Tag Archives: planning

Why I Have No Interest in Renting a Property as an Investment or Income Source

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I’m sure there are many people who make a reasonable income from renting residential properties. There are probably others who find it a worthwhile investment. I know I’m never going to be a landlord though. I’m just too nervous to try it. Here are some examples of why I have no interest in renting out a property.

This story has been reported on various websites, including in this article by CBCNews: A woman rented half of a duplex to a seemingly nice man. Within months, he had declared HER duplex unit an “Embassy” changed the locks, gutted some of the rooms, painted the bedroom black, and arbitrarily told her he was only going to pay half of the agreed monthly rent in future. Oh, and he also slapped a lien on her property and sent her a bill for $26,000. While finally the police are getting involved it has taken months and the landlady has spent hours looking for assistance and has been physically and mentally harassed.

How often does this kind of thing happen? Hopefully only once every few years. However, with my kind of luck, I would be the one finding myself housing a “Freeman” for free.

Here on the Canadian Money Forum, a landlord discovered that if a piece of his equipment failed unexpectedly (in this case a water heater) his tenants can make a claim on their tenant insurance for damages and if he (the landlord) doesn’t have his own insurance, he may be held personally liable to pay the tenants’ insurance company back for the alleged damage. In this particular instance, the landlord will probably be able to resolve the issue by involving his own insurance company. But the hassles. And the increased insurance premiums….Not for me.

I’m not as sure I’d get caught in this trap because I believe in insuring but I still wouldn’t enjoy the hefty premium increases that are almost sure to follow.

On Red Flag Deals there was a heated and long discussion of a case where a landlord claims he was not paid the rent and a tenant claims the payment was made in cash put in the landlord’s mailbox. According to the discussion, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board sided with the tenant.

I would be caught off-guard by a problem like this because I would mistakenly think that the tenant would have to provide some kind of receipt or canceled cheque to prove payment.

On Timeless Finance, Sara posted about  tenants who through neglect caused an incredible (and expensive) mess. It was bad enough reading that the water heater failed and wondering how I as a landlord would cope with a phone call about that, without reading on to find these tenants never even told her. As you can imagine, leaving a leaking water tank in place for months makes trouble. And do I really want to try to dispose of someone’s months’ old garbage?

And a town in Maryland has decided to hold landlords accountable for renting their properties to drug dealers. I can understand why they are trying this approach, but frankly it discourages me from wanting to ever be a landlord. I don’t think I’d cope very well if I visited my property and found the nice young couple I thought I had rented to had morphed into criminals.

I’m sure there are many people who rent properties and enjoy it. But after reading tales like these, I know I’m not one of them.

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Do you like the idea of owning a rental property? Do you already own one? Please share your views with a comment.

How To Check My CPP Contributions Online at My Service Canada: Part Two: Using a GCKey

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First I had to apply for a Personal Access Code and wait for it to arrive in the mail from the federal government. Then, I had to use my PAC to set up a GCKey to use online. Now, finally, I should be able to sign in to the Service Canada website and look up my CPP contributions.

Specifically, I want to see how many years of maximum contributions I have made. The monthly Canada Pension Plan payment I will get in the future depends on how much I have contributed each year since I turned 18, excluding only my 7 lowest income earning years and the years I was not employed at all while I provided child care for my children under the age of 7, if applicable.

In general, most Canadians are NOT eligible for the maximum monthly CPP payment because most of us had jobs that paid too little for at least some of our working years. Remember, even the years you attended school after high school count in the CPP calculations. Somehow the government expected you to be making a good-sized annual pay cheque without any higher education! They also assume you will not take early retirement or be forced into it by a layoff or company restructuring.

Checking my CPP Contributions Online at the My Service Canada Website

To Learn About Your CPP Statement of Contributions

Visit http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/services/pensions/cpp/contributions/soc.shtml and read about how and why you may want to view or print your Statement of Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan. For example, it’s a good idea to get any errors fixed a few years before you want to start claiming CPP.

This page also explains the short forms used on your report.

To Get Your CPP Statement of Contributions

  1. Next, go to http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/online/mysca.shtml
  2. Click on the link called: Are you a returning user? Log in now!
  3. Click on the button: Access My Service Canada Account.
  4. Near the bottom of the Access My Service Canada Account screen, click on the GCKey button.

On the GCKey Log In or Register screen

  1. In the User ID field, type your GCKey.
  2. In the Password field, type your password.
  3. Click on the Log In button

On the Welcome User ID screen

  • Click on the Continue button.

Review the Privacy Notice and Terms and Conditions screen. If it’s acceptable, click on the button: I agree

The My Service Canada Account welcome screen opens.
There’s quite a list of links to choose from.
About half way down the screen is a Tab called View/Print.
Under it is listed a heading Canada Pension Plan (CPP) / Old Age Security (OAS) Pension.

  • Click on the link: View my CPP Contributions.

It may take a minute or so to open the next screen.

The CPP Earnings and Contributions screen opens.
It should list each year you worked, and how much you contributed to CPP.

[This is hilarious: Apparently during a year in the last century my husband contributed $0.14. That must have been some part time job!]

Interestingly enough, there is no convenient way to print the information.
You have to either use the print function for your internet browser, or
copy and paste the information into a word processor program and print it from here.

To Copy the CPP Statement of Contributions Into a Word Document.

  1. Open MS Word.
  2. Click on your contributions statement in your internet browser.
  3. To select everything, while holding down the Ctrl key, press the A key.
  4. :Click on your new, empty Word document.
  5. To paste all the information, while holding down the Ctrl key, press the V key.
  6. Highlight and delete all the stuff you don’t want or need like links to the various Service Canada web pages.
  7. Save your Word document and/or print it.

Securely end your My Service Canada session

  1. Click on the red Log out button near the top of the screen.
  2. Click on the grey Log out button on the next screen.

So what do all those contributions and letters mean? Well, that’s what I’ll have to find out and report on next.

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Did you find any incredibly silly contribution amounts when you looked at your contribution history? Was it unnerving to see very few Ms (for maximum contribution) on your report. Please share your experiences with a comment.