A commentary by a Langford resident.
I rented out my suite for about 18 years to long-term tenants. I gave very reduced rents to a few tenants and made agreements with some that they would help with some light yard work (watering, mowing the small lawn area).
The yard work never happened.
I was a single, working mother and was hoping to get a little help in exchange for a couple of hundred dollars a month off the rent. Meanwhile, I was working weekends and overtime to pay the bills.
After I retired I could no longer afford to rent my suite for so little. The cost of insurance, taxes, maintenance, utilities have skyrocketed over the years and after retirement I ended up working six or seven days a weeks so my tenant could pay $780 monthly for a large beautiful, bright suite looking out onto a lovely yard.
Laundry, hydro and everything was included.
Meanwhile, I was coming home in tears because I was doing private care and frequently not getting sleep for days in a row.
I had to get the tenant out as I just could not afford to have her here anymore. I had told her over the years that after I retired I would have to do something different with the suite.
She was not a bad tenant but when I rented to her originally I thought it would be for a year or two and I gave her very low rent as I knew she was not making much at her job.
She stayed for eight and half years. I figured that over the last five years I lost about $30,000 on rent from what I could have been charging.
I have been doing short-term rentals for the past five years and I would never go back to long-term rentals.
I have only had one terrible experience with guests because they are reviewed. I was able to get them out quickly and cringe when I think of what would have happened if they had been long-term tenants.
They smoked inside my home (against my rules), cranked up the heat full blast, left the fireplace on 24/7 and left garbage around my property but I was able to get them out within days.
We need to tighten up protections for landlords. Most, as I was, are just trying to pay the bills.
Just because people pay rent it does not give them the right to disrespect and damage your property or ruin the peace in your own home.
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