Toronto Renters Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Jojo on April 06, 2022, 10:30:04 am
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This thought-provoking article poses an interesting question, why don't tenants demand letters of reference from their landlords?
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/here-s-why-more-tenants-should-request-reference-letters-from-landlords-1.5850299 (https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/here-s-why-more-tenants-should-request-reference-letters-from-landlords-1.5850299)
“A good landlord has every reason to tell you [about] the previous tenants,” he said. "Landlords might want to have letters that attest to their fitness as landlords, and a good landlord would voluntarily want to do that.”
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Hear, hear!
What we should be pushing for is a "renter's package" that would include suchh landlord references and also SLAs (service level agreements) about maintenance. Fine, the legislation and regulations state certain things must happen, but any landlord can claim, "Oh, I'm looking into it." Without SLAs and associated penalties for failing to meet responsiveness, timeliness, and results goals, there is no teeth in what we have as renters.
By all means, ask your next potential landlord for references, if you wish not to be considered as a tenant! ;-) What we really need, though, is some backing with teeth!
Thanks for the post.
Jeff