Ontario landlord slammed for only letting tenant use kitchen twice a week
With the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment now surpassing $2,000 in most major cities throughout Ontario, a select group of landlords in the province continue to search for ways to appeal to tenants looking for budget-friendly accommodations.
As a result, some have taken it upon themselves to stuff rooms with multiple beds, create makeshift rooms, and even advertise unconventional spaces as “bedrooms” in an effort to secure tenants who are strapped for cash.
Alarming listings continue to infiltrate websites like Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji and are often reshared to websites like Reddit, and this latest rental ad out of Guelph is no exception.
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The listing advertises a walkout basement apartment for a single female in East Guelph for $1,000 per month. The space doesn’t seem like the worst deal in the world at first glance, but that’s before you consider the fact that the tenant is only permitted to use the kitchen twice per week.
$1000 a month for a basement Guelph and you’re only allowed to use the kitchen twice a week 🤨
byu/mybluntside inSlumlordsCanada
The landlord also bars the tenant from cooking downstairs except when warming up food. The landlord’s bizarre restriction on the home’s kitchen resulted in lots of heated criticism online.
“Imagine the food waste if you can only use the kitchen two times a week. So they are basically saying order out all the time please. These people shouldn’t be allowed to do this,” one person wrote in response to the ad.
“They want you to pay exorbitant amounts but don’t want you to actually utilize or enjoy the home. I’ve seen postings where they don’t even want you staying home on weekends, or even working from home. Just ‘give me money,'” another user said.
“These are the people who expect the electricity and water use to not increase despite adding an extra person to the house,” one comment reads.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only rental ad that’s gone viral this year, thanks to the landlord banning their tenant from using their kitchen. Another landlord in Barrie, who was advertising a private room for $650 per month in May, prohibited their tenant from using the kitchen to cook, clean, and reheat their food.