Montreal Rentals - Owners Beware!

There are many Montreal Rentals available of all kinds... Most are apartments and condos, owned by large corporations and professional landlords. But there are a few Montreal Rentals of private homes, being offered as a result of their owners being transferred for work, education, and other reasons.

If you decide to rent out your home while you are away, it is very important to be as vigilant as possible when selecting a suitable tenant, and ideally, mandate a Montreal Real Estate Broker to take care of your Montreal Rentals property. Which brings me to a true story, that could have been very bad news for my homeowner clients...

Just last week, I met a couple who were interested in renting one of the properties that I have listed for rent. At the outset, they seemed to be the nicest of people. They have owned and operated a construction company local to the area for many years, and while they are setting up a new branch in another province, they have decided to rent in order to focus on the new business.

They offered to paint the house and do various updating items to make it to their taste, all at their cost. They also wanted the property right away. They claimed that their current lease in a nearby town had ended late last year, and they were now month to month. They also said that their landlord had recently gotten married and he now wanted to move back in, so they were free to go anytime.

Sounds good so far doesn't it? Well, I prepared an offer with them, and started doing my due diligence. I discovered that they no longer lived at the address they stated as their current address. They had left that home prior to the end of their lease without paying several months of rent, claiming the house was plagued with problems and the landlord refused to fix it, which was not the case at all. As well, they initially refused to give me the name and phone number of any references (I wonder why?!)and when they finally did, they were made up. As a result of this, I immediately knew that this was not the tenant for my homeowner client. But their is more...

More digging resulted in two more such cases, in homes varying in price from $2,000 / month all the way up to $4,500 / month! And there were probably more landlords affected by this couple's dishonest actions prior to these incidences of Montreal Rentals. So these honest looking people had turned into the worst kind of tenant - the one that stops paying but is still living in the house. Several cases reported that the tenants had some repairs done to the place at their expense, at abnormally large cost, for which they paid cash, and then deducted it from the next month's rent. Most repairs could have been done for a fraction of the cost of what they claim they paid! There are files against these people at the Regie du Logement for non payment and damages as a result of their dishonest behavior. Granted, I can understand that a house may have issues but for it to happen time and time again leads to a pattern, and looks highly suspicious.

Finally, it was discovered that in their construction company dealings, they had, on more than one occasion, accepted a large deposit for work to be done on a property, and not returned to do any of the work! These are definitely not the kind of people that you want living in your home.

So before you decide to become one of the Montreal Rentals, weigh the facts. Are you prepared for the possibility that things can go very wrong? It is, thankfully, not always the case as their are many legitimate people who need a place to live that will care for your home and be no trouble. But it just takes one to cause you enormous amounts of stress, expenses and headache, all while you are trying to live your in a distant place. So Montreal Rentals - Owners Beware!

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