Are you living with others for the first time or coming back together after being apart for the summer? Regardless of your situation, living with others can be difficult so it is important to keep open lanes of communication, inform your housemates of your expectations, priorities, and be ready to compromise.

Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), assumes that students who sign a joint and several lease have a shared understanding of how they will live together. When you sign a joint and several lease, you are financially responsible for each other.

Moving to a new home has two sides. One is the stressful side, with many details to worry about, fear of the new, and changes. The other is the exciting side, with the new life that opens up, new experiences, and opportunities – especially for students who are moving away from home to start their university journey.

What Is a Month-to-Month Tenancy?

If you signed a lease for a set time, like one year, and you don’t move out or sign a new lease, your rental becomes month-to-month. This means you can keep living there without signing anything new. You do not have to move out when the lease ends.

The rules from your old lease still apply. You just go forward one month at a time. This arrangement gives you more flexibility and can be especially useful if you’re unsure about your future plans.

How to Find the Right Neighborhood in Kingston for Students

With lots of students looking to sign their first leases for the upcoming year, here are a few frequently asked questions we’ve seen come across our desks:

Living with housemates, especially those who you were friends with before moving in together, can be an appealing yet daunting decision to make. Many have shared their horror stories about moving in with their best friends, and that causing their friendship to fall apart.

Building a positive relationship with your landlord is an important part of student living. From my own experience of being a tenant, I can tell you investing in your relationship with your landlord means they are more likely to address issues promptly and be more forgiving in the case of emergencies. Not only is this relationship important for your time as a tenant but in future rental cases, your landlord can be an excellent reference. Here are some tips I have used to help foster and maintain a strong landlord-tenant relationship.

What’s not to like about living Off-Campus in Kingston, Ontario? I love it. At first, I was nervous about moving out of residence, gaining much more independence than in my first year, and navigating all the challenges change brings. But I can confidently say that the freedom you gain is very rewarding, especially when you don’t abuse it. Looking back now, in my first year, I felt confined to certain spaces in the city. Especially being new to the school and the area, it was overwhelming at first and I found myself sticking to what I “knew,” which was mostly on campus.

A personal insight I have gained since transitioning to Off-Campus living would be time management. Since living off campus, I have noticed that there is a lot less structure than living in residence. For example, in my first year, I had to follow my school schedule, which has not changed but I also had to make time to attend meals. Since the dining halls have specific mealtimes for breakfast, lunch, and supper, you had to prioritize getting to the dining halls before each meal would end.