Hey everyone! Heading to Toronto next week and looking for food recommendations. Will be based in downtown for most of the trip, and doing a day trip to Niagara. Would love suggestions for all types of cuisines and price ranges, whether it’s a hidden gem or a proper sit-down place. Any Niagara suggestions are welcome too. Thanks in advance!
Location: Vancouver/Burnaby, Canada
Me and my partner have been looking for a rental for two months now. We found a place in Burnaby near Metrotown, we really liked it and around April 20th, applied the same day, all documents ready, everything.
The property manager took three days to get back to us just to say the landlord was happy with our application. Then another two days went by while we waited on a response about our two-year lease offer. Landlord lives outside Canada so time zone differences, we get it. But two full days just to say no to a two year lease?
By that point it’s April 27th and we have three days left to give our current landlord notice by April 30th, as required under BC law. We asked the PM if we could just sign the lease right away. He told us he’s unavailable the entire week until May 3rd. We pushed twice, nothing moved. We didn’t want to be difficult so we let it go and agreed to meet May 5th at the property instead.
Our lease start date was June 15th and we were upfront from day one that we’re travelling until May 30th and needed a bit of time to move. They were completely fine with all of that.
So May 5th comes, we do our walkthrough, sit down to talk. We called our current landlord right there in front of the PM and she was clear - it’s either July 1st or we pay 15 days of overlap rent if we leave June 15th. We simply cannot afford to pay rent on two places at the same time. We asked if the new lease could start July 1st instead.
PM says he needs to check with the landlords. Fair enough.
Two hours later, the same people who needed 48 hours to say no to a two-year lease came back and said no to 15 extra days. 15 days. That’s all we needed.
And then the PM suggested that we should have just given our current landlord the notice without a signed lease, because we had a verbal agreement anyway. And if something went wrong, we could always go back to our landlord and tell them we changed our minds about leaving.
So the advice was essentially to risk our current housing on an unsigned deal. Not sure that would have gone well for us.
Two months of searching and we’re back to zero. For those who have been in a similar spot, what would you have done differently? Was there anything we missed or could have handled better?
Me and my partner have been looking for a rental for two months now. We found a place in Burnaby near Metrotown, we really liked it and around April 20th, applied the same day, all documents ready, everything.
The property manager took three days to get back to us just to say the landlord was happy with our application. Then another two days went by while we waited on a response about our two-year lease offer. Landlord lives outside Canada so time zone differences, we get it. But two full days just to say no to a two year lease?
By that point it’s April 27th and we have three days left to give our current landlord notice by April 30th, as required under BC law. We asked the PM if we could just sign the lease right away. He told us he’s unavailable the entire week until May 3rd. We pushed twice, nothing moved. We didn’t want to be difficult so we let it go and agreed to meet May 5th at the property instead.
Our lease start date was June 15th and we were upfront from day one that we’re travelling until May 30th and needed a bit of time to move. They were completely fine with all of that.
So May 5th comes, we do our walkthrough, sit down to talk. We called our current landlord right there in front of the PM and she was clear - it’s either July 1st or we pay 15 days of overlap rent if we leave June 15th. We simply cannot afford to pay rent on two places at the same time. We asked if the new lease could start July 1st instead.
PM says he needs to check with the landlords. Fair enough.
Two hours later, the same people who needed 48 hours to say no to a two-year lease came back and said no to 15 extra days. 15 days. That’s all we needed.
And then the PM suggested that we should have just given our current landlord the notice without a signed lease, because we had a verbal agreement anyway. And if something went wrong, we could always go back to our landlord and tell them we changed our minds about leaving.
So the advice was essentially to risk our current housing on an unsigned deal. Not sure that would have gone well for us.
Two months of searching and we’re back to zero. For those who have been in a similar spot, what would you have done differently? Was there anything we missed or could have handled better?
Me and my partner have been looking for a rental for two months now. We found a place we really liked around April 20th, applied the same day, all documents ready, everything.
The property manager took three days to get back to us just to say the landlord was happy with our application. Then another two days went by while we waited on a response about our two-year lease offer. Landlord lives outside Canada so time zone differences, fine, we get it. But two full days just to say no to a two year lease?
By that point it’s April 27th and we have three days left to give our current landlord notice by April 30th, as required under BC law. We asked the PM if we could just sign the lease right away. He told us he’s unavailable the entire week until May 3rd. We pushed twice, nothing moved. We didn’t want to be difficult so we let it go and agreed to meet May 5th at the property instead.
Our lease start date was June 15th and we were upfront from day one that we’re travelling until May 30th and needed a bit of time to move. They were fine with all of that.
So May 5th comes, we do our walkthrough, sit down to talk. We called our current landlord right there in front of the PM and she was crystal clear — it’s either July 1st or we pay 15 days of overlap rent if we leave June 15th. We simply cannot afford to pay rent on two places at the same time. We asked if the new lease could start July 1st instead.
PM says he needs to check with the landlords. Sure, fair enough.
Two hours later, TWO hours, the same people who needed 48 hours to say no to a two-year lease came back and said no to 15 extra days.
15 days. That’s literally all we needed.
And then to top it all off, the PM had the nerve to tell us that we should have just given our current landlord the notice without having a signed lease in hand, because “we had the agreement anyway.” And if something went wrong, we could always just go back to our landlord and say we changed our minds about leaving.
So his advice was to risk our current housing, put our landlord in an impossible position, and gamble on a deal that wasn’t even signed yet. Incredible.
Two months of searching and we’re back to zero.
Update: We had requested a two year lease but were never stuck on it. The moment PM got back to us saying the landlord only wanted one year, we replied the same day saying that works for us too. No back and forth, no drama. We were just happy to move forward.
Me and my partner have been looking for a rental for two months now. We found a place we really liked around April 20th, applied the same day, all documents ready, everything.
The property manager took three days to get back to us just to say the landlord was happy with our application. Then another two days went by while we waited on a response about our two-year lease offer. Landlord lives outside Canada so time zone differences, fine, we get it. But two full days just to say no to a two year lease?
By that point it’s April 27th and we have three days left to give our current landlord notice by April 30th, as required under BC law. We asked the PM if we could just sign the lease right away. He told us he’s unavailable the entire week until May 3rd. We pushed twice, nothing moved. We didn’t want to be difficult so we let it go and agreed to meet May 5th at the property instead.
Our lease start date was June 15th and we were upfront from day one that we’re travelling until May 30th and needed a bit of time to move. They were fine with all of that.
So May 5th comes, we do our walkthrough, sit down to talk. We called our current landlord right there in front of the PM and she was crystal clear — it’s either July 1st or we pay 15 days of overlap rent if we leave June 15th. We simply cannot afford to pay rent on two places at the same time. We asked if the new lease could start July 1st instead.
PM says he needs to check with the landlords. Sure, fair enough.
Two hours later, TWO hours, the same people who needed 48 hours to say no to a two-year lease came back and said no to 15 extra days.
15 days. That’s literally all we needed.
And then to top it all off, the PM had the nerve to tell us that we should have just given our current landlord the notice without having a signed lease in hand, because “we had the agreement anyway.” And if something went wrong, we could always just go back to our landlord and say we changed our minds about leaving.
So his advice was to risk our current housing, put our landlord in an impossible position, and gamble on a deal that wasn’t even signed yet. Incredible.
Two months of searching and we’re back to zero.