Most cities in Canada have a department dedicated to ensuring that the city makes sure all the codes and bi laws are informed for each individual commercial, residential and industrial property. In most cases, you can call these departments and check the property you are about to lease. These bi law officers will notify you if the department believes the property is in violation of something. This is why it’s best to find out the address and do your homework prior to viewing the unit. Be sure to give your bi law officer or city hall representative lots of time to check the situation out and do not be in a rush. If there hasn’t been an inspection in quite some time you can request that the city do an inspection on the property. Remember that even if the city representative doesn’t find a violation, that doesn’t mean that there is one. The inspection will vary in intensity and can be quick or take several hours. Inspections vary on a scale from parking violations to building codes. Any violation, no matter how small, can keep the city from issuing an occupational lease, which means, if you have already started your lease, you may be off the hook for rent. Possible code violations are fire codes, health department codes, Ownership title claims, lease rules and regulations, and any other provincial and municipal bi laws.



In some lease situations it is important to have a photo documentation of the conditions before the lease existed. Why so? Because disputes arising due to damages or lost items in a lease, furnished or not, could be attributed to you. This includes acts of vandal, burglar or guests. Why not have the photographic evidence that reflects the property. The best way to do this is to take photo’s of the property and burn them onto a cd. If the landlord or property owner attempts to charge you for a unnecessary bill, review your cd and then burn him a copy.

Garbage collection is one question that you should always have a clear answer about. How? When and where! A good lease for an apartment building will allow for you to move extraordinary amounts of garbage and trash that accumulates during the moving in and moving out process. Most leases should allow for the landlord to have the garage removed with no cost to the tenant.

These are three things to keep in mind when renting your next apartment building.