Comment: Landlords need protection from bad renters We need to tighten up protections for landlords. Most, as I was, are just trying to pay the bills. Barb MacDonald Jul 22, 2024 12:59 AM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message A for-rent sign in Victoria.
TIMES COLONIST Listen to this article 00:02:31 A commentary by a Langford resident. I rented out my suite for about 18 years to long-term tenants. I gave very reduced rents to a few tenants and made agreements with some that they would help with some light yard work (watering, mowing the small lawn area).
The yard work never happened. I was a single, working mother and was hoping to get a little help in exchange for a couple of hundred dollars a month off the rent. Meanwhile, I was working weekends and overtime to pay the bills.
After I retired I could no longer afford to rent my suite for so little. The cost of insurance, taxes, maintenance, utilities have skyrocketed over the years and after retirement I ended up working six or seven days a weeks so my tenant could pay $780 monthly for a large beautiful, bright suite looking out onto a lovely yard. Laundry, hydro and everything was included.
Meanwhile, I was coming home in tears because I was doing private care and frequently not getting sleep for days in a row. I had to get the tenant out as I just could not afford to have her here anymore. I had told her over the years that after I retired I would have to do something d.