The Renter's Toolkit

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Man moving box into new apartment

If you are looking for a place to rent or are renting, this guide can help you search for and secure housing, deal with issues that come up as a tenant, or help you plan your next move.

Graphic showing each stage of the renter's journey the Renter's Toolkit can help with.

An introduction to the Renter's Toolkit

In this toolkit, you will find:

Answers to common questions about finding and keeping a home
Videos and direct links to resources that can help
Tip sheets you can print and take with you
Worksheets to guide you through your renting journey

Service providers can print the Renter's Toolkit poster to share with your clients.

Audio

Overview of the Renter's Toolkit (transcript)

Preparing for Your Housing Search (transcript)

Searching for Housing (transcript)

Securing Housing and Making it a Home (transcript)

Staying Housed (transcript)

Deciding to Move (transcript)

Videos

Click on a link below to view a video from the Renter's Toolkit.

Tip sheets in different languages

Tip sheets are available in French, Arabic, Somali, Chinese, Spanish, Tamil, and Urdu on the Community Legal Education Ontario's website (CLEO).

To find a tip sheet, go to the website and select "Housing Law" in the Legal Topic drop-box and select a language in the "Language" drop-box.

Help at every step in your renting journey

Click on a phase below to open a list of tip sheets, work sheets, videos, and audio clips that can help with your renting journey.

Preparing for your housing search

Finding the perfect home can be tough. But the more you plan ahead, the more likely you are to find something that works for you.

This section offers information about housing options and helps you clarify what you need and want. It will also help you ensure you have the income and documents you need to begin searching for housing.

Searching for housing

Use these tip sheets and worksheets to find out where to look for a place, how to talk to potential landlords, how to keep track of your inquiries and viewings, and things to consider when looking at a unit.

Securing housing and making it a home

This section will help you to review and summarize your lease, understand credit checks, have the right ID to show the landlord, prepare for your move, and make your place feel like home once you settle in.

Staying housed

How stable is your housing? The tip sheets and worksheets below will help you understand your rights and responsibilities as a tenant and let you know about community resources that can support you to stay housed.

Deciding to move

Thinking about moving? This section will help you understand when and how to give proper notice to end your tenancy, how to decide on a termination date, and how to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board if you need to.

The Renter's Toolkit

An introduction to the Renter's Toolkit

Help at every step in your renting journey

Useful links