Tag Archives: renting to students

Community politics and renting residential properties to students

Renting residential properties to students can be a good way to invest in real estate. It is a different kind of market which needs to be understood. There are two broad categories of issues (both of which I have written about):

1. Zoning and other municipal by-laws which may apply to student rentals;

2. Understanding students, the student rental market and how to be a landlord to students.

The above tweet references a blog post that provides interesting commentary about community politics and student rentals.

The post includes:

 

The Towers of Spite

A little over 20 years ago, we moved away from an area near the university. The area had become mostly a student ghetto, but the students were far less of a problem than the snotty local homeowners up the street who were doing all they could to fight the transition of the homes from single-family residences to student housing. Here is an editorial I wrote then.

You can read the complete post here.

The message is simple but forgotten.

If you are investing in real estate for the purpose of renting to students ask yourself:

How will house rented to students “fit into the community”?

 

 

 

 

 

Municipal zoning by-laws, condo by-laws and renting investment properties to student tenants

I recently received an email from somebody that included the following question:

Hi.  I am wondering if you may have some insight regarding a condo situation we have in London.  We have purchased a two bedroom condo and the condos in the building are called  “single family dwelling”.

I have heard from some people that this means the people in the condo must be related to each other however, I am aware of lots of people in the building who are good friends and are not related to each other living together.

We were planning to find a paying roommate for my 20 year old son but we are concerned about what the definition of “single family dwelling” is.

To me, outside of living with your spouse or common-law partner, many people live with friends in our society.  Do you know if such a rule is enforceable?  Do you have any suggestions as to where I should go to figure this out? I would hate to have to move out of the building due to this rule.

I predict that this is going to become a more common question.

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