Price the other unit off what similar units are asking on both boards, start showing it two to three weeks before you close, and sign the Ontario standard lease with a start date right after you get the keys. In Hamilton, self-contained units (an apartment, or one or two bedrooms in a house) asked a median of $1,799 a month in the twelve months to November 9, 2026. They took a median of 15 days to rent.
That is fast. A home for sale in Hamilton took 40 days on average in October 2026, per our Hamilton market report for October 2026. Renters move quicker than buyers. So the first rent cheque can land the same month you move in, if you plan for it before closing.
What the other unit should rent for
"Both boards" means the two listing systems local agents post rentals on. A lot of first-time landlords only check one, or only check Kijiji, and they guess high.
Match your unit to ones like it. Look at the same number of bedrooms. Then check for its own door, its own laundry and parking. A basement unit with shared laundry is not the same as a main floor with a driveway spot. For scale, a whole three-bedroom-plus house asked a median of $2,600 in the same period, so a single unit in a house sits well below that.
My opinion, and some landlords will argue with me: price it at the middle, never the top. Say you price $100 a month under the top asks. That costs you $1,200 over a year. One empty month at $1,799 costs you more than that, and the empty month comes with stress, showings and a mortgage payment you cover alone.
Start showing it before you own it
Most buyers I sit down with plan to find a tenant after closing, which sounds sensible, until you count the weeks: two weeks to list and show, a week to check people out, and suddenly the first rent is six weeks after your first mortgage payment. You can start sooner.
When I write an offer on a duplex with an empty unit, I ask for one line in writing. It says I can show that unit to renters in the last few weeks before closing. Sellers usually say yes, because it costs them nothing. Then the lease starts the first of the month after you take the keys. Placing tenants in the units a house hacker does not live in is part of the work I do, and you can read more about how I work on my page.
Picture two buyers who close on the same kind of up-and-down duplex on the same day. The first one waits to get the keys, then lists the lower unit. It takes about six weeks to fill. That is a month and a half of paying the whole mortgage alone. The second one showed the unit before closing and signed a lease starting the 1st. Same house, same rent, but one of them starts ahead by a full month's rent and the other spends the fall catching up.
Checking who is applying
Screening just means checking that the person can pay and has paid before. Ask for written consent and run a credit check. Get a job letter and recent pay stubs.
Call the landlord before their current one. The current landlord may say nice things just to get a problem tenant out. The one before has nothing to gain.
Ontario's Human Rights Code sets limits. You cannot turn someone down for having kids, their age or where they are from. Stick to money and history, and write down why you picked who you picked.
And pick the steady applicant over the one who offers $75 more. You will live upstairs from this person. A tenant who pays on time for five years is worth far more than a small bump in rent.
The lease, and the small lines that matter
Most private rentals in Ontario must use the province's standard lease form. Fill in every box. The fights I see between owners and tenants rarely come from the big stuff. They come from the small things nobody wrote down.
Write who pays which utility, and how a shared meter gets split. Write who clears snow and cuts the grass. If laundry is shared, write the times. In a house hack you share walls, so clear rules keep the peace for both of you.
For the bigger picture on buying a two, three or four unit home and living in one, our house hacking guide and starter kit walks through it step by step.
Takeaway: list the unit at the middle of the market, show it before you close, and sign the standard lease to start the month you move in.
Questions people ask
Can I ask a Hamilton tenant for a damage deposit?
No. In Ontario you can ask for a last month's rent deposit, and that money goes toward the last month only. You can also ask for a key deposit, but you must give it back when the keys come back.
What if the duplex already has a tenant when I buy it?
The lease comes with the house. You become their landlord on closing day, at the rent they pay now. You cannot just raise it or ask them to leave because the house sold.
Do I need a lawyer to write the lease?
Usually not, because the province's standard form does most of the work. You add your own rules, like utilities and snow, in the extra terms section. If a rule goes against Ontario tenant law, it does not count, even if the tenant signed it.
Talk it through with me
If you are looking at a Hamilton duplex or triplex and want the other unit rented the month you move in, send me a note and tell me which house you are looking at. Reach Steve and our team here, and I will reply with what I would check first.