Friends of ours are buying a house and want us to rent it off of them. We'd like to, but they're saying the bank needs an agreement to give them the mortgage. What kinds of things should we put in the agreement to protect us? [BC] PersonalFinanceCanada

So my fiancee and I have been looking at a place in town for a while. It's a court ordered sale and it looks like it's going to sell for a bit more than we're interested in paying for it. The good news is that My fiancee's co-worker / friend was also interested in the place, and they've said they would be open to renting to us if they purchase it. We're meeting tomorrow to iron out the details, but base on our initial conversations I expect they would be willing to rent it to us for between $500-700/mo less than we're paying for our current place.

The catch: this would be their second mortgage, in addition to the place they're currently living. They would like to sell their current place, however due to the resource based economy of the small northern community where we live, that doesn't seem likely for the next couple years. Because it would be their second mortgage the bank has asked for assurances that they have renters lined up for the place, and they've asked us to sign an agreement to that effect.

If we were to go ahead with this what kind of terms would we need in the agreement to protect ourselves? There are certain protections afforded by the BC residential tenancy act, but I'd like to make sure all our bases are covered in case of a disagreement later on.

So far I'm thinking

• Tenants would have full and exclusive use of the property.

• Supplied appliances must be in proper working order and include: Dishwasher, Clothes washer and dryer, Hot water heater, furnace, refrigerator, stove, and oven

• all deficiencies which would render the rental until uninhabitable, or result in significantly higher utility bills than for comparable units in the area, would be repaired or resolved prior to the start of the tenancy.

• Lease would be for a minimum of one year, with the option for the tenants to extend by an additional year at the end of the term, or continue on a month to month basis

• property tax, as well as usage and connection fees associated with municipal water and sewer service to be paid by the landlords.

• property must be servicable by local high speed cable internet service (some of the houses in the community are DSL only, which is a dealbreaker)

Is there anything else I should include? do these terms seem reasonable? And is there a compelling reason to either go ahead with this or not?

Thanks for all your help!

Submitted November 05, 2016 at 04:57AM by BeaverNutz http://ift.tt/2fkUkOo PersonalFinanceCanada