140 lease transactions closed across Toronto and the GTA. If you're renting out a condo or looking for one, this is most of what I do.
Toronto has more rental supply than it did five years ago, and landlords feel it. A unit priced fifty dollars too high sits for weeks while the one next door leases in a weekend. Tenants feel the other side: the good units go in days, and an incomplete application loses to a complete one.
I've closed 140 lease transactions, representing landlords and tenants. That mix matters. I know what a landlord's screening looks like from both sides of the table, and I know which buildings actually move.
As a real estate agent with Big City Realty Inc., Brokerage, every lease I handle goes on MLS, uses the Ontario Standard Lease, and follows the Residential Tenancies Act and the Human Rights Code. No shortcuts, no handshake deals.
Every review is public on Google. Read them before you call.
Two very different jobs. Here's what each side actually gets.
Most vacancies come down to two mistakes: the wrong price and the wrong tenant. Both are avoidable.
Good units in Toronto lease in days. The tenant who gets it is the one with a complete file and an agent who books the showing first.
From first call to keys, this is the sequence. Most of it happens in the first ten days.
Send the address, the move-out date and anything unusual about the unit. Parking, locker, furnished, pets.
You get a comparable-based number and the leases it's built on, usually the same day. You pick the asking rent with the comps in front of you.
Professional photos, a written listing, MLS and realtor.ca syndication. Showings booked through the brokerage system.
Every application comes to you with a written summary: income, credit, references, ID. You decide; I document why.
Ontario Standard Lease, deposit collected the legal way, keys and move-in coordinated. You get a copy of everything.
Condo towers downtown, the Yonge corridor in North York, Markham and Mississauga condos, family rentals out to Durham. Not sure about your building? See the buildings I've worked in.
For tenants, nothing on MLS lease listings: the landlord pays the commission. For landlords, the standard in Toronto is one month's rent plus HST, split between the listing brokerage and the tenant's brokerage. I confirm the exact number in writing before anything is signed.
No, but the two things that go wrong most often are pricing and screening, and both are hard to fix after a tenant moves in. An agent gives you MLS exposure, a screened applicant pool, and paperwork that follows the Residential Tenancies Act and the Ontario Standard Lease. The full landlord playbook is in how to rent out your condo.
Priced at market, a condo usually leases in one to three weeks, and units in popular buildings faster. Overpriced units sit for a month or more and then lease for less than they would have on day one. Current asking rents by neighbourhood are in the rent guide.
A rent deposit of up to one month's rent, which is applied to the last month of the tenancy, and a refundable key deposit that can't exceed the cost of replacing the keys. Damage deposits and pet deposits aren't allowed in Ontario. The landlord owes interest on the rent deposit each year at the guideline rate; the rent increase and deposit interest calculator does the math.
Yes. A landlord can compare income, credit, references and rental history and take the strongest application. What a landlord can't do is decline someone for a reason covered by the Ontario Human Rights Code, such as family status, citizenship, receipt of public assistance, disability or age. I screen on the facts that are allowed and document them.
A letter of employment, your two most recent pay stubs or a notice of assessment if you're self-employed, a recent credit report, government ID, and references from a past landlord or employer. Have them ready as PDFs before the first showing. The first-time renter guide walks through each one.
Yes. A credit report from your home country, a job offer letter, proof of savings, or a guarantor with Canadian credit can all stand in for a Canadian credit file. I'll tell you which one a specific landlord is likely to accept before we apply.
In Ontario, a unit first occupied for residential use on or before November 15, 2018 is covered by the annual rent increase guideline. Units first occupied after that date generally aren't. The rent control checker looks up your building.
Landlord or tenant, send the address or the neighbourhood and your timeline. I reply fast.
140 leases closed · 5.0 ★ on Google from 50 reviews · Big City Realty Inc., Brokerage
Prefer to browse first? Current listings · Rent guide · Rent control checker
Prefer email?
contact@zachtherealtor.ca
Asking rents by bedroom count and neighbourhood, from units leased through the brokerage.
FreeA comparable-based number for your specific unit, no obligation.
LandlordsPricing, deposits, rent control, screening within the Human Rights Code, the Standard Lease.
TenantsDocuments, legal deposits, scams to avoid, the offer process, an affordability calculator.
CalculatorThe 2026 guideline, earliest effective date, and interest owed on the deposit.
CheckerWhether an Ontario unit is covered by the rent increase guideline.