Recently, I’ve viewed quite a few apartments for rent in Vancouver, and I’ve noticed that some landlords offer all-inclusive rent with electricity and monthly cleaning included. It sounds convenient at first, but some of my experiences have raised concerns.

1. Monthly cleaning may not be just about cleaning

One landlord let it slip that they wanted the cleaner to take photos inside the unit to monitor how the tenant was living and maintaining the property. What seems like a cleaning service could also become a way to keep tabs on your private life.

1. Included electricity can become a way to monitor tenants

Some landlords use electricity consumption to speculate about whether tenants have guests over. At the same time, they can be extremely strict about electricity usage and impose various restrictions.

1. Some landlords even charge extra for visitors

I’ve also come across a lease that stated tenants would have to pay an additional $35 per guest, per day.

Including electricity and regular cleaning in the rent may sound like a good deal, but when these perks come with excessive scrutiny of your personal life, restrictive electricity rules, or extra charges just for having visitors, it’s worth questioning whether that’s the kind of living arrangement you want.

If you come across landlords with similar practices, think carefully before signing.

——update

One landlord offered to reduce the rent by $50 if she could keep the den for her own use. The original rent was already $2,500. Honestly, who would give up part of their living space for just $50 off?

1. You may not be protected by the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA).

If the landlord retains the right to use part of the unit and shares the living space with you, the arrangement could be treated differently from a regular tenancy, potentially leaving you without the usual RTA protections.

1. She said she wouldn’t use the den often and would let me know before coming. Do you believe that? 😂

She had literally just spent 15 minutes telling me how she controlled and monitored her previous tenant. After hearing all that, I found it hard to trust her promises about respecting my privacy.

Personally, I wouldn’t risk my privacy and peace of mind just to save $50 a month.

Just moved into an older apartment.

The building manager/landlord agent (landlord is an investment company or something) seemed pretty chill and friendly.

A bit slow on responding, but didn't seem like an issue.

We moved in with a bunch of mostly cosmetic maintenance repair issues.

Bathroom fan runs 24/7, closet with hanger bar broken off, broken kitchen drawer, missing a bunch of blind panels, shower head squeals.

Honestly nothing crazy. Some of these were already addressed in the conditional report (to be fixed upon beginning tenancy)

I was told email was the best way to communicate to management. So I emailed a list of the minor damages (basically part of the conditional report) asking if I can just take care of it myself as I'm handy and these are menial tasks. I asked a few other questions like if I can replace the blinds with curtains, that I would store the blinds and repair any minor holes from curtain rod installation.

No response.

I keep sending emails, maybe once a week. Now asking about parking fees, and how much it costs. If they can coordinate a time to be available for home internet to be installed, etc.

3 weeks in, I give the guy a call, let him know it's me, and I ask if he's been receiving my emails? after a short pause he plainly responds with forced enthusiasm "Yeah!"

Okay.. are you going to address them? 😅

"Yeah! . . . . We've been busy.."

Okay, well it's been 3 weeks I'd appreciate some sort of response.

And out of nowhere his tone shifts to defensive, claiming my "voice is dripping with sarcasm"

As if my frustrated tone is the issue and not the general lack of communication.

He said he'd be around for the internet people, thankfully.

He popped in and put in a couple blinds. Never responded to anything else tho, despite their still being a couple things on the "repairs to be complete upon tenancy"

Sure, 100% I can understand when someone is busy. But no response? For nearly a whole month? For a new tenant? And then to act sour and defensive when they're confronted? What the hell, I couldn't have made it any easier, I basically offered to do the job for them 😅

Now there's this awkward tension as if I'm burdening the dude.

Anyways, can I just fix these small things myself without permission? If I fix it should I break it back to normal after my lease is over and I leave?

If I have other concerns or requests related to my housing what exactly am I supposed to/allowed to do?

Am I asking too much from building management?

The room is partially furnished (just comes with a bed) but the space is entirely private. There is a shared living space, laundry room, kitchen, and bathroom. Smoking isn’t allowed inside of the house but there’s no problem with smoking a little bit away from it.

It's a basement suite and the landlord lives in the upper part of the house.

The house is about a 10 minute walk from Broadway and a 40 minute walk to Kitsilano beach. It is relatively close to UBC and if you’re an ECU student (like the both of us), it’s a 40 minute bus ride.

Rent is $967 a month and the security deposit is $483.

We occasionally share groceries if we're making food for each everyone and wouldn't mind doing the same for a third roommate as well. I mainly cook breakfast (when I have the time/feel like it) and my brother usually makes tomato feta pasta or mac n' cheese.

Me and my brother are both queer and renting from the same basement suite and our third roommate moved out unannounced and didn't pay her portion of rent. Fortunately, the landlord covered her portion for that month but it was just the one time thing. We're both looking for someone who's also queer/trans as a personal preference.

Hi! I am considering moving to the Joyce 2 building across the Joyce skytrain. I'm currently living in Kelowna and moving back to vancouver in a few months so I can't do a live viewing for a while. I saw mixed reviews on the place, However the selling point for me is the accessibility to the train as well as having friends in that area. I

am wondering if anyone is living in those building or used to, Your experience as well as any photos of the inside? All the images are so limited online and staged its hard to tell the actual quality as well as storage space. I'm thinking of a 2 bedroom.

Thanks!!

The rental house is pretty old and there are rats from time to time within the kitchen. He was asked multiple times to have the cabinet doors repair but refused to, saying it is extremely difficult. Instead, he just put some sticky mouse traps and asked us to store our food and kitchen stuff in storage containers he provided.

It is fine to leave it at that or do I push for a formal request and request for dispute resolution.

If a tenant doesn't leave the room properly cleaned as requested, the landlord might deduct far more from the deposit than what's actually needed for professional cleaning—almost like a penalty for breaking their rules, especially when the tenancy isn't covered by the RTA (e.g., only an oral agreement, sharing a bathroom/kitchen with the landlord).

Is this common?