Property Management in Vancouver

Wow! Spectacular, gorgeous, New York loft in Yaletown. Large 1 bedroom plus den.

• 2 Balconies
• Vintage Oak Floors
• Exposed Red Brick Walls
• Crown Moldings
• Gas Fireplace
• Pre-Wired Surround Sound
• Dishwasher , Garburator & Water Tank
• Gas & Hot Water included
• Underground Secured Parking
• Storage Locker

Available June 1st

To view this suite click on the link below and fill in the boxes provided at the bottom of the ad.

http://listings.downtownsuites.com/unfurnished/listingdetails.aspx?ID=394&RID=14         

Managed by Downtown Suites Ltd.

It seems the old dream of living in the suburbs with 2.5 kids, a large yard and white picket fence is not as rewarding as imagined. All the extra time sitting in traffic, wasting money on gas and spending time away from family has lead to a demand for city living. Many people come to realize what they want is the close proximity of work, family and leisure. With the high price of real estate, only some people can afford to buy a home close to all the action. Some people choose to rent and some have no choice. Whatever the reason, Downtown Suites Ltd. helps renters get into that perfect pied-a-terre.

Here is the typical tenant process for renting a suite with Downtown Suites Ltd:

We post all available rental suites on our website at www.downtownsuites.com. If a suite is posted on our website, it is available. Keeping an eye on our rental listings is a good idea, we have new listings being posted frequently. Once you are interested in viewing a suite follow the instructions on the listing. This involves providing your contact information on the form provided. Due to the volume of response, we do not take phone calls. All correspondence is through email. Make sure to send separate emails for each interested suite. We will email you back with the time for the arranged showing. If you are able to come to the showing please confirm.

When you arrive at the showing we ask you to wait at the front entrance of the building. Please arrive on time as this shows respect to the Property Manager and interest in the suite. If arriving late, you may be unable to view the suite. One of our Property Managers will let you in to view the suite. If you like the suite, an application will be provided at the showing. Viewing the suite prior to applying is mandatory. Applications will only be handed out at the viewing and all questions about the suite will be answered by our Property Managers. This is not a first come first serve basis, our approval process is based upon the merit of your application.

The application must be fully filled in. The information that the application asks for is; employment, previous employment, address, previous address, if you have any pets, email, phone number, birthdate and social insurance number. We ask for all this information so we are able to do complete checks from your current salary to your references and credit checks. We guarantee complete confidentiality, and will never divulge your information unless permitted. A good feedback from your references and a credit score of over 600 is required. This ensures minimal problems in the suites we manage.

We will inform you if you have been the successful applicant or not. If you have been chosen, you will be asked to bring in a damage deposit of half a months rent to hold the suite. All damage deposits must be in the form of bank draft, certified cheque or cash. If you have pets that will be an additional charge of a half months rent in case there is any damage from your pet.

When you bring in the damage deposit the listing will be taken off our website and the suite will be guaranteed for you. A Property Manager will then schedule a time for you to come in and sign the lease.

The POMARIA! Award winning architecture of Rafi Architects, incorporating the POMARIA’S signature SKY GARDENS and one of the first buildings in Vancouver to use LEED standards [Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design] including geothermal heat to reduce costs and impact.

Air conditioned suites, Robert Ledingham designer interiors, 8′ stained oak entry doors, 9′ over height ceilings, imported Italian porcelain tile for the entry, bathrooms and kitchen, gourmet appliances including Grohe, SUBZERO & GE MONOGRAM appliances and fixtures. The building features 24 hr concierge, spa, yoga room, outdoor terrace an much more! Award winning building for 2007!

To view the available suites at The Pomaria got to www.downtownsuites.com

1201 & 1801 - 1455 Howe Street,Vancouver Downtown, BC

Beautiful two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 919 square footage, for $2300 a month for #1201 & $2400 a month for #1801.

Suite Features include: dishwasher, gas stove, built-in microwave, Air Conditioning, Separate bath tub & shower, Hot water & gas included, Suite is West-facing, In-suite laundry, and One underground parking stall

Building Amenities: Bicycle storage, 24 hour Concierge, Steam room & Sauna, Gym with change rooms, Rooftop garden, Children’s playground

In this location you have it all, you are just steps from the restaurants, markets and outdoor life of False Creek and English Bay. Also just a few blocks away from the shopping centres and business district of Downtown.

Just moments away from the Seawall where you can catch the Harbour Ferry to sail across the water Granville Island.

To schedule a viewing of the Pomaria suites go to www.downtownsuites.com

Brand New Luxury Suites in Coal Harbour steps away from Stanley Park and the Seawall.

Downtown Suites Ltd. has 4 new available suite rentals, ranging from $3000 - $3500, 1240 - 1310 square feet.

Two bedrooms, two gorgeous bathrooms, stunning open kitchens with 6 appliances, large balcony, beautiful fireplace, in-suite laundry, storage room and 2 parking stalls. Breathtaking Rooftop with state of the art gym equipment, large hot tub, sunbathing, BBQ and Fire Pit areas, Urban Fare at street level, small library, playground/ocean view relaxing area on second floor. One Year Lease, please no pets and no smoking.

Cielo - 1205 West Hastings Street

Please view the Cielo listings at www.downtownsuites.com

Should landlords have a closed one year lease, with no month to month extensions allowed or use the standard 1 year lease and continue on month to month?
The standard form agreement is for the lease to be one year and then go month to month. If the tenancy is to be for one year only, the tenant has to initial agreement to this. Very few people will want to take a large or expensive suite and not have the security of knowing that they can continue on indefinitely, so we do find it is harder to rent without such an option.

On the other hand, with a one year lease, the tenancy officially ends at end of term. Tenants are not obliged to actually give notice, they may not cooperate with releasing, and usually are not responsive on whether they are staying on etc. We have had situations where they move out and then we have an empty month to then try and get the suite re-rented.
The advantages of the approach we use at Downtown Suites are as follows:

1. The rent can be renegotiated should the market warrant it. The owner can possibly avoid the legislated maximum increase allowed by the provincial government (this year currently 4%) on ongoing agreements.

2. In the event of a sale or the owner wishing to move into their own property, the tenant does not have to be asked to leave, under current legislation the landlord is required to pay one months rent for asking the tenant to move out.

Rents have increased quite significantly over the past year, quality tenants are becoming scarcer and the reality is properties are becoming much less affordable for the tenant rental pool (whose wages haven’t increased in the same ratio). There are also hundreds more rental suites coming on each month even though demand is still quite strong.
For more info, here is a link to the Residential Tenancy web site which governs these transactions.

Downtown Suites, Ltd.

(originally posted June 16, 2007)

What happens if you own a property and you decide to sell it? What happens with the tenant? There are very defined rights and responsibilities for both parties, under the Residential Tenancy Act which is the governing act for all rental transactions in the province of British Columbia.
At Downtown Suites, we always rent our properties on a one year lease. The reason we take a one year lease is so we get some longevity with the tenant client, but after that we always go on a month to month basis. That gives flexibility to the owner, should they want to sell their property they then are able to do it. We’ve had a couple of instances where owners have asked us to get another lease from the tenant, and we have done that, and they decide the market is very strong, they want to sell it. The rental lease takes precedence over any sale. It is important to remember that.
It is almost impossible to sell a property with a long lease, even ten months left still on it, they wouldn’t be able to move in for 11 months. The other option is that sometimes you can buy the tenant out, but it’s not a very easy thing to do and of course you are very much in the tenant’s pocket then – they are writing the rules.
Once we have the flexibility of a month to month lease, the requirement is that should the property be sold, and the new owner wants to move in to it, (or should the existing owner wish to move back into his own property as well,) they have to give 60 days notice to the tenant that they want to move in, before the end of the rental period. The means of delivery of this notice is very regulated as well. If the notice is just posted on the door, I believe it’s three or four days notice is used up just by putting it on the door, so we have to be very careful about that.
So essentially, 60 days notice at the end of the month. The tenant then has the right to give 10 days notice to move out on any time within that period, and rent that has been paid for the time they are not going to be there is pro-rated and refunded to them.
So this can be quite complicated if you are expecting that rental stream and you won’t get it for two months if they decide to move out within 10 days of being served the notice. You would be without any rent for 50 days, so it’s something to bear in mind.
The other thing is they are required to receive one month’s rent for the inconvenience of having to move. Now a lot of owners balk at that, but the law is One Month’s Rent. I just had a situation with a gentleman from overseas, who didn’t want to pay this. A lot of overseas owners find this absurd in their mind and they want to get their own property back. The gentleman who was the tenant went to the arbitration court and, of course, he won. So be very careful. You are obliged to pay one month’s rent, plus once you serve the 60 days notice they can then give you 10 days notice and move out any time they want. And then the remaining rent is pro-rated and refunded to them.
I’ve had personal experience of this. I bought a house not so long ago and I had to pay out $6,000 in rents to tenants just so I could get the house back for myself. So it is quite painful. However looking at it from the other side, I can fully appreciate how tenants would feel if they’ve enjoyed living in their home – it is their home after all – and they are being forced to move. Of course now a lot of people are being forced to move so people can realize capital gains. We are not into the social issues here, but I’m just saying I’m sympathetic with both sides. But what really counts is the law, and what we have to administer.

(Video version posted below.)

Downtown Suites, Ltd.

(originally posted April 20, 2007)

I’ve given a 25-slide PowerPoint presentation to audiences several times, and thought it would be good to share it on this blog. It deals with some aspects of property management, including common pitfalls and how we avoid them. Please note that the bad tenant examples included here were from a suite we had inherited, which did not go through our rigorous tenant selection process. You can see all the slides here:

(originally posted February 14, 2007)

Rental vacancy rate to decline yet again!
According to the latest forecast from the Central Credit Union of British Columbia, released this month, the rental vacancy rate will continue to decline, dropping to 0.7% by October of 2007 and to 0.5% in October of 2008. Rents are expected to increase 2% in 2008. Current rental rates for new construction are approaching $2.50 and a bit beyond for choice locations and views, while more average stock is averaging $2+ psf. The strongest market of all is in the entry level suites under $1500 per month, the market for larger suites is softer.

Downtown Suites, Ltd.

Are you a real estate investor thinking it is better to rent out your suite furnished rather than unfurnished? You may think again after hearing what our research and experience has concluded. As President of Downtown Suites Ltd. I am asked this question frequently, so have decided to answer in this videoblog, which pinpoints some of the problems in renting out furnished suites and outlines the benefits of the unfurnished rental scenario.

I also outlined some of these problems in an earlier blogpost.

At Downtown Suites we manage all End of Tenancy Notice in an atmosphere of trust, tact and timeliness. Today, I’d like to share more with you on the fine points of the Residential Tenancy Act.

When a rental unit requires extensive renovations or repairs, so extensive that the place would have to be vacant, the landlord may give notice to the tenant. In this situation, the requirement is not one but two months’ notice. These renovations would also need all the legally relevant permits and approvals before notice could be given. As well, the Residential Tenancy Act says that the landlord needs to intend these repairs “in good faith”, to ensure that this is an actual renovation/repair and not simply a ruse to remove the tenant. In addition, the landlord needs to be aware that the tenant could give ten days’ notice after receiving this two month notice, with a potential loss of revenue to the landlord.

There are many reasons why an owner might need to give a resident tenant notice to vacate, and landlords should be familiar with the Residential Tenancy Act to understand which of these require two months’ notice.

Such as: the conversion of the residential property to strata lots, or conversion into a not-for-profit housing coop. Of course, in both of these situations all legal permits must be in place.

Or: if a rental unit needs to be made available for a residential building’s caretaker or manager, two months’ notice can be given to the tenant of that suite, to make room for the caretaker.

Other permitted reasons for notice include the demolition of the rental unit, and the conversion of the rental unit to another non-residential use. In earlier posts, I’ve gone over the situations related to notice for the purposes of sale.

The 10 days’ notice scenario:
A tenant receives two months’ notice. He turns around and gives the landlord 10 days’ written notice for an earlier move-out date. Along with this notice, he pays rent to the landlord, covering the time of notice to the move-out date. However, the landlord has the tenant’s previously paid rent (for a period after that effective date) such as a post-dated cheque for the full month and future months. She must return these funds to the tenant. (This scenario doesn’t apply to a fixed term tenancy.)