In May, a tenant at our Deep River building submitted her N9 notice to vacate and asked if there was any way she could leave sooner than the 60 days Ontario requires. It is not an unusual request. Life moves faster than lease terms, and a tenant who handles the conversation properly deserves to be treated well.

Here is how it played out, step by step.

  1. We contacted the waitlist. We put a note out to our active waitlist letting them know a third-floor unit was coming available. We did not advertise publicly. The waitlist went first.

  2. An applicant requested a showing almost immediately. Within days, an interested applicant reached out and came to see the unit.

  3. They applied and were approved. After the showing they completed a formal application. They were a strong candidate and were approved for the unit.

  4. We offered the current tenant an N11. With a confirmed replacement in place, we went back to our departing tenant and offered her an N11 — the mutual agreement both landlord and tenant sign to end a tenancy early. She got the early exit she needed. We protected the building’s revenue. The new resident moved into a unit that was never vacant on paper.

“The waitlist gave us the room to be flexible with a good tenant, protect the building’s revenue, and welcome a new resident into a unit that was never vacant on paper.”

Coast to Coast Homes Operations Team

What makes a waitlist actually work

A waitlist takes work to maintain. Deep River’s rental market is tight, and our building sits in a part of town residents want to live in. Past that, we look after the building. The curb appeal is intentional. The common areas are cared for. The residents are proud to call it home. That combination is what keeps people on the list before a unit is available.

If the building were not well maintained, the waitlist would not exist. Prospective tenants talk to current ones. The reputation of the property precedes every showing. We have invested years in making Deep River a building people want to be in, and that investment paid off directly in May when we needed it.

What investors should take from this

Vacancy is one of the most predictable costs in a rental portfolio. It is also one of the most preventable. The operators who minimize it are not lucky. They are maintaining relationships, communicating consistently with their tenants, and running buildings that people do not want to leave.

An active waitlist is the operational result of doing all of that well. It is not a marketing tactic. It is a record of the building’s reputation, accumulated over time.