Being an educated consumer is wise these days, and when shopping for a rental apartment, there are many things to look for that indicate your choice is a good one. Your most powerful tool is communication – before, during and after you make your decision and move in.

You can tell a lot about an apartment building from your first visit to inquire about vacancies.

Are you greeted by friendly, polite, cordial office staff? When you ask questions – and you should ask many – do you receive satisfactory answers?

Is the rental office clean and organized, and can the staff members produce requested documents quickly? Pleasant interaction with staff is important on a day-to-day basis. How you are treated at the outset reflects how you will be treated once you are a tenant.

Tenants want professional and courteous property management staff, and in turn the latter group is looking for good, responsive tenants,” says Charlesy Brunne, Director of Operations – GTA for Minto Apartment limited “The CRBP ensures that each property manager has effective two-way communication policies and processes in place”.

When you move in, your building manager should provide you with information on how to make general inquiries/complaints, and how to make maintenance requests. If they do not provide you with this information readily, then ask them to explain to you what policies they have in place for dealing with these types of general tenant inquires. If they cannot articulate to you clearly what their complaint/maintenance request policies are, then you may want to raise a red flag about whether this is a place where you want to make your apartment home.

Apartment buildings in the CRB program must have clearly documented policies and procedures in place for dealing with tenant inquiries (of any nature) and for dealing tenant requests for maintenance. Additionally they must be able to clearly demonstrate that they respond to all inquiries with two business days or less. The CRB program treats effective two-way communication between property managers and their tenants as integral part of its program.

For example, if you make a verbal inquiry for a repair, you should be able to expect owners and property managers to respond within two business days. If the repair involves the landlord or property manager entering the apartment, there must be written notice given at least 24 hours before the time of entry, which should be scheduled between 8am and 8pm, unless there is an emergency or if the tenant gives the landlord permission to enter ahead of time.

If you receive no response, according to the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act, you should put your request in writing, date it and keep a copy. Then, if you have had no response in a reasonable time, call a municipal building inspector to look into repairs. Keep a copy of the inspector’s report for your files.

If the repair still isn’t completed, you can contact the Investigation and Enforcement Unit. If this step does not resolve the problem, contact your lawyer, municipal Councillor or Community Legal Clinic. It is possible that you can apply for a rent reduction on the basis of the repair not being done, therefore representing a reduction of services in your apartment.

The best results happen when staff members respond to your inquiry or request promptly and efficiently.

This is the kind of professionalism required of the managers and/or landlords of buildings that complete the Certified Rental Building Program (CRBP) successfully. CRBP was created by the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO) to help ensure a high quality of life for tenants in certified buildings.

It all comes down to respect for each other. Landlords have to respect tenants’ privacy, and tenants have to respect the tremendous responsibility that landlords have to keep the building safe and well maintained. The CRBP covers this topic thoroughly.

You can find the Residential Tenancies Act at ontariotenants.ca and at frpo.org and crbprogram.org