'One boy needed': Canadians react to 'diabolical' Surrey rental suite | Daily Hive

Facebook Marketplace

A not-so-glamorous Surrey rental has been the subject of a social media discussion, and not because it’s a great deal.

The rental listing in question was posted to Facebook Marketplace, advertising a shared rental suite for $550.

Based on the pictures, the shared space would offer fairly close quarters for two roommates. The listing states everything would be included in the $550, including hydro, Wi-Fi and utilities.

Beyond the bedroom, the pictures don’t reveal much about the rental, aside from a random shot of a closet door and a dark picture of the bathroom, in which two of the three light bulbs are burnt out.

Facebook Marketplace

The description for the listing says “one boy needed,” adding that it would be a shared room. The listing also indicates that the unit is a semi-basement located on the ground floor.

Facebook Marketplace

The listing ended up on the SlumlordsCanada subreddit, and members of that group are not fans of the Surrey rental.

One Redditor commented, “The kind of room that makes you sleep with one eye open.”

Another Redditor had a harsher review of the listing, calling it “diabolical.”

Comment
byu/Brodieischeese from discussion
inSlumlordsCanada

One user suggested that landlords like the one who posted the Surrey suite are taking advantage of international students, adding that the act is “sickening.”

Facebook Marketplace features many listings of a similar nature in the same price range, such as this Surrey suite. On the other hand, you can often find rental suites with a private bedroom instead of a shared one in the same price range.

According to the most recent report from Rentals.ca, a rental platform that publishes a monthly report on average asking rent in Canada, the average asking rent in Surrey reached $1,888 in August.

That marked a huge drop (-12.6 per cent) compared to the same period in 2024 and a 1.1 per cent decrease compared to July of this year. The only B.C. city that ranked lower than Surrey on the Rentals.ca report for cheaper rent was Kamloops, where the average asking rent was $1,735 in August.

This wouldn’t be the first time people have compared Metro Vancouver rental listings to prisons.

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