The Landlord Response to Tenant Need

Government assistance and mortgage deferral have been a recent topic of hope.  In the midst of a turbulent and upside down reality, many tenants are wondering if this deferral might be the silver bullet that translates into rent relief if needed.  We have been fielding inquiries towards this and are working hard to do what we can to dispel myths, educate and empower with actionable suggestions, and then ultimately prepare for the inevitable.  It is an incredible time of great stress and anxiety and people want/need answers.  Unfortunately the climate of change requires time for answers to be fleshed out into a helpful reality.  With the government announcing major supports and an agreement that major banks would be offering a pause button for mortgages, the public took a sigh of relief.  This announcement was an easy step in a long, multi step solution.  The next step that the government and banks are to take in actualizing this is an enormous undertaking.  What we are hearing on the ground is that mortgage deferral for second/rental/revenue properties is not available and even for a primary mortgage very difficult and highly penalized in it's setup.  We are reading about frustrations of applicants looking for mortgage relief and being denied.  Accounts are surfacing about how banks are approaching these deferrals.  This is not the silver bullet that we had hoped would give us space to exhale.  To be fair, governments and banks are working hard to pivot and transition in this impossible momentum shift and this will again take time.  So what does this mean for us, our landlord clients, and our tenants?

We at EMC Property Management are among the very few lucky enough to have retained the ability to continue working.  The way we approach properties, showings, moves, advertising, maintenance, etc has changed and has to in order to keep your property, us, and the people we encounter safe.  We switched our operations to completely cloud based and all of our document signing is digital.  We are looking at completing showings remotely with virtual or video showings if a prospective tenant is willing.  If someone wants to see a property in person, we are minimizing exposure by limiting it to 2 people max and providing nitrile single use gloves for everyone to wear.  Safety is our priority.

We have sent tenants information on how they can find the tools that are available to them to obtain government help.  We hope the government can be a major solution.  We are also suggesting they look at all options including connecting with their credit card companies, car loan institutions, etc to see what relief is available to them personally.

Beyond setting ourselves up for safety and doing our best to inform ourselves, our tenants, and our clients, we all need to look at the possibility of rent relief and what that might mean.  We are faced with the inevitable outcome that some tenants will struggle to pay rents fully through this time despite aid that is available.  EMC has worked to create a rent relief application.  Essentially this is a questionnaire that gathers as much information as possible about the tenant's situation including the ability to attach proof of layoff or unemployment and Employment Insurance proof with application and assistance details.  If/when we receive an application for relief from a tenant, we will connect with you and together we hope to find solutions that work for everyone and allow us all to face this strange new reality.  We live in an incredible country and we have so much.  We are confident that we can work together and find solutions so that we thrive as a people despite the situation we find ourselves in.  For now, if you do not hear from us, consider it good news.  If there is a need, we will reach out and discuss possible next steps.  In the meantime, we wish you all the best and hope that you can find the silver lining in this new reality.