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New immigrants shell out
more for accommodation

Ajit Jain in Toronto

If you are a new immigrant, you are in for trouble finding a rental accommodation in Toronto or adjoining suburban cities unless, of course, you have some extra cash to hand over to the landlord to be kept by him/her in safety deposit.

The Toronto Star recently sent one of their reporters posing as a new immigrant to a high-rise building in suburban Don Mills area east of Toronto as the paper had received several complaints about discriminatory treatment being given to new immigrants.

The reporter was told that he would have to pay 12 months' rent in advance. "If you are a newcomer, then we have to use different rules," the building manager was quoted as saying.

Putting down that kind of money in advance is good for recent immigrants, she reportedly said, because it protects them from doing foolish things like gambling away their money.

Why not? It is good for a landlord to take 12 months' rent in advance and when this amount is multiplied by several folds, depending on how many new immigrants he/she is able to trap like this, the money could be invested to make more money.

Under Canadian housing rules, a landlord can only charge first and last month's rent in advance.

An Ontario government spokesman called the practice of demanding 12 months' rent in advance from new immigrant "illegal."

People working in organisations serving immigrants are well aware of this kind of discriminatory treatment.

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