[jamaicabound]

Hey, very cool, props for finding a cool way to make some side money. I actually had a buddy who had something similar going. It was more fo a friend of a friend so never got the exact details but I guess he had foreign girls working as maids and au pairs staying with him, would have like 3-4 girls staying there at a time, I think it was through some kind of placement agency not just finding random people. I imagine that would be a bit more formal and maybe have to get the place approved, paperwork, etc which would add headache but I think they pay above average rents. I think there's similar placement agencies for students as well. I think this dude actually wound up marrying one of the chicks.

As far your as hustle, as a hustle great as a real business there's definately some liabilities. Even for you these are some things to consider.

1. Just because you don't have a formal lease doesn't mean you can kick people out on a whim. With no lease its considered a month to month lease. DO not force anyone to leave without 30 days notice and never withhold someones property trying to get payment or back rent as most cities/states can make you pay them several months rent back as a penalty.

2. Is the landlord on board with this? If not, either get approval which you may or may not get or keep it under wraps as if the landlord finds out and doesn't like it he can void your lease and not only are you on the streets but your kinda fucking over all these students.

3. Liability. You probably want to get rental insurance and encourage your tenants to. If one of your tenants steals from another or assaults another I imagine your hte first person they will be comming after so keep that in mind.

4. Also realize your the one on the hook wiht a landlord for any damage, cleaning fees, etc. YOu really have no recourse against tenants since everything is off the books so any damages fall on you.

In college I did some similar things to this and dind't think twice about it but even in the past few years everyone has gotten sue happy and also being a bit older now I guess things I dismissed before I'm more cautious about now.

I think you have a cool niche with the foriegn students. I notice some people on craigslist renting rooms trying to sell a lifestyle as well as a room. Generally a younger guy in 20's with a decent house, normally finished baement, bar, pool table. ALmost kind of advertising a social circle, buddies to go out with, having girls over or occasional get togethers at the place so its definately a seling point and can probably get above average rents this way.

When you finish college consider buying a place and doing something similar. That is what I did for a number of years. Bought a 3 bedroom house, had two buddies living with me who basicall paid mortgage and bills so I lived rent free and had someone building equity for me. Also typically a mortage is going to be cheaper than rent. Just for example my place rents for $1200 to $1250 so if I was doing that from the angle of me renting I would have a decent size nut to cover, on the flip side I owend the place so mortage was only $800 per month so that lefta lot more money on the table for me.

Eventually both friends were planning on moving in with girlfriends and I had to move to rent a family members place to help them out so I wound up renting my place out for $1200, got a two year lease which is just now comming up and they wanna renew, they paying me about $400 over what my mortgage is every month plus paying the mortgage building equity for me.

[jamaicabound]

(12-16-2013 02:23 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

I see that you've found a way to keep this amicable with the landlord, which is great. But what about taxes? With no contract with any of your tenants, isn't there a possibility of the state busting you for illegal renting? Or you can rent in Canada without worrying about that?

THis was something I was wondering about as well. In college towns they seem to be lax and it's kind of the norm to have a bunch of students sharing a house. Heck at one point I had a house at college with 18 guys living there, it was an old frathouse and the frat ceased to exist so we rented it and just had a bunch of buddies living there but nobody cared because it was a college town and basically the entire neighborhood around campus was college students so who's going to complain. If the college and or OP is in a real city that is resiential most cities have rules prohibititing boarding houses ie only 3 non family members can live in a house together or something along those lines. As long as people keep to themselves are quiet and respectful I doubt anyone would complain though.

I actually had some similar ideas of sort of doing a boarding house but a classy young lifestyle type place, modern decor, pool, hottub, etc and basically sell an experience or a big bachelor pad/party house but that would probably turn into trouble.

[BadWolf]

Quote:

I'm surprised no one has pointed out: you can't just throw someone's shit out when you want to evict. If they don't vacate voluntarily, you have to obtain a court order to remove them, otherwise one of these kids will summon the long dick of the law against you.

Yes this is correct and in Canada if a tenant doesn't want to leave, you can't forcibly evict them for over 3 months+ (rent unpaid). You will still be liable to the landlord for all damages incurred and any unpaid rent.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/cmm...s-eng.html

Good job otherwise, I'll be following this thread. I'm not sure if you are liable for taxes on rent or your landlord is... please advise as the wife and I are buying a house here before I head back to China. You are basically doing the job of a property manager.

Quote:

When you receive rental income from real or immovable property in Canada, the payer, such as the tenant or a property manager, has to withhold non-resident tax at the rate of 25% on the gross rental income paid or credited to you. The payer has to send the tax to the CRA on or before the 15th day of the month following the month the rental income is paid or credited to you.

The payer has to give you two copies of an NR4 slip showing the gross amount of rental income paid or credited to you during the year and the amount of non-resident tax withheld. The payer also has to send us an NR4 return, as explained in Guide T4061, NR4 - Non-Resident Tax Withholding, Remitting, and Reporting.

Generally, the non-resident tax withheld is considered your final tax obligation to Canada on the rental income from real or immovable property in Canada. However, if you elect under section 216 of the Income Tax Act, you are choosing to pay tax on your net Canadian-sourced rental income instead of the gross amount and you may pay less tax. You may also receive a refund of some or all of the non-resident tax withheld. For more information, see Guide T4144, Income Tax Guide for Electing Under Section 216.

I'm not sure if the resposibility lies on you or the landlord to do this.

[CaptainChardonnay]

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