So, you’ve lived another year in residence/the student ghetto/your Bay Street condo. Now you’re looking to move. Maybe it’s the neighbours, maybe it’s the room mates, or maybe you’re just ready for a change. Now you’ve got to look for a new apartment.

Apartment hunting is no easy task. It’s usually a pretty time consuming and labourous affair, but I’ve always found it to be very rewarding, if you find the right apartment that is. Aside from Craigslist and U of T’s Housing Services, below are two very useful website you can add to your arsenal: myhood and Ontario Tenants Rights

myhood.ca has been mentioned on the Torontoist. They’re a new housing search site that allows for user reviews. The site design is well done and it’s easy to navigate. The for-rent postings are actually linked from craigslist. It’s the reviews that are really useful. For example, I now know that I should NOT live at 33 Isabella St. Surprisingly, the ominous sounding 666 Spandina Ave. is reviewed fairly positively.

The Ontario Tenants Rights website is a very useful resource, especially if you’re not familiar with the laws governing tenancy. For example, there’s a great deal of useful information just on their FAQ page. Did you know that your landlord is supposed to pay you interest for the last month’s rent deposit? Or that the “no pet” clauses on your lease are invalid under the law? (Oh fluffy, I’m so sorry I had to sell you to the circus… if I only knew!!)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Survival Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.