There are several steps you can take to ensure that your tenants keep your property clean.

First, it is important to set clear expectations when writing the rental lease. Make sure that there are specific clauses outlining what is expected of your tenants in terms of cleanliness and maintenance and include any applicable fines or other penalties for non-compliance.

Second, be sure to conduct regular inspections of the property. This will allow you to ensure that your tenants are meeting the standards set in the lease and addressing any issues promptly.

Third, provide cleaning supplies for your tenants to use when necessary. Investing in a few basic products such as vacuum cleaners and mops can save you time and money on maintenance costs in the long run.

Finally, give your tenants plenty of feedback. If an inspection reveals that the property is not up to standard, be sure to let them know so they can make the necessary changes. Additionally, when your tenants do a great job of keeping the property clean and tidy, don't forget to give them a pat on the back. This will help to reinforce good behaviors and motivate your tenants to continue the same level of care.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your property is kept clean and well-maintained. Good luck!

Setting the rental rate for your unit is a collaborative process between Portsmouth Residential and the owner. Ultimately, the owner has final say over the rental rate as the property is the owner’s asset.

Portsmouth will recommend a rate based on the perceived market value of the property. We look at comparable units with similar features and amenities and take into consideration factors such as occupancy rate, current demand in the local market, and target occupancy dates.

We strive to keep rental rates competitive and in line with the local market. We conduct a weekly review of all our available units and may recommend changing the target rate based on traction and feedback from prospective renters.

Click here to check out this video on Understanding the Owner Reserve.

This is a great question! We have outlined the few reasons below:

To pay bills if the unit is vacant or tenant has not paid their rent and the homeowner is not responding as they may be out of the country.

Ensures prompt payment to vendors to keep favourable service and rates, overall reducing the cost associated with labour and maintenance.

Avoids interest accumulation on vendor bills that the homeowner may have to incur if payments are delayed.

In any event, our team will always ask for permission if an expense will exceed $500.00, unless there is an emergency situation.

Portsmouth’s membership agreements do not include the facilitation of inspections for the city, fire department or other administrative duties. However, we do offer this service to our clients at a service rate of $115.00 per hour. The reason behind having this excluded from our membership packages is of significant benefit to all our clients as it keeps our services plans at competitive rates.

As Portsmouth does not have team members located on site for each of our properties under contract, this fee is to compensate our team to cover travel expenses such as gas consumption/mileage.

Allowing Portsmouth to facilitate these inspections ensures that the inspector will be able to enter the unit, whereas leaving the entry to be provided to the tenant can be unreliable and may create additional costs the owner if entry is not provided.

If you, the homeowner of the unit are looking to self-occupy your own unit, you will need to read the following steps and reach out to your dedicated property manager to ensure you complete the process legally.

Dependant on your contract, there is a termination fee, which you are responsible to pay. Once payment is received we will begin the off-boarding process.

If your unit is currently tenanted, you will need to wait until the end of the tenant's lease until you move in. You can also offer them an incentive to move out early, however they are not required to do so.

If you have any further questions please reach out to us at help@portsmouth.ca.

We also recommend you refer to your membership Terms and Conditions here: https://portsmouth.ca/membership-agreement-terms-and-conditions/

There is a one-time bank set-up fee of $180 for new owners with the basic and standard memberships. This is a fee incurred to open a dedicated bank account for a new owner and have it vetted – for anti-fraud, risk, etc.

Having a dedicated bank account for each homeowner ensures that accounting and reconciling is accurate – if any extra funds are received, it stays in the owner-specific account. Whether you have one property or one hundred properties, you will have a dedicated bank account managed by Portsmouth Residential.

For our Premium+ members, we absorb the bank set-up fee. Other than this, there are no other set-up fees!

As the homeowner, you are able to access your tenant's information (including contact information) through your online owner portal.

You have signed an agreement with our team to coordinate all tenant relations. If you wish to connect with the tenant on your own you must include Portsmouth in all communications, as outlined in our Terms and Conditions, section 5J. The simplest way to do this is through email.

With our team being included in these communications, we are able to ensure compliance with the Residential Tenancy Act and the Landlord and Tenant Board, for the best interests of all parties involved.

The membership fee will be charged regardless of the occupancy status of your unit. However, we will always have at least 60 days’ notice to lease your unit because renters must provide 60 days’ notice to vacate the unit. This gives us enough time to find suitable renters and re-lease the unit.

Our homeowners trust our team's screening process to find suitable tenants for their unit. In the onboarding process for a new member or rental unit, we will discuss the target rent rate and if necessary, review the application requirements. To learn more about our application requirements, please refer to the article linked below.

Yes, you can absolutely inspect the unit yourself. This is an additional service we offer but we don't require that you use Portsmouth for property/unit inspections. We recommend that all owners inspect their unit at least once per year. To do so, simply email help@portsmouth.ca and request notice of entry at least 48-hours in advance of the inspection. Once the inspection is complete, please send a copy of the inspection report to help@portsmouth.ca to ensure proper record-keeping.

Yes, if you would like maintenance requests to be directed to a particular contractor, they can be listed as the preferred vendor for your unit.

When a work order comes in, it would be allocated to the preferred vendor we have on file. That said, your preferred vendor would need to be a general contractor capable of handling an array of maintenance issues, and not one specific trade.

To change the vendor on your file, we require this information in writing from you. Please allow for 15-20 business days for these changes to take affect.

The owner portal provides you access to so many great resources. You will have access to see financials, documents, maintenance requests, property inspections, bills, and reports!

Click here to check out this video on How to Access the Rental Owner Statement.

Click here to check out this video on How to Navigate the Rental Owner Portal.

Click here to check out this video on Understanding the Owner Reserve.

One of the most frequently asked questions our team receives is “how do I know what my income and expenses are”. It’s so simple, one report you can use is the Rental Owner Statement, within your portal.

To access your Rental Owner Statement, click on Reports, Owner Statement and follow along below.

In the Rental Owner Statement, it is important that you specify the month you are referencing. For example, if you are trying to understand your owner draw for June 2022, you should specify the dates from June 1 to June 31. You can select Month End June 31 as well.

If the tenant did not pay their rent on time, there would be no funds to send to you as the owner. As your property management team, we do everything in our power to ensure rent is collected regularly at the beginning of each month. If it is not collected we have a procedure to forward these tenants directly to the Landlord and Tenant Board to create a case file against them, which is the beginning of the eviction process.

You can upgrade your membership at any time! All membership changes take effect on the first of the month.

If you have a standard or premium membership on a 1-year term, you may switch to a basic membership at the end of your term.

You can upgrade your membership at any time! All membership changes take effect on the first of the month.

If you have a standard or premium membership on a 1-year term, you may switch to a basic membership at the end of your term.

Please provide our team with 72 hours advanced notice, as we then have to provide advanced notice of entry to the tenant.

Important* Please ensure you have provided the person attending the appointment a key to your unit, as our team will not have a key, and cannot provide access.

Here are the next steps that should be taken to ensure this process goes as smoothly as possible:

1. Your property may be occupied, it is important for you to ensure you list your property for sale as tenanted with a rental management contract in place. You do not have to terminate your contract to sell your property.

2. Should you wish to terminate the contract you must identify which rental management contract you have with Portsmouth Residential, and provide 60 days' notice to our team to terminate it.

3. Connect with our team to determine your termination fee* (based on your membership).

4. If you wish to sell your property and the purchaser intends to self-occupy, you must inform our team immediately as legal fees may apply. We may need to instruct our Para-Legal to deliver an N12 – Notice to End your Tenancy Because the Landlord, a Purchaser or a Family Member Requires the Rental Unit.

5. In order to deliver this notice, the tenancy must be near the end of the term, and you must have an offer for purchase in place.

To conduct real estate showings connect us with your realtor and we will connect the realtor with the current tenants to provide notice of entry for showings.

Portsmouth Residential must be included in any communication between yourself, your realtor, and the tenant during the sales process.

Once there is a firm Purchase and Sale Agreement for the property, you must provide a copy of it to Portsmouth Residential. If the purchaser is continuing with our services, instruct them to reach out to hello@portsmouth.ca so that our team can complete the onboarding process.

Yes! You will receive a notification from Portsmouth Residential when a new lease is signed for your unit. Through the owner portal, you can access the lease documents.

Yes, Portsmouth Residential will lease and manage parking spots as a complimentary service for our members.

Portsmouth Residential does not charge cancellation fees. Just as renters must provide 60 days’ notice to end their lease, members must provide 60 days’ notice to end their membership.

The Standard and Premium memberships are signed for a 1-year term. If one of these memberships is canceled prior to the completion of the term, Portsmouth Residential will simply collect the balance of the membership fees for the remainder of the term.

The Basic membership requires no such 1-year commitment. If Portsmouth Residential receives notice of cancellation 60 days prior to the end date provided, the membership agreement will end with no additional fees or charges.

The Premium+ Content Package includes high quality photos and virtual tours of the unit. Content can vary based on the vendor used.

Great question!

Step 1: Discovery

After reaching out to hello@portsmouth.ca a member of our team will get in touch with you to schedule a discovery call. This is a chance for us to learn about you, your property, and your management needs – we act as guides to help you find the right membership!

Step 2: Document Signing

Our team will send you the Membership Agreement and Owner Intake Form for your review and signature. This is how we collect all the information required to manage your unit.

Step 3: Site Visit

Your dedicated Portfolio Manager will coordinate a meeting at your rental property. This is where we inspect the property and collect keys.

That’s it!

What is an RRHL?

Residential rental properties located in the vicinity of Durham College and Ontario Tech University (as well as other areas) must be licensed under the Licensing By-Law. Licensed rental properties must comply with various standards and by-laws, including the Fire Code, Electrical Code, Building Code and City’s Zoning and Property Standards By-Laws.

As a unit owner this is your legal obligation to have this completed. You are required by the government of Ontario to have this Licence, otherwise you may face fines. If need be, Portsmouth has the capacity to facilitate the inspection, meaning we coordinate with the tenant and allow entry into the unit to have the inspection completed successfully. Please reach out to our team at help@portsmouth.ca and a team member can help you move forward.

Why isn’t scheduling an appointment with the RRHL Inspection the responsibility of Portsmouth Residential?

The RRHL Inspection is outside the scope of the Property Management Agreement and is the homeowner's responsibility.

I live far away/cannot facilitate the RRHL Inspection. Can Portsmouth Residential facilitate the RRHL Inspection once I have scheduled it?

Yes. There is a fee of $115.00 per hour for Portsmouth to facilitate the RRHL inspection.

Can my tenant perform the RRHL Inspection?

Yes, however, the tenant often does not understand the importance of the inspection and may not be present when the City Official arrives. When this happens you must reschedule the inspection. There is a $75.00 rescheduling fee charged to the owner.

How do I inform the tenant of the RRHL Inspection?

Once you have confirmed an Inspection date and time you need to inform Portsmouth Residential. You must forward this information a minimum of 5 business days prior to the RRHL Inspection allowing our office team to provide a Notice of Entry to the tenant.

How many hours could it take to perform the Inspection?

There is a 3 hour window in which the RRHL Inspection will take place. They do not provide exact arrival times.

What do I do with the RRHL Certificate once I receive it?

Once you receive the RRHL Certificate and Floor Plan you email it to us (help@portsmouth.ca) and we will send notice of entry to the tenant and post it in the unit.

As Portsmouth Residential is a rental management company, we do not facilitate Status Certificate requests. You can request your status certificate through your Condominium Corporation. Most Condominium Corporations have a portal where you can order these.

To help provide an answer to your question we may need some more information:

1) Have you already processed this utility payment? As a last resort, it is your responsibility (as the owner of the unit) to keep the unit in good standing. Again our team will do everything we can to try to collect the payment.

2) Depending on the dates on the utility bill, the resident(s) may or may not be currently residing in the unit, this will help us pinpoint which action we can help with. Do you have a current copy of the outstanding utility bills sent to you?

Depending on the specific situation there are two options moving forward:

1) It is important to know you do have the means to move forward with legal action if the resident(s) is still residing in the unit. We have a contract with a licensed para-legal who can begin the process with the Landlord and Tenant Board, you as the owner will be responsible for all legal services associated with this process, this includes a filing fee of $186+HST. This fee will be added to the residents' outstanding balance.

2) If the resident(s) is no longer residing in the unit, you do have means to attempt to collect outstanding balances owning, either through the Landlord and Tenant Board or through our collections agency. With this action, you must have the outstanding balance paid prior to proceeding. The collections agency service fee is 40% of funds collected and the filing fee for the Landlord and Tenant Board remains the same.

To obtain your member tax receipt, you will need to log into your Member Portal, (click here)

Once you have logged in, navigate to the 'Financials' page where you can select specific properties and time periods; this will outline any charges or fees as well.

Check out our blog post on this topic here

Rental income is received by the end of every month as this gives our team time to ensure all expenses have been charged to the property. Frequently payments are received by the 25th of every month.

Rent is typically due from tenants on the first of the month. Once received and cleared in the property account, all property expenses are paid. Any remaining funds, minus a reserve for the property, are then disbursed to the property owner by the end of the month.

Portsmouth thoroughly evaluates maintenance issues before sending out any service providers. This is because tenants and landlords might have different interpretations of certain issues, such as what constitutes a flood. By asking detailed questions before proceeding with work orders, we ensure clarity and appropriateness of response. Additionally, if a work order is estimated to cost more than $500, we always consult with the property owner first, unless Portsmouth identifies the situation as an emergency.

At Portsmouth, we conduct an annual inspection of both the interior and exterior of the property, as applicable. This inspection focuses on documenting general wear and tear, checking life safety equipment, and verifying the condition and functionality of appliances. This is an additional expense to the property.

Portsmouth has partnered with a paralegal firm to aid in the delivery of legal documents, which covering issues such as rental arrears and property damage. The costs for these paralegal services are charged back to the property.

We have partnered with Rhenti, a leading ad syndication platform in the industry, to market our units. Through Rhenti, we can list our properties on Kijiji, Property Guys, Zillow, apartments.com, REW, and Rental Beast. Additionally, we have the capability to advertise on Facebook Marketplace and Rentals.ca.