Compare tenant placement providers by the complete path from a rent-ready property to a documented landlord handoff. The advertised fee matters, but it is only comparable when you also know the tax, payment trigger, included marketing and showings, screening process, owner approval role, lease work and any conditional charges.
Homes for Rent Ottawa offers leasing only for half of one month's rent plus HST, with no ongoing property management commitment. Other providers may use a full-month fee model, a flat amount, a percentage or another structure, and included services vary. Use this guide to put every proposal into the same format before deciding.
Build an apples-to-apples fee comparison
Write the fee before tax, applicable HST, total payable and the exact event that triggers payment. Then list every possible additional charge for advertising, photography, showings, screening reports, lease preparation, re-leasing or cancellation. Do not assume a service is included because another provider includes it.
Homes for Rent Ottawa's confirmed leasing-only fee is half of one month's rent plus HST. At $2,400 monthly rent, the fee is $1,200 before HST, the 13% HST is $156 and the total is $1,356. A full-month fee model on the same rent totals $2,712 with HST, so the dollar savings in this comparison are $1,356. Provider fees and scopes vary.
- Fee formula or fixed amount before HST
- HST and total amount payable
- Deposit, invoicing and payment milestone
- Optional, conditional and third-party charges
- Cancellation, pause and re-leasing terms
- Ongoing management commitment, if any
Compare the rental-readiness and marketing scope
A leasing service should define what happens before the listing goes live. Ask who documents property details, identifies unresolved readiness work, recommends the asking-rent position and confirms utilities, parking, availability and restrictions. Accurate inputs reduce contradictory answers during inquiries and lease preparation.
Request a sample listing and ask where the service publishes it, who owns the photographs and copy, who approves the final advertisement and how changes are made. Do not award points for channels or production work that are not promised in the proposal. A clear, accurate campaign is more useful than a long list of vague exposure claims.
- Property fact and inclusion checklist
- Rental-readiness recommendations
- Listing copy and image responsibilities
- Owner approval before launch
- Advertising channels actually included
- Listing updates, pause and removal process
Follow an inquiry through the showing process
Ask who responds to inquiries, what property questions they can answer and how a prospective renter books a showing. Confirm who attends, how current-tenant access is coordinated where relevant and how no-shows or rescheduling are handled. The owner should know how feedback reaches them without receiving every routine message.
Compare response ownership and coverage, not promises that every inquiry will become an application. The useful output is an accountable process, accurate answers and recurring feedback that can inform property presentation or rent positioning.
- Inquiry contact and response ownership
- Showing availability and attendance
- Property-question escalation
- Access and rescheduling process
- Owner feedback format and frequency
Examine screening methods, consent and consistency
Ask the provider to explain its written screening criteria and the records it may request, how consent is collected, who verifies information and how an owner receives a decision-ready summary. The process should be relevant to the tenancy, consistent between applicants and designed to protect personal information.
Ontario human rights requirements apply to rental advertising and applicant assessment. A provider should not market discriminatory preferences or replace documented criteria with instinct. Screening can organize and verify relevant information, but it cannot guarantee how a tenancy will perform.
- Written, consistently applied criteria
- Consent before authorized checks
- Identity, reference and information-verification steps
- Secure document collection and limited access
- Owner approval role and decision record
- Clear deletion or retention practices for applicant records
Confirm the lease, deposit and move-in handoff
The proposal should say who prepares the lease, which lawful property-specific terms are supplied by the owner, who coordinates signatures and which move-in records the landlord receives. Ask whether the service coordinates permitted deposit instructions, keys, condition documentation, utility information and the first point of contact after move-in.
Standalone leasing must end at a defined point. Homes for Rent Ottawa does not require an ongoing property management contract for its leasing-only service. The landlord should understand the handoff date, all records being transferred and which tenant communications become the owner's responsibility after that point.
- Lease preparation and owner approval
- Signature and deposit coordination
- Move-in date, keys and condition records
- Applicant and tenancy records delivered to the owner
- First rent and account responsibility
- Exact handoff to self-management or ongoing management
Read payment, cancellation and re-leasing terms
A fee comparison is incomplete without the contract trigger. Ask whether the charge is earned at a signed lease, possession, first payment or another milestone. Review what happens if the owner pauses the listing, accepts a tenant from another source, withdraws the property or changes important terms after marketing begins.
Ask about any replacement or re-leasing policy, but do not treat it as a guarantee until you understand its conditions, exclusions and duration. Confirm what happens to advertisements, photographs, applicant records, deposits and completed screening if the engagement ends before a lease is signed.
Use a provider comparison scorecard
Score each proposal from the written agreement and a process walkthrough. Give more weight to facts that affect the actual engagement: total cost, work included, decision authority, records, communication and handoff. Leave a row blank when the provider has not answered it rather than assuming the most favourable interpretation.
The lowest fee can be poor value when the owner must still handle inquiries, showings or lease administration. A higher price does not justify itself unless the scope, execution and accountability are stronger. Compare what the landlord must do under each option.
- Total fee with HST and all likely add-ons
- Readiness, marketing and showing scope
- Documented screening and owner approval
- Lease, move-in records and handoff
- Response contacts and progress reporting
- Contract trigger, cancellation and record-transfer terms
Choose leasing only when the handoff fits your plan
Leasing only fits an owner who wants support through marketing, showings, screening and lease coordination, then has a reliable process for rent administration, tenant communication, maintenance and the rest of the tenancy. If the recurring work is the actual problem, compare complete property management rather than solving only the placement stage.
For a direct quote, provide accurate property details, readiness status, target timing and any known restrictions. Homes for Rent Ottawa can price the confirmed half-month leasing service and show the exact HST calculation before the engagement begins.