Hello and welcome to TenantsBC.ca

My name is Lee. I decided to create this site because I am (mostly) convinced that landlords and tenants can work together.

Whether we’re talking about tenants dealing with crappy landlords or landlords dealing with crappy tenants, there is often a solution that can avoid arbitration and the sleepless nights that go along with it.

As a landlord, or to use the new trendy term "housing provider", I treat my tenants as equals. What the heck does that mean? Well, my philosophy is this. You have to give respect to gain respect.

This means when something breaks, I get it fixed … stat. I call the plumber, change out the weather stripping, whatever it is I am on it like flies on honey. That’s how I’d expect to be treated.

When I give a rent increase, I attach a letter explaining why. It is usually a reason like the insurance has gone up (it always does) or the strata fees have increased (they usually do). I don’t want my tenants ever thinking that I just arbitrarily decided to take more of their hard earned money.

I also thank my tenants for taking such good care of their home. Their home, not mine. My name might be on title, but I don’t live there.

In the presence of a tenant, I never refer to myself as their landlord. Along the same lines, I don’t ever call my tenant my tenant or my renter to their face. Even in the suite of my own house, I have introduced my tenant as my housemate. The rental contract does a good enough job letting them know I call the shots, so why rub it in.

There’s a lot more stuff I do and don’t do, but you get the picture. Overall, my life is uncomplicated and relatively stress-free. Yes, there’s always that one nut bar that slips through my rigorous screening, but mostly everything glides along smooth as butter.

Fundamentally, my respect philosophy keeps my tenants wanting to pay me on time, take care of my property and stay living there. All the things that make my business a success and my income as passive as possible.