There is no damage deposit in Ontario, and two other lessons I paid for

I built Cribb partly because of the things nobody told me the first time I rented in Guelph. Three of them, short.

1. There is no damage deposit in Ontario. The only deposit a landlord can take is one month's rent, and it is your last month, nothing else. It cannot be used for damage and it earns interest every year. I was asked for a "cleaning deposit" once. It is not a thing. If it is in the lease, that clause is void.

2. Take the photos on day one. Every wall, the floor, the inside of the oven. Because there is no damage deposit, the only argument about the place happens when you move out, and the person with dated photos wins it. I did not do this the first time. Do this.

3. Leaving is a form and 60 days. You end a lease with Form N9, at least 60 days before the last day of a rental month. And a fixed-term lease that runs out does not put you on the street; it rolls into month-to-month on its own. If you need out early, a landlord cannot unreasonably refuse a sublet or an assignment, and if you ask to assign and hear nothing for a week, you can leave on 30 days' notice.

That is the whole list. Everything else I learned the expensive way, and I would rather you did not.