Renting a House: Locked Room, Unknown Owner

January 17, 2018 5:33 AM

My son is planning to rent a house, and he is uncomfortable about two conditions in the rental.

My son is planning to rent a house (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and the rental has spurred two questions:

1. There is a locked room in the basement (presumably containing the owner's stuff). Is this normal in a rental house?

2. The house rental is handled by a local management company who will not divulge the name of the owner.

Are there any red flags here?

posted by mbarryf to Home & Garden (28 answers total)

I've rented only in the US and UK and both do not sound unusual to me. However, for the locked room, I would want to clear up how often that would need to be accessed by the owner and if they want access, to set up prior agreement of when they would enter the property to do so.
posted by like_neon at 5:37 AM on January 17, 2018 [25 favorites]

Those are both completely normal in a rental situation.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:44 AM on January 17, 2018 [21 favorites]

Yes, a locked room in the basement is a red flag. Don't rent this house. Your son is understandably uncomfortable with the idea of the owner showing up and wanting access to your son's private space. That's a total legitimate fear, so don't ignore it.

Find another rental where your son has some basic assurances of safety in his own living space.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:46 AM on January 17, 2018 [5 favorites]

A locked room in the basement is in my experience entirely normal. It just means that there's stuff there that the owner doesn't want or hasn't gotten around to discarding, and doesn't want to pay to store elsewhere. Can't imagine how it's a safety issue.

The real question is if the owner is going to be wanting to access it while the tenant is there. It sounds to me like the answer is no, since they don't want any relationship with the tenant and want the agency to handle everything. But it's worth making sure.

Laws on notice for entry, etc, are still in place in any case.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:54 AM on January 17, 2018 [21 favorites]

Based on UK renting another vote for locked room being normal but worth clarifying if the owner is likely to want regular access. Realistically the owner and/or agency will always have keys to the property so be able to access it (but obviously shouldn't do so without notice and permission unless an emergency) and regularly accessing storage space would be annoying.

Unknown owner is odd in my experience, even if the agency is managing it you usually know who the owner is but I can't see an obvious risk attached to it.
posted by *becca* at 6:01 AM on January 17, 2018

I rented a house with a locked closet with some of the owner's possessions. It's pretty common around the area where I rented.

He could always ask the owner or property manager to let him view the contents before signing the rental agreement.
posted by _Mona_ at 6:25 AM on January 17, 2018 [4 favorites]

Locked room in the non-living space (i.e. a storage portion of the basement) is completely normal in remtals in my experience where the rental is short-term or vacation, where the owner intends to re-occupy the property eventually (e.g., a person in the military who intends to move back in upon separation and no more duty transfers) or it's a small time landlord who rents out only one or two houses. The lease absolutely must spell out any right of access the owner has to the locked space during the lease term. Personally, I'd not sign a lease where that access was anything other than "none".

It's a little weird in my experience for the management company to withhold who the owner is in a single-family home situation. I can speculate (can't we all!) but if the lease is sound and the management company is reputable, it would not bother me if I had a legitimate lease and a responsible management company.
posted by crush at 6:28 AM on January 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm renting a condo in Calgary from a property management company, don't know the name of the owner and it never even occurred to us that this could be considered a red flag. That's the point of a management company. If we found out that say Joe Jones owned the place, what does that get us? It's not a small town where everyone knows everyone else.

Regarding the locked room, as long as there were no utilities inside (e.g. if he trips a breaker, he should have access to the breaker board). The law in Alberta [PDF] requires either permission from the tenant or 24 hours written notice to access the unit.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 6:31 AM on January 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

In my experience, the property manager has always divulged the owner's name in the context of requiring me to put it on the Renter's Insurance; but I suppose the owner might be willing to waive the possibility of directly claiming damages if they want privacy that badly. This was in the US, Canada may differ in insurance practices.
posted by buildmyworld at 6:48 AM on January 17, 2018

My parents had a condo at a ski resort that they rented most of the year. They always had an owners' closet, and it was locked. There was nothing much in it other than ski equipment and some outdoor furniture for the summers. Similarly, the renters never had the slightest idea of the owners' names, since the management company was completely responsible for renting and maintaining the property. I also once rented a co-op apartment in NYC for about five years and had no idea what the owner was named because I did everything through the management company; it never caused any problems. So no, none of this seems like a red flag to me at all.
posted by holborne at 7:00 AM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Number 1 seems unusual for a long-term rental. I agree that the renter should make sure that the lease is 100% clear on when the property managers/owner can come to the rental and how much notice they have to give (at least 24 hours).

In my experience it is completely normal not to know the name of the property owner, when working with a management company. It has never even occurred to me to ask information about the owners of my rentals. It appears that anyone can do a title search in Calgary online for a fee, so if this is pertinent information for the renter, that is one option for them.
posted by muddgirl at 7:25 AM on January 17, 2018

It's to the advantage of both the management company and the owner that the tenant remain unaware of the latter's identity. Neither the management company nor the owner want the tenant complaining to or requesting assistance from the owner. From the owner's perspective, preventing that from happening is part of the service the management company is providing. From the management company's perspective, preventing contact avoids situations where the tenant could convince the owner that the management company wasn't performing, thereby putting the contract in jeopardy.

Regarding the locked room, the solution that protects everybody is to insist that the management company have access so that a) they can confirm that there's nothing dangerous in there, e.g., oily rags, and b) so they can get in if necessary to solve some problem (e.g., leak, bad smell, etc.)
posted by carmicha at 7:49 AM on January 17, 2018 [6 favorites]

Both seem pretty normal. The storage unit seems a little less so, but I've experienced weirder for sure. The two pieces in tandem are kind of odd, and a pain in the ass, but not weird.

Most jurisdictions let you know who owns a property for free. I don't know Canadian specifics, but anyone renting through a property management company likely has something equivalent to an LLC that actually owns the property. Not knowing who actually owns the building shouldn't matter at all. I've only known one or two of the actual people who are my landlords.

As for the storage unit, this isn't necessarily strange but I would approach with some caution. I would request a manifest of what is in the unit only for the sake of not being held responsible for anything that 'goes missing' during tenancy (and to make sure he's not keeping pickled squirrels or some weird shit in there that you might be held responsible for). I would also clarify in writing when the owner can access it (with notice, during x hours, etc) only because I wouldn't want to call the police on my landlord, and to make sure that he's aware that your son is aware of the law in place dictating such stuff. I've lived in rentals where the owners will keep a locked zone (locker, room, closet, whatever) for tools to repair the house with if need be, just paint, hand tools, furnace filters, odds and ends for a handyman to fix the most baseline of problems.

But again, you might want to know the ID of the dude accessing the little storage unit, so that, again, you don't call the cops on your landlord accidentally.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:50 AM on January 17, 2018

Wait, wouldn't the renter find out who the owner is the first time the owner comes over to access the locked room? Also, what furnace.heart just said about accidentally calling the cops on the owner.
posted by amf at 7:56 AM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

From my perspective pretty normal to not tell him who the owner of the house is. If you lived in the States you could look it up yourself in the tax records but do not know if it works that way in Canada.

(Reason being if there is something going on in the house the rental management company does not want him going behind their back and going straight to the owner. Makes good sense if you look at it that way.)

As to storage, that is somewhat normal. My daughter rented a house several years ago with a storage shed locked up with owner belongings in it. Why pay for storage when you can leave it in your own house for free? But if your son is uncomfortable with this, he has the right to take it into consideration as he decides whether to rent this particular place.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:57 AM on January 17, 2018

Locked rooms are totally normal in vacation house rentals - maybe a little odd in a 1-year rental, but not that weird or troubling.
posted by Mid at 8:14 AM on January 17, 2018

In addition to establishing access (though, as a practical matter, a landlord will always have access to a property with reasonable notice), I'd want the lease to clarify that the renter is not responsible for either the contents of the room or any hazards that might develop in it.

I believe property records are public in Canada as they are in the U.S., but that is likely simply to lead to Really Not Bluebeard LLC, not an individual owner's name. A commercial title search would be overkill, as those are designed to pull a lot of information that your son wouldn't care about. To me it's a little weird and pointless to refuse to divulge information that could be gotten in a public search (also, won't the landlord's name appear on the lease itself?), but it also fits reasonably well into the category of Pointless Landlord Bullshit.

So, nothing that's an actual red flag. If the owner indicates he plans to access the unit regularly, that would be an inconvenience that should be reflected in the rent and/or your son's decision to take the property.
posted by praemunire at 8:25 AM on January 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

This does not sound strange to me. Chances are, the owner will not need access to the locked room, but may be storing family furniture for later use.

There is a good chance that the owner is not the one who does not want their name known, but the management company, as the renter could contact the owner to directly rent in the future after the initial lease expires and cut the company out of their percentage.
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 8:27 AM on January 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

There is a good chance that the owner is not the one who does not want their name known, but the management company, as the renter could contact the owner to directly rent in the future after the initial lease expires and cut the company out of their percentage.

This.

The locked room causing so much pearly clutching is bizarre. It's not at all unusual and isn't even close to a safety concern. If the agreement has an access clause (which it should have) and the owner abides by it then whether or not the owner wants to access that room is not that much of a worry. It's no less a 'safety issue' than the management company letting contractors in for work. It's unlikely the owners would want regular access to it but a quick discussion with how often would clear this up. I suspect it is family furniture removed for renting that would go back when they re-occupy, not using it as an alternative to a storage locker that they operate out of regularly.
posted by Brockles at 8:45 AM on January 17, 2018 [6 favorites]

Well, we rented a place once with a locked area containing a lot of paper files. It turned out to be a haven for mice. So, that's a cause for potential concern.
posted by amtho at 9:14 AM on January 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Unless this is some truly out-of-the ordinary place, the room probably contains old paint cans and a ladder or two; the owners are probably an REIT based elsewhere who have engaged a management agency because that's just how things work. Both entirely normal and no red flags.
posted by gyusan at 9:43 AM on January 17, 2018

I rented a place handled by a rental company that did not divulge the owner. I figured it was so the owner couldn't be hounded by tenants if they had issues. Essentially, the owner paid the rental company to deal with all the work that comes with renting out the place and part of paying means they will never had to deal with it themselves. So, I don't think #2 is a red flag at all.

As for the locked room in #1, I think your son has the right to ask if he can inspect it before renting the place to make sure there are no rodents, black mold or, ya know, dead bodies. That sort of thing. My guess is it's just furniture or random crap that has been thrown into that room to clear the rest of the house for renting. He also has the right to ask if the owner expects to need to come and access that room, because I really wouldn't be ok with that.
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:00 AM on January 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

There is nothing abnormal about this from where I sit. Then again, out here (Seattle) landlords/property owners have to give their renters at least 24 hours notice to access the property, so there is no chance of the owner just randomly showing up unannounced to access that locked room and having the renter call the cops on them. As long as the property management company has something to this effect in the contract, I see zero issues.
posted by joan_holloway at 10:15 AM on January 17, 2018

Alberta rental law requires that he be provided with "notice of landlord" but it can be a property manager instead of the owner.
posted by delezzo at 10:20 AM on January 17, 2018

Not a red flag, but you should ask to see what's in the locked room. Officially because of vermin / mold / Bluebeard closet concerns, but there may also be lulz. My friends have been in their house for over five years, and their landlord closet contains personalized, risque, pirate-themed decor (which the management showed them before lease signing). Landlords have never accessed it.
posted by momus_window at 10:56 AM on January 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

Everyone seems to have this question pretty much covered. I would only add that you make sure this rental company is legit. It is a pretty common scam to rent property you don't own. As long as the rental company is moderately legit I would think you are fine. I would also second the idea about talking with them about access, as even if you have the law on your side it is usually better if both parties know this before going forward.
posted by Oceanic Trench at 3:10 PM on January 17, 2018

So here's a possible worst case.

I have had the situation of locked garage and unknown landlord. After moving in we discovers our landlord had criminal convictions for violent crimes and drugs. And the locked off area, well I didn't want to know.

He came around every other week to access it, which made me uncomfortable. The same block also had a locked off attic heaving with mice and bumblebees. (The landlords solution was just to keep the door locked. And btw HEAVING)

I agree that a conversation needs to happen about access, conditions and liabilities.

I have also had the problem of being unable to serve notices for repairs and termination of lease because I did not have an address for a landlord. Do make sure that you can serve notices to the property company instead.
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 1:14 AM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

You have a right to know wtf is in the locked room. It could be anything from storage of family stuff, dangerous chemicals, a disused meth lab, a porn stash, you get the idea.
posted by james33 at 5:39 AM on January 18, 2018