Lease Basics
December 2025
December 15th
You find a home that you want to live in beginning January 1st, 2026. We make an offer to lease the home
December 16th
Your offer is accepted by the landlord and all paperwork is signed
December 17th
The deposit is due (1st and Last Month’s Rent)
December 18th to December 31st
You ensure that the utilities are transferred into your name and your tenant insurance is scheduled to reflect your new address beginning January 1st, 2026. You email me proof of this, and I submit that proof to the landlord
(1)January 2026
January 1st
Your first months rent deposit has already been applied
Meet the Landlord
You, me and the landlord meet at your new home at a scheduled time
Key Deposit
If there is a refundable key deposit, you typically e-transfer it to the landlord on this day
Post Dated Cheques
If it’s been agreed that you will pay rent with post-dated cheques (10) you will give them to the landlord
Inspection
We do a walk through the home with the landlord and note any pre-existing deficiencies so that you are not responsible at the end of the lease
Keys
The landlord will give you the keys and you can move in
The landlord wants to raise the rent after 12 months
The landlord is required to issue you Form N1 in writing 90 days prior to the last day of your lease
The landlord can only raise the rent one time in a 12 month period
You decide you want to move out at the end of 12 months
(2)February (3)March (4)April (5)May (6)June (7)July (8)August (9)September (10)October (11)November (12)December
September 30th, 2025
You, me the landlord will issue you an N1 via email that they are increasing the rent as of January 1st, 2026. If the home you live in was built prior to November 15th, 2018 and occupied by a tenant, the rent increase must match the current consumer price index. For the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 the maximum rent increase has held steady at 2.5%. If the property you are renting was built after November 15th, 2018, the rent increase guidelines do not apply and the rent increase can be whatever the landlord wants.