Now that you have arrived in Canada, you may be anxious to find a place to live. Before you do, take some time to read this Foreigners guide to renting an apartment in Canada. It could help you more than you think!
When you are looking for a place to live in Canada, there are a number of different ways to find apartment listings. In larger cities such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Vancouver, you will find listings in the local newspaper. The listings will be broken down into subgroups such as one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom or more. You can sometimes find duplexes to rent, and maybe even a condominium.
Another place you may look for rental information is at the store or laundromat. Check out the student housing office at the University or College and sometimes apartment buildings list their vacancies on a board outdoors. Try also online, where you can find apartment listings by city and even neighbourhood.
Be clear about the kind of housing you need. Do you need to house just you, or is your family of five moving in with you? You will need to know this before you look for a place to live as many communities have allowable density guidelines. These guidelines ensure that there are not too many people living in one small place which can cause structural damage to a premise and endanger their lives and others. Find out what those guidelines are where you live.
You will need to find a place that does not empty your wallet when rent is due. When you are looking at apartment listings, read carefully as some places may not include electrical or heating costs in your rent. The rental amount might seem very inexpensive, but when winter comes, you can count on having your utilities bills rise up to three hundred dollars a month to keep comfortable. Where you can, do your best to find a place that includes heat and hydro in your rent.
Foreigners sometimes have difficulty in finding a place to rent. This is mostly because landlords sometimes find it hard to get credit information about you. If you have built up good credit in your home country, ask your creditors to write a reference letter for you in the English language saying how reliably you paid your bills. If you do not have a history yet, ask someone from your family (like a cousin, brother or sister or father or mother) to sign your lease with you as your co-signor. That should satisfy any nervous landlord who just wants a good tenant that he can count on to pay him.
Depending on the type of apartment that you are renting, there are some furnishings that you can expect to be included. For anything larger than a bachelor apartment, you can expect that there will be a stove and a refrigerator available. Bachelor apartments in most area for example you are looking for Calgary apartments as well as Hamilton apartments tend to be somewhat furnished. They may have simply a bed and a dresser or may even have a desk and lamp as well. Some apartment buildings have a shared laundry room for tenant use. Some places do not.
Be prepared, when you sign your lease, to pay the landlord one month’s rent in advance. This amount is used as a security deposit and is applied to your last month of your lease. You will still have to pay the landlord rent on the first day of your lease as well, so be prepared with that amount before you move in. Good luck! Welcome to Canada!
When living in Toronto finding apartments for rent in Winnipeg that are right for you can be difficult. Viewit can help you with your search for an apartment in Winnipeg as well as apartments for rent in edmonton.
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