What Are The Rules Around Showing Tenanted Properties?

I don't think a lot of landlords or tenants really understand how the process is supposed to work in Ontario.

I've always been a cat guy. Well, to be clear, wifey has always been a cat lady. When we first met, she came with two cats. And I loved those guys. Both have since passed (one not-so-long-ago, RIP Big Dude), but we've always had two cats in our household so they can keep each other company. And let's be honest, it's to keep us company too. Cats are awesome. I've always said that every other cat in the world is boring, except ours. I'm sure all cat owners feel the same.

You guys all know that I do a lot of rentals in Toronto and one thing that landlords (and to be fair, it's their agents) don't seem to understand is that if you put a clause in a lease agreement that is contradictory to the Residential Tenancies Act (the RTA), it's automatically void and unenforceable. I tell my tenant clients this all the time when we're writing up offers and I see clauses included in the listing agent's required schedule of terms that say things like "tenant agrees not to keep pets on the property" or "tenant agrees to pay the first $100 for any repairs". And while I do my best to comfort my tenant clients that these clauses are as enforceable as the landlord saying "tenant agrees to jump up and down on one leg ten times each morning", it still feels weird that someone would have to sign a legally binding lease agreement that includes clauses that are not even valid.

Which brings me to the real point of this post. I show a lot of tenanted units. Some that are for sale but mostly those that are for lease where the landlord is trying to secure a new tenant as soon as possible before the current tenant moves out. And, as an agent who shows properties almost every single day, I can tell you that one of the most frustrating things a buyer/tenant agent has to deal with is scheduling appointments. Man, what an underappreciated skill it is! If you want to see 10 places with me this weekend, I will carefully map out each property, estimate how long I think you'll want to spend in each one, consider the time it will take if you'll want to see the amenities, add in a buffer to find the lockbox (which is often an adventure in itself), parking, and the time it will then take to travel between each property, and surgically book my 30 minute appointments at each property so that we don't show up too early or late to any single one. It's a an art! And heaven forbid once I lay out the schedule and successfully book and confirm all the appointments, you ask to "squeeze in one or two more places that you just found". I think any agent out there will agree that it's the equivalent of asking me to destroy a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that I just completed and start over! But we'll do it with a smile while we bash our keyboard and scream at our monitor :) But I digress...

The two most annoying parts of booking many of these tenanted properties is a) waiting for confirmation, and b) having to give 24 hours notice. I'll tackle the latter first:

Most people (agents, landlords, and tenants) assume that a landlord in Ontario is required to give at least 24 hours' notice if a landlord wants to enter the premises (outside of an emergency), including for showings. This is actually not correct. If a tenant is just living their life, either still on their initial one-year lease term or having gone month-to-month and they have given no indication that they are planning to leave, then sure, a landlord must give 24 hours' written notice if they want to come by to visit the property for whatever reason, between 8am and 8pm. And a tenant cannot refuse, within reason. But once a tenant decides that they would like to end their tenancy and they provide their landlord with the required 60 days' written notice, the requirement for a landlord to provide 24 hours' notice no long applies. Only "reasonable" notice is required. The RTA does not define "reasonable" but it surely is no longer 24 hours. And this is what a lot of folks (mostly agents) don't seem to realize.

I would say the vast, vast majority of tenanted properties on the market at any given time are on the market because the existing tenant has given notice to vacate. Why else would it be on the market? And the vast, vast majority of those units on MLS require 24 hours' notice to show. Why? Are landlords just being courteous to their existing tenants? Or is it because they (and likely on advice from their agents) assume that they must be provided 24 hours' notice. I'll bet you $100 it's the latter.

For all my rental listings that have tenants in place, I always have a conversation with both the landlord and the tenant to explain how and when showings will occur, and that 24 hours' notice is not a requirement because it makes scheduling for buyer agents a real pain in the butt. My job is to find my landlord clients a new tenant as quickly as possible and part of that is to make the process as painless as possible to buyer agents to actually be able to book an appointment. The most common compromise I've come to with tenants recently is that we'll provide "overnight notice" - i.e., you'll know at the latest the night before of any showings the following day so you can plan your day accordingly. I've found this to be a win-win situation for all because there's less stress for the tenant about a showing happening within just a couple/few hours of being notified, and it provides much easier bookings for agents to schedule appointments with their tenant clients without always being in fear of missing that precious 24 hour cut-off, which means a smoother process for my landlord clients while still being courteous to the outgoing tenant.

Remember the skill it takes to book ten showings in a single day, back-to-back? Let me tell you what's even worse than having to squeeze in "just one more place" to the schedule. It's when we, as buyer agents, have to wait until a tenant at a property confirms the showing request. This is probably my biggest pet peeve of all. Why is the listing agent setting up the process such that the tenant can approve or deny all showing requests? Look, I understand that not all showings can be accommodated. But if we're going strictly by the book, i.e., the RTA, a tenant cannot refuse showings with reasonable notice between 8am and 8pm. I mean, it's the law. It's right there. But so, so often I will request a showing on a tenanted property and hear nothing back for hours. Or even until the next day. The number of times I've had to call the listing agent to ask "will I be able to actually show this place?" with a response of "let me ask the tenant" is far higher than it needs to be. And as happened to me just last week, it's beyond frustrating when a showing request is denied by the tenant with a simple comment that says "book for another day". Listing agents are doing their landlord clients a huge disservice in these instances by making it difficult for agents to show their properties, and will cost the landlord a potentially great new tenant, and ultimately money. If a tenant cannot accommodate a certain day/time for showings, listing agents have the ability to block off those times on the booking system ahead of time. It's so easy. But apart from those limited windows, I always setup the booking system to "auto-confirm". If a timeslot is available to be booked by an agent, you will get confirmation immediately. And I explain this to existing tenants before I list a place so I can do my job and get the place leased. Those conversations are part of why you hire me.

Honestly, I think agents have just gotten used to having to provide 24 hours' notice whenever a rental listing says "tenanted" on MLS, and we've just gotten used to having to wait until we get confirmation, risking our perfectly planned afternoon of showings when one of the ten places we were trying to schedule responds with "book another day" after the other nine have already been confirmed. And listing agents probably just want to make their lives easier by not worrying about when 24 hours' notice is actually required. But those difficult-to-book places will then be skipped. So if you're a landlord out there wondering why your unit is still on the market, maybe this blog post will help. And if I can make life a little easier for everyone out there (including myself ;), you know I'm gonna try!

Have you checked out my previous blog posts?

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Your Toronto condo lover,

Adil Dharssi

Sales Representative

Skybound Realty, Brokerage

Direct: 647-223-1679 (call/text)

Email: Adil@AdilKnowsCondos.com

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