Hi guys. Just want to ask for some advice. Our landlord recently asked us to sign a contract. In the contract one of the terms was that we were to pay a $4000 security deposit in case of damages (we are a total of seven people, monthly rent of $4000). We feel that this large amount of money for a deposit is quite unacceptable. I'm just hoping to get some advice on how to handle this situation, and what would be a reasonable amount for a deposit? Thanks guys!

I'm pretty sure according to the ontario landlord tenant board, landlords are not even supposed to be asking for a damage deposit but it seems like all the landlords do it, so there's nothing you can really do. I would talk to them and tell them to lower it because it's a lot of money. In the past the damage deposits I've paid were usually a quarter of my monthly rent. Worst case scenario is you find another place to live before school starts.

Based on the landlord/tenant rules with leases they aren't allowed to demand security deposits.

http://ontariolandlordandten antlaw...-deposits.html

You can go and talk to the Off-Campus resource centre run by the MSU to speak to a person well versed in the rules.

You can ask the landlord to lower or waive it, and see what they say. If they are worried about you leaving the house a mess or damages, then lowering it to $200-400 for a 'cleaning deposit' might be more reasonable. Worse case, they say no. In which case you can decide to find somewhere else, or pay the fee with some guarantees written on the contract of when you'll get that money back.

Originally Posted by Imperious

I'm pretty sure according to the ontario landlord tenant board, landlords are not even supposed to be asking for a damage deposit but it seems like all the landlords do it, so there's nothing you can really do. I would talk to them and tell them to lower it because it's a lot of money. In the past the damage deposits I've paid were usually a quarter of my monthly rent. Worst case scenario is you find another place to live before school starts.

Yes, rightly said.

To my memory security deposits are not legal in Ontario, but asking for a last month's rent is legal.

Originally Posted by mathtutor738

To my memory security deposits are not legal in Ontario, but asking for a last month's rent is legal.

It's not legal but all the landlords do it and there's no one to enforce it. If you don't want to pay the damage deposit, the landlord will just tell you to live somewhere else. And you're probably not going to bring every landlord you come across to court over this. And even if you did bring them to court, would you still want to live on their property? And even if this single landlord gets penalized all the other landlords are still doing it. It just makes it such a huge hassle that it's not worth it and you're better off just paying what is asked/negotiate for something lower.

In a way you can't really blame them. If you damage something and leave, they can't charge you or even trace you whereas when you lived on campus in residence, if they found any damage during inspections they would just charge it to your student account without you even knowing and probably with little chance to be able to appeal it.