What you might find when rental hunting in Vancouver, 2016
THE MILLENNIAL UNDERGROUND: PART 2
Here is a brief summary of what you might encounter if you go rental-hunting in Vancouver in 2016:
1.
You might consider a suite so small you cannot fathom where a dining room table, even your toy-sized one, would ever fit. You think of the child growing inside you, not just a baby but the beginnings of your family, and your desire to share food with him around a table. You might feel guilty for wanting so much.
2.
You might see a listing on Craigslist for a two-bedroom house for a decent price on a busy street. It seems too good to be true, but you are desperate and it is very close to your favourite Ethiopian restaurant. When you show up, you may be led not to the front door, as you expected, but to the back of the shabby house, down a small flight of stairs to the basement entrance. The suite will reflect the chaos of its many young, male, pot-loving inhabitants. One of these young, high men, upon seeing your look of horror and your pregnancy bump, might invite you to check out one of the bedrooms, and, while there, proceed to mime to you, in no uncertain terms, “DO NOT RENT THIS PLACE!! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT RENT THIS PLACE!”
You might leave, as quickly as possible.
3.
You might find a great space in the worst of hands, a two-bedroom suite, half of the upstairs of a large house with its own quaint sundeck and a shared backyard. However, when you walk in, the floor may feel like it is lined with bulky down comforters, undulating as you walk; it very well may be, as the landlord, who lives in the opposite suite, tells you he added the extra installation himself. This same landlord might tell you he only hires his cousin to fix things, and, when you notice copious amounts of dried paint coursing down every wall, he might tell you he just had it repainted six months ago. Because the house may not be coded to have two upstairs suites, you might be surprised to see a washing machine hidden behind a false wall, so you can hide it in case city inspectors come by. The entire tour might result in many more confusing details (giant unmovable furniture blocking all the windows, flickering fluorescent office lights in the living room), completely mismatched with the landlord’s confidence in the excellence of the suite.
Before you leave to go cry in your car, grieved that this finally decent space could languish in the hands of such an unworthy owner, the landlord might ask you to pay a $300 non-refundable application fee, which may or may not be legal.
4.
You might find the perfect rental, and face a moral dilemma: it has three bedrooms. Is it even ethical to apply when you only need two at the moment? When you finally decide to go for it, you might learn that 37 people have already applied, and the owners chose a tenet one hour into the open house.
You might find a decent option, but not be sure if you can afford $300 extra over the high end of your range each month.
You might learn co-ops have years-long wait lists.
You might look for months, the pressure mounting, your belly growing, to find a place not just for you, but for your people; your family. A place to belong in a city that does it’s best to shoo you away.
5.
Finally, you might stumble upon a rare thing: a possibility. You might note the tidy house, the fresh, clean paint. The landlord may seem sane, even friendly. The neighborhood isn’t where you might have seen yourself, but it is quiet; the trees are lush; and there is a park, where you might envision pushing your unknown entity on a swing one day. You might be disappointed that the backyard is paved over, and there is nowhere to store your bikes. But then again, you might notice the in-suite laundry, the large second bedroom, and even — could it be? — a dishwasher. It just might work.
And it might be in a basement.
***
This is part two of a six part series about living underground in Vancouver, BC.
- Part 1: Life in a basement suite: an introduction
- Part 2: What you might find when rental hunting in Vancouver, 2016
- Part 3: Are basement suites good enough for Canadian families?
- Part 4: Seven tips for living well in a small space
- Part 5: The beauty of the basement
- Part 6: “Why don’t you just move?”
- Bonus Update: Emerging from the Underground
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