Rental Program

Mortgage financing for one to four unit rental and small investment property in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta — first or second charge, purchase, refinance or equity takeout. The rent counts. Most alternative lenders publish nothing about how they treat rental income; here is how we treat it.

How the rent is counted

Canadian lenders split into two camps. Offset lenders subtract a share of the rent from the property's carrying cost. Add-back lenders add a share of the gross rent to qualifying income. The choice changes the outcome dramatically — on a single unit it can swing tens of thousands of dollars of qualifying income.

Gross rent supported by a signed lease, or by the market-rent schedule in the appraisal where a unit is vacant or owner-occupied
A vacancy and expense allowance applied against gross rent rather than pretending gross is net
Short-term rental income considered where there is a verifiable operating history
Portfolio landlords assessed on the whole holding, not just the subject property
No maximum GDS or TDS, and no income documents required — rent treatment shapes the file, it does not gate it

Debt coverage ratio testing in Canada belongs to five-plus unit and commercial lending. This program is 1–4 units and is underwritten on equity, rent support and exit — not on a DSCR grid.

Units: 1 to 4
Position: First or second charge
Occupancy: Tenanted, vacant or partly owner-occupied
Provinces: ON · BC · AB
Credit: Full spectrum
Income docs: Not required
Rent support: Lease or appraiser's market-rent schedule
Condominium: Reduced ceiling, 2-bed minimum

Check a rental file

Typical files

What lands here.

Equity takeout for the next down payment

A landlord pulling equity out of a held property to fund the deposit on the next one.

The bank counted only half the rent

Ratios that fail at an A lender purely because of a 50% offset rule, on a property that cash-flows in reality.

Small multi-unit conversion

A legal duplex or triplex mid-conversion, where the rent roll is real but not yet stabilised.

Portfolio landlord out of room

An investor at their institutional door limit who needs a short-dated advance against an existing holding.

Rental Program — questions

Do you lend on a property that is currently vacant?

Yes. Where a unit is vacant we use the market-rent schedule in the appraisal rather than a lease. Expect the file to be assessed on equity and marketability as much as on projected rent.

Is there a surcharge for rental or holding-company files?

Rental security prices differently from owner-occupied security, and where it does, that is disclosed with the quote rather than added at commitment. Holding-company borrowers are workable with a personal covenant.

Will you look at student rentals or rooming houses?

Case by case, on zoning, licensing and resale. A legal, licensed operation in a market with turnover is fundable; an unlicensed one is a marketability problem before it is a credit one.

Five or more units?

That is commercial underwriting and sits outside this program. Send it to the desk and we will tell you honestly whether it is something we can look at.

Rental file the bank's ratios killed?

Send the rent roll See HELOC-75