Shameless plug, for my just-released "fake home occupancy as a service", where my family and I charge you only 0.5% of the property value to satisfy the government's occupancy requirements. Contact info in my profile.
EDITED + (with proper tenancy agreements which usually provide some balance of power between owner and tenant)
No, tenants have pretty strong rights in Ontario.
It's very difficult to evict someone who does not want to go.
In most other countries the landlord has the right to cancel the agreement with certain notice.
I am not a solicitor. I am not your solicitor. If you need legal advice on any of these issues stop reading and find a solicitor.
+ (not as much as most people assume because most tenants don't know or enforce their rights - wrongly thinking that it would be difficult when in reality the landlord will usually fold after a couple of letters long before things go to court.)
Scotland and England have differing private landlord tenancy laws so it's worthwhile checking the fine details in this respect. Scotland has a similar agreement to the Assured Shorthold and Assured tenancy:
1. Short Assured Tenancy where [0]:
a) the tenant is entitled to remain in the property for at least six months provided they abide by the conditions of their lease. A landlord can only evict if there are reasonable grounds [1]
b) after the six months is up the landlord can then give notice to quit and the tenant has to leave [2]
In both cases these provide reasonable and fair conditions for both landlord and tenant.
[0]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/rent...
[1]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/evic...
[2]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/evic...
2. Assured tenancies [3]
a) a tenant can more or less remain in the property for an unlimited period of time provided they aren't in breach of their tenancy agreement
b) the landlord has a much harder time evicting tenants unless there are "grounds" for eviction [4]
In this case the tenancy is skewed to be more favourable to the tenant and the landlord has to do a lot more work to secure an eviction [5[
[3]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/rent...
[4]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/evic...
[5]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/evic...
In many cases now, most properties are let as Short Assured Tenancies. Anecdotally, my past three tenancy agreements have been Short Assured Tenancy agreements.
In Scotland:
Tenant deposits are no longer permitted to be held by landlords or agencies and should be deposited into one of three tenancy deposit schemes within 30 days of the beginning of the tenancy [6].
Landlords and agencies are no longer permitted to charge for additional "costs" such as credit checks and "administration fees" on top of a tenants deposit and first month's rent. In England this obnoxious behaviour is still a plague on tenants seeking to rent [7].
Most landlords are now required to register with the Landlord registration scheme run by the Scottish government [8]
[6]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/payi... deposits schemes
[7]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/find...
[8]: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/rent...
If you want additional security you can always contract in for a longer minimum lease, for example twelve months. Alternatively hunt around for a property letting company who's long term business is just letting.
At the end of the day, nothing is permanent if the landlord stops paying their mortgage or other loan secured on the property you're renting.
There is also the social housing sector - Council Housing, Housing Association and Housing Co-op's. These can provide much longer term rentals, however they can be a bit harder to obtain due to lower monthly rents which can cause waiting lists. There tends to be less flexibility on property size and type, i.e. you'll get to rent what is deemed legally and healthwise necessary for your circumstances; for example if you're single don't expect to get a three bedroom home, those will be allocated to families.
In Germany, selling the house makes no nevermind to the tenants. Considering how many people rent here, it just makes sense to encourage long-term tenancies, they lead to better communities.
Why pay for your service (assuming it's not tongue-in-cheek) when you can pay for a property manager (lets be generous and say 10%) and also get rental income to offset the investment?
Ultimately, that's why the city is doing this; Whether the property is rented or owner-occupied, there will be a consumer who is adding to the economy.
UK/London really has a problem with non-occupance - they should definitely follow suit.
Would you care if you purchased a $1m home cash to flip it in a few years for $1.4m?
1. Pick a hot up and coming city.
2. Buy 5 properties at $1m each.
3. Sell in 2-4 years for double the value, preferably paying no tax on the capital gain at all if you (somehow) can.
Rinse and repeat. It's what happened in London in 2008-2014, etc.
You just, as an investor, need to be aware it's a bubble.
Having both a clear exit price and timeframe in mind when buying is probably a good way to do it. Even if a property bubble starts to collapse, there is usually still sufficient time to get out.
Yeah, that worked really well for me in 2004 – 2009.
If you believe property to be (significantly) overvalued, then you should rent instead of buy. If you're at the end of a "boom", then it's not unreasonable to wait it out and see how prices progress. Low interest rates also tend to push residential prices higher, because people can pay off more principal monthly vs less if rates are higher. When buying property it's almost always better to buy when rates are high and refinance later than to buy when rates are low.
Buying high and selling low is also definitely a thing. That doesn't necessarily mean you can't find a good deal somewhere (you can), but it'll be much harder.
Tldr: Unlike what most people believe, property is not a "sure thing" investment.
Prices today 3 times what they were in 2004. Well above inflation.
Rest of the country, that doesn't attract the "need to hide my money from a foreign tax man" crowd, not so much.
Its about having more money than you know what to do with.
assuming it's not tongue-in-cheek
No, the city is doing this to increase housing supply. We do in fact have a housing crisis in Vancouver, this isn't just political rhetoric. When I was looking for an apartment about a year and a half ago, it was impossible to find one on the open market. Every open house had dozens of people showing up. I was eventually able to get a place through a personal connection; 10000 more units on the market would have made the process a whole lot easier.
He's literally made reverse Airbnb.
This can be a very good option if you need temporary housing. My brother did this for half a year to save on rent while his new house was being built.
The question is whether the house is a principal residence or an secondary residence/investment.
I mean, I guess you could base your business on helping people break laws, like selling dummys for getting commuters the passenger lane, but your customers are no less guilty than they already were.
That said, I wouldd pay you 0.5%/y to live in (ie rent out) your property -- that works out to 400/month on a 1M property
Just like personal taxes: Don't work, just inherit money and invest in blue-chips.