You read on this blog before Ontario laws now require municipalities to allow second units in homes which are also known as basement apartments, in-law suites and secondary suites. 

Mississauga City Council approved a plan to legalize second units in Mississauga. We discussed this before at:

Mississauga Approves Plan to Legalize Basement Rental Apartments

According to the City’s Commissioner of Planning and Building “With our plan, homeowners will be able to make their units safe and legal – every city needs safe, affordable housing for people to feel they belong,”

It sounds like great news, right?

However this new bylaw leads to a whole new bunch of issues for our city, including safety for new landlords renting out their basement apartments!

Renting out your basement might at first look like ‘easy money.’

It’s not. You have to be careful and screen your potential tenants carefully.

Let’s look at the Mississauga News from last April of last year:

Landlord killed by tenant, judge hears

A Mississauga man living in the basement of a home attacked his landlord while he was repairing a window, delivering two “lethal” stab wounds that killed the married father of three, Brampton court heard this morning.

Salik Bin Sajid, 25, who remains in custody, pleaded not guilty today to first-degree murder as the judge-alone trial before Justice Bonnie Wein got under way.

Sajid is charged with killing Mustaeen Siddiqi, 45, who was stabbed on June 10, 2009 inside his Warwickshire Way home when he went to do repairs for tenants living in his basement.
Crown prosecutor Alex Cornelius said forensic evidence shows Siddiqi sustained “three significant stab wounds,” two of which were lethal.

The Crown will call several police officers, including a forensics officer and officers who detained and interviewed the accused, court heard.

Siddiqi, who later died in hospital, was the target of a murder plot, according to Peel Regional Police homicide investigators. They say the plan was carried out just before noon inside the Mavis Rd./Eglinton Ave. area home.

Police said “the victim did absolutely nothing wrong,” calling the slaying “an absolutely horrific tragedy.”

Sajid, who moved to Mississauga from Pakistan earlier that year, had lived in the basement of the home with his family, including a brother and parents, for about a month, police said.
The trial continued…

To discuss this and other Ontario Landlord and Tenant Issues go to the free Ontario Landlord Forum