Re: Renting Apartment vs a house/basement
For the newcomers to Canada:
In the beginning you may have to face some issues in renting apartments (in apartment buildings). But these are better in long run, as the building has proper heating, and utilities are included. However, due to newcomers not having enough credit history, the management may require upfront payment of at least 6-month rent (you can negotiate how to pay), in many cases. Or even upto a year of rent, if they want that, you can then lease it for a year. Basement living is not doable in the long run anyways. If you have friends in the same city you can use them as a reference point. The minimum is the First+Last rent, and some security deposit, etc for keys, etc. Some buildings even have daycare on the spot, etc.
This is why having cash on hand, and depositing in account right away will be better, so u can pay the rent/lease and get your own place/address.
Once accomodation is sorted, get the internet service. And then apply for study/jobs/schooling, etc as necessary.
The trouble with renting a portion of the house, is that the landlord (who often lives on first floors,etc) can be very hard to deal with. They don't want high utility bills so they tend to monitor the utility/laundry usage, and often don't keep the house warm/cold enough, depending on the weather. This is very true specially in south-asian landlords......so be very careful. And they also frown/dislike if you have guests or don't do things certain way. They frown if you use washing machine frequently.
This is why if you must rent, try to rent in an apartment building. That way you can avoid these petty issues which can ruin the charm/experience.
Hopefully this will help inform those who will be arriving in Canada soon.
