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How to Rent Off-Campus Housing
As a student, your primary resource for finding off-campus housing is the Student Housing Service.
Finding off-campus housing is tough, but for many students no longer eligible for residence, or for non-resident students wanting to find new digs, it’s simply a fact of life. So let’s not waste any time panicking. It’s a project like any other, and here’s how to do it.
Preliminary Planning
Much can and should be done before you even begin to consider available lodgings. Get out a paper and pencil, and start making lists.
- How much rent can you afford? Be realistic – Toronto rents are high, and you can’t change the fact that the average price for a one-bedroom apartment is $950, and around the St. George campus, that price skyrockets to $1,100 plus utilities.
- Will you live alone or with roommates? Living alone is massively expensive, so unless you are prepared to spend at least $800 to $950 for a bachelor apartment, you will need roommates.
- Who will your roommates be? It’s best to line up suitable roommates before you commit to a multi-room apartment. Have frank discussions to establish compatibility. It’s one thing to adore a friend, but do you have the same standards of housekeeping? Do you agree on sleep time? Playing music? Having friends over? Will you share grocery shopping/cooking? What if one or both of you has a girl/boyfriend who spends a good deal of time at your place? One situation that often sabotages communal living arrangements is the virtually live-in boyfriend who helps himself from the fridge. Make a list of issues and discuss them. This will save you much grief later on, when you’re trapped in a jointly-rented lodging.
- What do you want in an apartment? This must, of course, be tempered by the ugly reality of Toronto. Forget the Jacuzzi, the walk-out deck, the working fireplace, on site laundry facilities. Confine yourself to commonsensical needs and wants: number of bedrooms; above-ground or basement lodgings; unfurnished or furnished; proximity to either the campus or easy, 24 hour public transportation.
- Decide the geographical parameters of your search Do you really need to live within walking distance of the campus? Perhaps so, but at least consider a wider range. Get out a subway map, and go Ride the Rocket. Any lodging near almost any subway will prove very convenient transportation wise, and can often lower the rent and widen the choice of apartments amazingly. Of course, you’ll have to factor in a TTC pass which is almost $100 monthly.
- Prepare your paperwork in advance You will almost certainly be competing with dozens of other people for each place you see, and you must somehow present yourself as the best of a sometimes-desperate bunch. And don’t forget – you will be duking it out (figuratively speaking, of course!) with employed adults. If you were a landlord, which would you prefer? So arm yourself with a dossier to present to landlords. Hopefully, you can craft a good enough one to win out over more established contenders. Your dossier, in multiple copies so that you will have one for each landlord, will include: a resume, with your smiling photo, so that yours will stand out in a pile of other resumes; a letter of reference from your current landlord, which for residence students, is either the Office of the Dean of Students or the Bursar's Office; a bank statement belonging either to you or, if you are abjectly poor, from your parents, the latter adding a signed promise to pay your rent; a financial resume, indicating the sources of your income, a document designed to convince the landlord that you are not a credit risk; and cheques ready to whip out and sign as soon as you find an apartment and a landlord willing to lease it to you.
- Now comes the reconnoitering for the hunt! Now that you know more or less where, with whom and how much your apartment will be, you can start the hunt. The Student Housing Service in the Koffler Student Services Building (214 College St.) has a large inventory of lodgings listed by landlords willing to rent to students. These are not guaranteed to be superb places, but at least they are student-positive. As well, you should use commercial media resources. If possible, approach your apartment search as a job, preferably an early morning one. Rise early, at 6 a.m., and grab the Toronto Star, which has the best For Rent classifieds. The Star also has a website (www.torontostarclassifieds.com) that is very helpful in winnowing out apartments. Use both paper and website, as they often contain different listings. Now Magazine is also good, but as it’s a weekly, make sure you get it on the day it’s issued to ensure up-to-date, still-available listings. Don’t waste time, because you need to make your calls beginning at about 7 a.m. Wait until later, and the apartments that interest you might well have been committed to someone else. Schedule your appointments and begin the actual physical search.
- Now you pound the pavement Dress up to view your selected lodgings as if it were a job interview, and don’t forget your folio (see bullet #6 above). You must be prepared to act swiftly in case you like the place, and the landlord gives you the opportunity to commit yourself with a lease and cheque. Your future roommates should already have agreed to designate you as the person to make that commitment. You may be lucky enough to have a landlord who will give you time to bring your roommates over for an inspection as well, but given the competition, you should be prepared to leap at any good chances you have to secure a place.
- Firming up the deal You will be asked to sign a lease, and to provide first and last months’ rent. You should already be familiar with what standard leases include; Student Housing Services have a wealth of literature on such matters.
Throughout this grueling process, you should rely on university resources, the most valuable of which is The Student Housing Service in the Koffler Center. They have hundreds of listings of available places, a wealth of literature on the entire procedure, including your legal rights and obligations, and they also host Sublet Saturdays, when students with places to sublet for the summer meet students who are searching for summer sublets. This is an excellent service, and as University of Toronto students, you all have access to it. You should also check out http://www.ontariotenants.ca or http://toronto.ontariotenants.ca for information on renting and being a tenant.
Good luck in your home-away-from-home hunt!
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