Posts Tagged ‘Rent’
Did Your Tenants Pay May 1st Rent?
Friday, May 1st, 2020It’s Important To Pay Your Rent To Your Small Landlord
Saturday, April 18th, 2020
My name is Laura and I post under my name on the Nova Scotia Landlords Forum. I’ve been active there for years to try to help other tenants and give some of my advice to help small landlords too.
These are crazy times for everyone.
And while tenants are suffering it’s also important to know your landlord might be suffering too. This pandemic is hurting everyone.
We Need To Stick Together
I used to own a house and we rented our basement out years ago and it really helped us cover our mortgage. When my husband died my children were grown so I decided to sell the house and rent.
Renting has a lot of advantages.
I don’t have to worry about any maintenance issues and my landlady has a service to cut the lawn and plow the snow. My landlord cover my utilities so she can get just one payment each month to keep things uncomplicated.
My landlady is a teacher and her husband has his own contracting company and they are terrific.
“Are You Going To Pay The Rent?”
When all this chaos started in March and the government said “tenants don’t have to pay rent” my landlady called me and asked me if I was going to pay the rent.
I told her “of course I will”. She was thankful and said if I needed a break just call her.
My Landlady Is Professional and Kind, And I Make Paying Rent A Priority
I’m in a pretty good situation where I don’t need to worry about buying food and my children are adults now. I know others might not be as safe as I am.
I’m going to pay the rent not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because I want to keep my excellent relationship with my landlady and know that if I don’t pay rent it could hurt her financially (and even lead to her selling this place).
Pay You Rent And If You Can’t Call Your Landlord
My landlady isn’t some big global corporation. She and her family invested and thanks to them I have a great place to stay at a great price.
Rent Strike Hits Small Landlords, Not The Corporate Landlords
-Not paying rent will just get rid of the small nice landlords who care about you.
-Not paying rent will not impact the big heartless corporations.
-The whole “rent strike” people are likely corporate landlords who want to get rid of small landlords who are their competition. At least that’s what I think.
Stay Home and Stay Safe!
I’m so happy to have a great rental with a great landlady. I feel safe and don’t ever want to move.
With Love And Wishing Everyone Stays Safe,
Laura
PAY YOUR RENT CAMPAIGN 2020
Wednesday, April 1st, 2020
Smart Tenants Will Pay Rent & Cooperate With Your Landlord For a Win-Win Situation
Small landlords know the challenges tenants face. Because we faced them too! Many us were renters before.
We want to work with you to keep you renting from us.
Please know that just because we own a rental property, or rent out our basement, doesn’t mean we are rich. We aren’t.
Many of us are working class people who have decided to avoid the crazy stock market and buy a rental property to help us when we retire.
We need rent to be paid so we can also survive and want to cooperate with you to make sure we have a win-win relationship. We have to pay our mortgage, property taxes, insurance, maintenance.
There are calls saying “Don’t Pay Rent” all over social media
We want to make sure tenants know good landlords want to work with you for all of us surviving.
We support tenants in need, but many of us are also on the financial edge!
To prove our support, thousands of landlords and this association are lobbying both the provincial and federal government to create a nation-wide “rent bank” that will help tenants in need get grants or low-cost loans to pay rent.
This will make sure there is no “landlord-tenant” conflicts or haggling and keep landlords in business and tenants safe in their rental homes.
Something similar to the Canada student loan system where people in temporary need get financial help from the government.
Landlords want to work with tenants (and tenant groups) to make this happen. And happen fast!
Avoid The “Don’t Pay Your Rent” Memes and Media
This isn’t a poor tenant vs. a rich evil landlord issue.
It’s a working class tenant facing challenges renting from a working class small landlord who is also facing challenges.
If you don’t pay rent (like so many are saying) it will lead to eventually being evicted with large debts, and your search for a new home will include no reference and bad credit.
Good Landlords and Good Tenants Working Together
Tenants make sure you pay your rent on time, or work it out with your landlord.
Short term easy answers like “don’t pay rent” will lead to unnecessary problems for tenants a few months from now.
These groups should be joining us to lobby for a nation-wide rent bank to truly help tenants instead of wanting to “stick it to the landlord” (which only lead to legal issues down the road). But it’s so sexy to be a revolutionary, right?
Be Smart
If you can’t pay rent work things out with your landlord who will give you a discount or deferred payments.
Paying Rent or Cooperating With Your Landlord On A Fair Payment Plan Is the Smart Move!
Lunenburg County – Hard To Find A Place To Call Home
Monday, August 26th, 2013September 1st, 2013
According to a report in the Chronical Herald affordable housing is still a serious problem in Lunenburg County, despite the formation three years ago of a coalition to raise awareness of the issue.
Helen Lanthier of the South Shore Housing Action Coalition says more than 50 per cent of Lunenburg County residents make less than $25,000 a year, and with 91.4 per cent of housing owned, very few apartments are available.
Lanthier went before District of Lunenburg council Tuesday morning, saying, “We’re not here to ask for money,” but to ask for support to promote an affordable housing plan for the region.
Council did pass a motion in 2010 to create a committee to develop an affordable housing plan, but then opted instead to appoint a councillor to the newly formed action coalition. It was formed that year to work for quality, safe and affordable housing in Lunenburg and Queens counties.
The coalition pointed at the time to a shortage of rental units in the region, citing also a lack of different types of housing, such as condominiums and co-operative housing. Lanthier said 34 per cent of renters in Lunenburg County spent more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.
She told councillors Tuesday that when the coalition formed, it believed that “without concrete steps, this situation is likely to get worse before it gets better, mainly because of an aging population.”
And she said that’s exactly what has happened. “Nothing’s changed. The issues of 2010 remain the issues of 2013.”
Lanthier said many renters don’t complain about problems, such as mould, poor maintenance and heating for fear of retribution from the landlord or owner. This is very different than in Ontario where tenants are encouraged to complain by the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Nancy Green, a former home visitor with South Shore Health’s public health services, told of one family of four that lived in a one-bedroom unit with black mould, a leaky roof and poor insulation. They had to use the food bank in part because the father missed work because he was sick from their living conditions.
Their rent was $700 a month when they moved in, and went up by $50 a month.
“The story of (that family) is one that is being played out along the South Shore,” Green said. “Something must be done to improve housing. A house is not just a shelter, it’s a home. It’s where we grow, celebrate, relax and seek comfort. A house is not a home when it’s inadequate.”
A lack of affordable housing also impacts the sustainability and economic viability of a community, Lanthier said, making it a challenge for businesses to keep workers and leading to increased health-care costs.
She said the coalition is asking all municipal councils on the South Shore to commit to development of a local housing action plan. Whether that’s done jointly or individually, “it’s the foundation for changing the nature of affordable housing on the South Shore,” she said.
“The need is real, there’s no question,” said Mayor Don Downe, with affordable housing as great an issue in Lunenburg County as it is in Vancouver.
He said the province’s recently released housing strategy is “a good starting point, but there needs to be some federal and provincial money put into the program to provide the services that people really require to be able to stay in our communities.”
Down said he will take the issue to a regional meeting in September of municipal councils from Lunenburg, Queens and Halifax counties. He hopes the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities will then vote to push the province to work on an affordable housing strategy for urban and rural communities across the province.
