80+ rooms have been made available to date across Muskoka
April 11, 2019 – MUSKOKA ON
This past March, a new campaign was launched encouraging local Muskoka residents to rent rooms in their home to seasonal tourism employees. The new campaign, RENT YOUR ROOMS MUSKOKA, provides local residents with an opportunity to earn supplementary income while providing space for seasonal employees. Individuals who were interested in renting their rooms were asked to submit an offering through an online submission form.
The campaign has shown early success to date. In just over a month, there has been 83 respondents list a room, and a number of these rooms have already been successfully filled with incoming seasonal employees.
Submissions still being accepted
If you have been contemplating renting a room in your home or cottage to a seasonal employee between the months of May to October, you can still submit your offering.
There is flexibility when it comes to renting your space. It is up to you to determine which months you are willing to rent, and you get to put a price on what you will charge for the space per month. Please note that it is the role of the renter (homeowner) to do the screening of potential tenants. RENT YOUR ROOMS MUSKOKA provides short-term employees with a directory of available rooms for rent, and these employees will contact you directly to make the final arrangements / agreements to rent your space. If you would like to submit a rental offering through the online submission form and take the first step in renting your room, visit the link below.
Click here to access the submission form
How much should I charge?
This is a question asked often during the first round of submissions. The answer is, charge what you think the service is worth. If you have an outstanding location, beautiful furnished room, parking, great wifi, etc, you will likely be able to charge a bit more than the going rate. Of the 83 submissions to date, the average room rental rate is $633 per month.
FAQ
The Residential Tenancies Act sets out the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants who rent residential properties. For more information, check out this brochure guide to the Residential Tenancies Act. What might be of particular interest to many participating in this program, “The [Residential Tenancies] Act does not apply if the tenant must share a kitchen or bathroom with the landlord.” If you are not sure what that means and have further questions, contact the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Similarly, it is a good idea to call your home insurance provider to see if this affects your policy.
