So I repsonded to an ad on Mac's off-campus housing website. It was for a bachelor apartment at 326 Bold Street at $475/month. They stated in their ad they wanted a 12-month lease, but seeing as it's August, and their chances of finding a 12-month committment are slim, I responded to the ad.

She had e-mailed me back stating she's currently only looking for a 12-month lease. I sent her an e-mail back thanking her for her time, but unfortunately I can't commit to 12 months as i'm out of the country from May-August. That same night she e-mailed me back saying she had decided an 8-month lease is fine, so we set-up a time to view.

I took the day-off today, losing $150, made the 45-minute commute to the apartment from Toronto, wrote out the cheques for first & last, because she had sent me a lot of pictures I was happy with the place so I was prepared to seal the deal. The woman I was speaking with wasn't there, so her husband had to show the apartment. After I viewed it and gave him my chq's he said it was a 12-month lease. I showed him my e-mail conversations with his wife on my Blackberry, so he called her, she called him back and said only a 12-month lease.

So I basically wasted my time, lost money, and drove all that way for the landlord to change their mind. I am SO upset. I set things up very professionally, I corresponded with her through e-mail and phone for the days prior to me making the trip down today, and they decide to change their mind on me.

Now i'm back home, back to where I started, browsing online ads for a place to live. Sorry I just had to share my little rant with you all. Hope your all having a better day than I am!

Originally Posted by Vanessa-88

So I repsonded to an ad on Mac's off-campus housing website. It was for a bachelor apartment at 326 Bold Street at $475/month. They stated in their ad they wanted a 12-month lease, but seeing as it's August, and their chances of finding a 12-month committment are slim, I responded to the ad.

She had e-mailed me back stating she's currently only looking for a 12-month lease. I sent her an e-mail back thanking her for her time, but unfortunately I can't commit to 12 months as i'm out of the country from May-August. That same night she e-mailed me back saying she had decided an 8-month lease is fine, so we set-up a time to view.

I took the day-off today, losing $150, made the 45-minute commute to the apartment from Toronto, wrote out the cheques for first & last, because she had sent me a lot of pictures I was happy with the place so I was prepared to seal the deal. The woman I was speaking with wasn't there, so her husband had to show the apartment. After I viewed it and gave him my chq's he said it was a 12-month lease. I showed him my e-mail conversations with his wife on my Blackberry, so he called her, she called him back and said only a 12-month lease.

So I basically wasted my time, lost money, and drove all that way for the landlord to change their mind. I am SO upset. I set things up very professionally, I corresponded with her through e-mail and phone for the days prior to me making the trip down today, and they decide to change their mind on me.

Now i'm back home, back to where I started, browsing online ads for a place to live. Sorry I just had to share my little rant with you all. Hope your all having a better day than I am!

Wow, I would definitively not want a landlord like that. I can just see all the problems throughout the year.

I was excited that my housing search was almost over today, although I agree, I wouldn't want a landlord like that.. but now i'm back where I started, still homeless come September! hahaha.

What sucks is my family is moving to the Falls. If I stayed where I am now, I could take the GO to Mac no problem from Square One, but unfortunately there's no bus or train service available from the Falls for daily commuting. They do have Coach, or other Buses like that, but they're at $30 a day, for a return trip. They have nothing even remotely close to GO from Square One at $170/month.

:(

Originally Posted by Vanessa-88

So I repsonded to an ad on Mac's off-campus housing website. It was for a bachelor apartment at 326 Bold Street at $475/month. They stated in their ad they wanted a 12-month lease, but seeing as it's August, and their chances of finding a 12-month committment are slim, I responded to the ad.

She had e-mailed me back stating she's currently only looking for a 12-month lease. I sent her an e-mail back thanking her for her time, but unfortunately I can't commit to 12 months as i'm out of the country from May-August. That same night she e-mailed me back saying she had decided an 8-month lease is fine, so we set-up a time to view.

Sounds like she took the same gamble you did... she tried the "foot-in-the-door" method of negotiations and hoped that if she got you to agree to come in, you would be more likely to change your mind when she switched the deal at the last minute.

... or she's just a b*tch.

Originally Posted by Vanessa-88

So I repsonded to an ad on Mac's off-campus housing website.

Whats the website? I didnt know there was one.

www.macoffcampus.mcma ster.ca

& yea I highly doubt she tried the whole "foot-in-the-door" method because I couldn't of been more clear as to the fact I COULD NOT do the 12-months, it had to be 8. I told her about 3-4 times before going down today.

Some people ... ugh!

Thanks! Maybe now i can have a place to live yay!

That is actually quite awful of her, sorry to hear that :/

Aw, that's horrible :(. But as other people mentionned, it's not worth having a landlord like that! You still have a whole month for your search, and you'll definitely find something better!

Thanks guys!

Hopefully i'll find somthing before the months over. Reason why i'm so late in looking is because I wasn't sure if I was returning to Mac this September, there was a possibility i'd return in the winter, but I made the decision to hold off on what I had planned, and return in the Fall, so I only started looking mid-july.

If anyone comes accross any nice, decent bachelor apartments close to Mac $500 or less, give me a shout I'm desperate now! hahaha

Originally Posted by Vanessa-88

If anyone comes accross any nice, decent bachelor apartments close to Mac $500 or less, give me a shout I'm desperate now! hahaha

I've been looking for exactly that myself. I've found a few places, but nothing decent yet. I've decided to settle on a room, unless a miracle happens and I find a cheap apartment close to school. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Vanessa-88

What sucks is my family is moving to the Falls. If I stayed where I am now, I could take the GO to Mac no problem from Square One, but unfortunately there's no bus or train service available from the Falls for daily commuting. They do have Coach, or other Buses like that, but they're at $30 a day, for a return trip. They have nothing even remotely close to GO from Square One at $170/month.

:(

Actually the weekend service to Niagara is getting extended to a weekday service starting in the fall is it not?

Edit: Found the article with it mentioned.
"GO also recently announced weekday and weekend bus service to Niagara
Falls starting this September. Bus fares will be the same as the train fares
and a full schedule will be available soon."

Originally Posted by Taunton

Sounds like she took the same gamble you did... she tried the "foot-in-the-door" method of negotiations and hoped that if she got you to agree to come in, you would be more likely to change your mind when she switched the deal at the last minute.

I think this is what happened. Which is really crappy.

Think of it this way: at least you know that you won't have her as a landlord. Someone who screws you over like that - it's better to know before you sign the lease! Who knows what she would have tried to pull if you moved in.

Originally Posted by reeves

I've been looking for exactly that myself. I've found a few places, but nothing decent yet. I've decided to settle on a room, unless a miracle happens and I find a cheap apartment close to school. Good luck.

I think that's what i'm going to have to do. Settle on finding a nice room. This is what happens when we become last-minute student housing hunters! haha

Give me a shout if you find any decent houses with some rooms available, & i'll do the same. Good luck!

What's wrong with a 12 month lease? 99% of the places I've seen only offer a 12 month lease. You can sublet when you're not there :p. Anyway, that's pretty stupid of them to say an 8 month lease was alright and change their mind on the spot. Maybe it was some sort of misunderstanding? lol

Speaking of messed up details, this reminds me of a funny story back when I was looking for a house in February with my friends. We found this one house on the housing website, and when we went and visited it, it was awesome; and pretty cheap. We called back later prepared to sign for it, and the land lord said that the house actually wasn't for rent.

How the hell do you accidentally put up an ad and provide a tour for a house you aren't even going to rent? lol