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I'm looking to rent a basement suite. The landlord showed me the lease he had written (he argued the standard one provided by the government is too long and complicated, which I tend to agree).

His lease doesn't have his address on it. If it comes to legal matters, I would need his address to serve him with court documents. Obviously I hope not to do this.

How can I get his address on the contract without reducing my opportunity to rent?

If I were to be direct and say I need it for legal reasons he may no longer want to rent the place to me.

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    I have one question for you, that I think is important for answers to consider: Do you want to rent that suite, even if the landlord refuses to include his address after the most polite, non-offending message possible?
    – Tinkeringbell ♦
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 18:03
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    Has there been any interaction with the landlord in question that might give you reason to think that the landlord doesn't want to rent it to you if you ask this question?
    – ElizB
    Commented May 14, 2019 at 15:33
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    Have you asked for the address yet? If not, you might want to just ask him to provide his address on the lease without providing any particular reason. Just say "can you add your address to the lease?" If he objects then you might want to rethink whether you want to rent from this person.
    – Simon Woodside
    Commented May 15, 2019 at 22:47
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    Have you considered that to get the legal protections you seek, you need the government's standard form? It may be complicated, but it is the cumulative result of years of landlord-tenant disputes.
    – user11223
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 17:40
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    Thanks for replies. If interested, I chose not to go with this place.
    – mastifftrenton
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 23:27

1 Answer 1

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I've dealt with many types of landlords in my time. In addition, I am going through a divorce which requires much back and forth over legal issues.

In legal matters, it's always best to be direct and polite. Limit your requests to that which you want, rather than tactical or strategic requests that you don't want.

A contract represents a meeting of minds on an agreed arrangement. If asking for what you want results in the other party choosing not to enter into the agreement, then the process has worked correctly and you are all better off.

In this specific instance, it's highly likely that this landlord was trying to take advantage of you. You were concerned that asking for greater protections would result in the other party choosing not to enter into the agreement. You can safely conclude in that instance, that the other party wanted to limit your protections and probably dodged a bullet here.

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