financial position than by attempting to go it alone.  Ask yourself if you have the knowledge time and resources to properly evict a tenant and how to go about recovering a monetary order.  Even arbitrations can be intimidating and it's best if you have professional representation.

Before you rent your basement suite, you may want to check municipal zoning, insurance coverage and exactly how to navigate the tenant application process. Literally, doing your homework up front could save you hundreds of hours, stress and money.

Landlord Credit Bureau is an excellent resource for not only landlords to conduct credit checks, assist you with the pre-qualifications but also for good tenants who wish to improve their credit rating and show landlords their excellent payment history. It's a win/win service.  Their mission is to improve the businesses and lives of landlords, property managers and responsible tenants.  Landlords spend most of their time dealing with the lousy 10% of tenants who cause all the problem. They rarely hear from the fantastic 90% of tenants and rarely have time to do something nice for them.

Another valuable resource, Tenant Verification Services Inc. They will help you screen your tenant, avoid fraud and scams plus assist with credit checks. Not only is this a valuable tool prior to a tenancy, they can also assist when a tenant vacates and doesn't pay rent and skips out on the property.