Is it smart to rent your basement?

If you’re willing to have a tenant live in your basement, you can generate a steady stream of rental income. That income can help you pay off your mortgage, cover your home maintenance, or save for other milestones. Renting out your basement might seem like a good idea in theory.

What do I need to know about renting out my basement?

Some of the requirements include:

having enough fire exits (small basement windows typically don’t count),
sufficient smoke and carbon monoxide detectors,
proper electrical wiring , and.
enough insulation.

What do you need to know about renting out a basement?

It covers things like payment terms, what utilities are included in the rent, whether or not smoking is permitted, and, oh yeah, whether the tenant needs to have insurance. Make sure to insist, in the lease agreement, that the tenant carry liability insurance for the unit.

What happens if you rent out your basement in Ontario?

If your tenant has a visitor and they slip on an icy walkway, or if a visitor has too much to drink and then hurts someone with their car, you as the homeowner could be on the hook if your tenant doesn’t have enough insurance. Ask to see the policy.

Can a basement apartment be rented out without a permit?

If the work was done before you bought the property, you may have no idea. If yours are part of the estimated 70% of renovations that were done without a permit, there’s a good chance that your basement apartment does not meet the minimum requirements for renting. There could be a number of problems, but the most common are related to fire safety.

Why do so many landlords hate basement apartments?

They are the source of landlord/tenant issues when the landlord lives upstairs or tenant/tenant issues when another tenant lives upstairs. If there’s pot smoking in your apartment 90% of the time, it’s wafting up the vents not down. Deadbeats love the damp it or just the smell of unsophisticated landlord that lives upstairs.

Do You Put your basement on the market?

To many people, the basement is just a place to put boxes. To thrifty homeowners, it’s a whole other living space just waiting to be leased out. If you’re thinking about putting the basement of your home on the rental market, your first step will be to make it’s in good enough condition to accommodate your prospective tenant comfortably.