ALL BANGLADESHI APPLICANTS FORUM

[Colors]

General information about rental housing in Ontario

http://www.settlement.org/topics.asp?section=HO:LIVEONT

What kinds of housing are common in Ontario?
Whether you rent or buy, you can choose from many different types of housing.
Here are some common examples:
• Apartment (suite, flat)
 Usually includes 1 bedroom or more, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room. A bachelor or studio apartment has 1 room for sleeping and eating.
 May be in a building or a house.
 There are highrises (6-30 stories high with an elevator) or lowrises (fewer than 6 stories high, often with no elevator and called a "walk-up").
 Generally, apartments are owned by a landlord and managed by a superintendent who lives in the building.
• Condominium (condo)
 A type of home ownership where you buy a unit in an apartment building or townhouse complex, but do not own the land. Owners sometimes rent condos to tenants.
 Condominium owners join together in a corporation and elect a board of directors to manage the building and the land. Each owner pays his or her own mortgage, taxes, utilities and a monthly fee towards property maintenance.
• Duplex and Triplex
 A house that is divided into 2 or 3 separate apartments, one on top of another. The owner of the house may live in one of the apartments.
 May be a detached house, semi-detached house, or a townhouse.
• Room (shared accommodation)
 A room in an apartment, house or other type of accommodation that is rented to 1 person. The tenant usually shares the kitchen, bathroom and living room with other tenants.
 Furniture is often included. Meals may be included.
Some types of housing may be more available in certain cities.
Many community agencies can help you find information about renting or buying a home. To find help in your area, go to Services Near Me.
For More Information
• Choosing a Safe Place to Live – Tips to help you choose a safe neighbourhood and building to live in.
• Child-Friendly Neighbourhoods - Information about how to choose a healthy neighbourhood for children.
• An Introduction to Renting in Canada - A guide for tenants and landlords.
• Settling in Canada - Profiles of some of Canada's major cities and regions.

How can I find housing before I arrive?
Finding housing is a difficult task at the best of times. Finding a place to live before you've even arrived in Canada will not be easy, but it is not impossible. It is important to keep in mind that what you might consider adequate accommodation in your country of origin might be very different here.
There are a number of ways to start looking for housing before you arrive. Since places can be quite different from how they look in pictures, it is recommended to see the place in person before you make the final decision to rent or buy it.
• Send a family member ahead of time
If possible, a family member could arrive 1 - 2 weeks before the rest of your family. This person could stay in a hotel or hostel for that short period and find appropriate accommodation for the rest of your family. Once here, they could access the services listed below, especially settlement agencies.
• Housing help centres
Housing help centres help people find affordable housing. Usually it is free to use this service.
• Settlement agencies
Settlement agencies provide services to newcomers, including help with finding housing, employment, and access to any other service or information you need to get settled.
• Classified Advertisements
Local newspapers usually have advertisements for house renting and buying. Landlords usually place their ads 1 - 2 months before they want someone to move into their property. It's not a good idea to rent a place without seeing it first in person. However, visiting these ads will give you an idea about the price and availability.
• Real Estate Rental Services
Also known as Property Rental Management or Rental Locators. Although they usually work with landlords, some of these companies help tenants find housing. There is usually a fee for this service.
• Phonebook
The phonebook (or the "Yellow Pages") lists real estate rental services.
Many community agencies can help you find information about renting or buying a home. To find help in your area, go to Services Near Me.
How can I look for rental housing?
There are many different ways you can look for an apartment or house to rent in Ontario. Here are some examples:
Bulletin Boards
Look in community centres, laundromats, grocery stores and other local businesses. If you are a student, check the boards at college and university housing services.
Classifieds
The advertisement section of major daily newspapers and weekly community newspapers have list rentals. You can read the newspaper for free at public libraries. Many newspapers let you search their classifieds ads online for free. Find your local community newspaper's website.
Family and Friends
Many people find places to rent through personal contacts. Ask your friends, family, co-workers and others if they know of any places that are available.
Rental Guides
These guides are free. Look for them in boxes on street corners or in store entrances.
Rental Listing Websites
There are many websites that list rentals. Here are some examples and you can use a search engine to find others.
* These listings are for your information only. Settlement.Org does not recommend or endorse any particular listing.
• Craigslist
• GottaRent.com
• GSC Rentals
• homeTRADER.ca
• Kijiji
• Rent Compass
• Rentit.ca
• RentSeeker
• Viewit.ca
Rental Locators
These are private companies that search for housing for you. There is usually a fee for this service.
Signs
Walk around neighbourhoods that interest you and look for signs that say "For Rent" or "Vacancy" in front of apartment buildings or in house windows. Even if there is no sign, you can ask if any apartments are available or will become available soon. Ask if you can be put on a waiting list.
Housing help centers and community agencies maintain lists of rentals. To find help in your area, go to Services Near Me.

How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Ontario?
The numbers in this article are from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Published in 2011.
The cost of renting an apartment or house depends on the size (number of bedrooms), the community and neighbourhood where it is located, and the age and condition of the apartment or house.
Prices vary from city to city and from year to year. Generally, smaller cities have lower rental costs than larger cities.
You can find information about average rent prices in past years in CHMC Rental Market Reports. For local rental market information, please contact your local CMHC branch. You can also look in the classified ads in your local newspaper or check online housing listings. You can also call a housing help centre or community agency about rental pricing and trends. To find help in your area, go to Services Near Me.
Private Apartment Average Rents (C$) by Bedroom Type, 2011
Bachelor 1 Bedroom 2 Bedroom 3+ Bedroom
Barrie C$681 C$884 C$1,001 C$1,126
Brantford 654 726 792 900
Guelph 620 797 903 1,036
Hamilton 549 722 884 1,133
Kingston 623 804 965 1,215
Kitchener 608 751 889 1,010
London 533 710 881 1,053
Niagara Region 555 699 833 926
Oshawa 669 819 941 1,075
Ottawa 727 899 1,086 1,322
Peterborough 610 769 899 1,122
Sudbury 510 688 840 923
Thunder Bay 518 641 772 959
Toronto 819 977 1,149 1,349
Windsor 482 625 753 880

Source: COSTI Immigrant Services

Nice Information brother, thank you so much

 

[PQR]

Thanks to all my dear forum mates who are my constant advisers and inspiration, as well.
Really appreciate it!

Here I came to share the reply from VFS:

Dear Applicant,
Your visa application reference number: DHAKXXXXXXXX has been received by the Canadian High Commission, Singapore on:26/02/2013.

Pray for us. May god fulfill all our wonderful dreams ahead!


P.S. What do you think, when shall I get the desired visa?

another step completed........congratz........it should take another2/3 weeks

 

[PQR]

thank u pqr. apni kobe jaben thik korechen?? ticket kottheke korlen plz janaben.

rana

insha Allah ei month e jabo, turkish er price (march) 115000 +/- (all booked), ticket ekhono korini

 

[hoquejamal]

another step completed........congratz........it should take another2/3 weeks

Thank you PQR vai.
VFS e track korlam, dekhacche 1/3/2013 e Singapore Visa office passport peyeche

 

[Raj_Hoque]

Rupa apa,
If you refer to my earlier posts about references - it is not important to use from own professions. Personally I recommend to use persons who are really helpful not the one at all you have doubt that may give negative words.
I was the Procurement Director while engineers from Technical Deptt. used my name and later I gave strong recommendations for them. Now time of email and mobile(cell) so easy to communicate. For that better to use one reference from your old workplace.

Thanks ruparupa, Smark and hhSumon. Apart from Badol Bhai's post I would recommend to provide name of a person who is doing a better job and possessing high position here in Canada. As you have never work here in Canada so it would be worthless to provide name of reference from your old company. Rarely they would call in BD to verify about you. I have provided the name of my senior bro from University of Windsor who is Associate Director of Bell and is in very high position. In Canada if they want to verify about me they can easily call him and get to know about me. So better to get the reference from someone who is working in good position here in Canada.

Colors...no disrespect. I know you are referring from CIC website. But reality is not the same as is written in CIC website. When I applied it was written in CIC website that our files will be processed in 9-12 months? Has it been the same? I guess no. Anyway..better to be prepared for all kinds of situation.

 

[apu2838]

Hi,
Good day everybody.
I applied on Oct'06 and sent documents on Jan'10. I checked CAIPS and found I had awarded required points.
I had "In Process" status before in CAS online(Client Application Status). And it showed they have received my application on 02-Oct-2006 after clicking that.
Last few days it shows a blank Status.
1. What does it mean?
2. Does it mean they are sending my Refund as following Notice:
News Release – Government of Canada transforms economic immigration program
Date: Ottawa, March 30, 2012
(As announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is planning to refund fees and return stale applications from nearly all those applicants who applied under the dated criteria in existence before February 27, 2008.)

Thanks a lot.

Regrds,
Shafayet

 

[HAQSA]

Dear Readers,
I'm a silent reader of this forum. This is my first post. I'm living and working in Saudi Arabia. I'm a M-I applicant and my visa office is Singapore. Alhamdulillah , recently I got PPR. But facing difficulties to submit my Passport. Need your advice.
As we are outside Bangladesh we can't submit our passports ( we are 3 in my family) to VFS, Dhaka. I asked courier services here. Aramex and Fedex refused to carry passports outside Saudi Arabia. DHL agreed to carry but not all 3 in one packet, for 3 passports have to use 3 separate envelops ( 3 times charge ). Most important , DHL have no return service, that means they are not agreed to take our passports back from Singapore.
I sent mail to Canadian embassy, Riyadh. Canadian Embassy informed me that they are not dealing with permanent resident visa.
I sent a mail to Singapore visa office, not yet get any response from them. What should I do now ?

 

[GreenBD]

Dear Readers,
I'm a silent reader of this forum. This is my first post. I'm living and working in Saudi Arabia. I'm a M-I applicant and my visa office is Singapore. Alhamdulillah , recently I got PPR. But facing difficulties to submit my Passport. Need your advice.
As we are outside Bangladesh we can't submit our passports ( we are 3 in my family) to VFS, Dhaka. I asked courier services here. Aramex and Fedex refused to carry passports outside Saudi Arabia. DHL agreed to carry but not all 3 in one packet, for 3 passports have to use 3 separate envelops ( 3 times charge ). Most important , DHL have no return service, that means they are not agreed to take our passports back from Singapore.
I sent mail to Canadian embassy, Riyadh. Canadian Embassy informed me that they are not dealing with permanent resident visa.
I sent a mail to Singapore visa office, not yet get any response from them. What should I do now ?

Dear Haqsa,

One of the applicant (ItsBeenLongNow ) from saudia arabia sent his passport to London by Fedex and got back by Aramex. So, try a different branch of Fedex. Or you can contact the mentioned member by sending him a PM as he recieved his visa and passport while he was in KSA few days before. Follow the link where he mentioned about that.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/chc-london-passport-tracking-here-t71189.2580.html

Best regards,

GreenBD

 

[hhshumon]

Dear Readers,
I'm a silent reader of this forum. This is my first post. I'm living and working in Saudi Arabia. I'm a M-I applicant and my visa office is Singapore. Alhamdulillah , recently I got PPR. But facing difficulties to submit my Passport. Need your advice.
As we are outside Bangladesh we can't submit our passports ( we are 3 in my family) to VFS, Dhaka. I asked courier services here. Aramex and Fedex refused to carry passports outside Saudi Arabia. DHL agreed to carry but not all 3 in one packet, for 3 passports have to use 3 separate envelops ( 3 times charge ). Most important , DHL have no return service, that means they are not agreed to take our passports back from Singapore.
I sent mail to Canadian embassy, Riyadh. Canadian Embassy informed me that they are not dealing with permanent resident visa.
I sent a mail to Singapore visa office, not yet get any response from them. What should I do now ?

As per my understanding, there might be a few options,

01. Send the passports to some of your relatives at Dhaka (Along with 03 letters of consent for submission and collection to VFS and its a must) by DHL. Once everything is done He/She will send back the passports to you guys. This will take atleast 45-50 days, and you can not travel during this period.

02. There should be an option for DHL (Please check, as I have done this before for UK from Bangladesh) drop and collection, where you pay for both way postage, and when Singapore is done they call DHL, they collect and re-post to you back. Remember you need to describe everything in a forwarding letter to the VISA guys. The problem with this is, sometimes the Visa office might over look the situation and end up screwing.

03. The 3rd option would be, get a week holiday (Ramadan is soon and you should have holidays, if situation demands give them a letter for a time extension, they usually consider time extensions, and these are common.) and go to Singapore by yourself along with your family's consent letters and collect the visas within 3 working days. (Most expensive, yet the easiest, headache free)

I hope this helps. Salam.

 

[hhshumon]

Hi,
Good day everybody.
I applied on Oct'06 and sent documents on Jan'10. I checked CAIPS and found I had awarded required points.
I had "In Process" status before in CAS online(Client Application Status). And it showed they have received my application on 02-Oct-2006 after clicking that.
Last few days it shows a blank Status.
1. What does it mean?
2. Does it mean they are sending my Refund as following Notice:
News Release – Government of Canada transforms economic immigration program
Date: Ottawa, March 30, 2012
(As announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is planning to refund fees and return stale applications from nearly all those applicants who applied under the dated criteria in existence before February 27, 2008.)

Thanks a lot.

Regrds,
Shafayet

The usual cases for closing/ refusing applications are annotated by 'Decision Made' . Its most of the time usually.
If ecas is not accessible, there should be a software difficulty, an update issue or something technical I believe.
We all pray for you to have your difficulties passed.

Lets hope and pray. Best regards.

 

[Mun]

insha Allah ei month e jabo, turkish er price (march) 115000 +/- (all booked), ticket ekhono korini

Dear PQR,
ei price ki business class er?

rgds

Mun

 

[Spondon]

Thanks Raj_Hoque bhai for such a informative post. This will be very helpful for me. Can you please share more about the community hospitals? Can I also take this service from your mentioned hospital? Is there any criteria to get this kind of discount? Please note that I will stay in east York area.

...Spondon

Thanks to all Forum members for wishing me and bless my son.

Today I brought my son and wife back home. Just to inform you all in response to Spondon's query that total cost of the delivery with C-Sec comes to CAD 4,500. Then community services has arranged a discount of CAD 2,400 and hospital gave me a discount of CAD 1,400...so remaining is CAD 700. I went to Cashiers office at the hospital today but they seemed not willing to get the payment from me yet. Then I asked them to send me bills at home to settle later.

Notice: Discharge from hospital has nothing related to payment. They don't ask for payment before you leave like what happened in BD. My son has got a ready made Health Card Number where me, wife and daughter have to wait till end of March to get the HC number and get it effective.

Please Note: Sun Life Insurance will cover any types of accident or emergency...not the pregnancy or delivery...

Another important thing I wants to share with all of you who are coming to Canada: please start building your network with your relevant professional people...pro jobs are easier to get when you have a good reference (except doctor and architect - My wife is an architect as well. You need to have 5000 hours of working exp under a licensed Architect to avail license here). I didn't want to share it earlier as it would show arrogance but sharing now that I'd got an offer from a land line phone company on 5th Feb...eventually I had to turn the offer down as my wife was pregnant and unable to take care of herself and my daughter. But it came through a very good friend of mine. So please start building your network if you want to work in your own profession. I met many of my old friends and colleagues who came to Canada in 2010 & 11 and now doing professional job mostly in telcos coming after just 3-4 months. Please don't jump into the odd jobs right away. Take your time...try every possibilities...have faith on yourself...if others can do you can do also...you are no less than others...keep your eyes wide open and take right decision always...remember you are coming as FSW and you all are doing the best job in BD where doing job is much critical and cumbersome than here...if you are doing good in BD then you must do better here...that's my opinion...Others may have other opinion and views...but I'm just sharing what I have experienced...Good Luck to all of you...

 

[soarer]

Dear Forum mates, by the grace of almighty Allah yesterday I received PPR, which was issues one month back and sent via post.

 

[hhshumon]

Dear Forum mates, by the grace of almighty Allah yesterday I received PPR, which was issues one month back and sent via post.

Its party time................... ;D
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[soarer]

Its party time................... ;D
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.