Every day your unit sits vacant costs you money. In London, Ontario, the average two-bedroom rents for $1,800–$2,100/month — that's $60–$70 a day going uncollected while a listing with bad photos and a vague description sits ignored on Kijiji. The difference between a unit that rents in 10 days and one that drags on for six weeks usually isn't the property itself. It's how the property is presented.
This guide covers exactly where to list, how to write an ad that filters in great applicants and filters out bad ones, and how to run showings that close fast — specific to London, St. Thomas, Strathroy, and the broader Southwestern Ontario market.
If you haven't decided what to charge yet, start with our guide on how much to charge for rent in London, Ontario before you write a single word of your listing.
Where to List Your Ontario Rental Property (Ranked by Effectiveness)
You don't need to pay for advertising to reach most renters in Southwestern Ontario. The majority of tenants use free platforms, and knowing which ones perform best in your specific market saves you time.
- Kijiji — still the single most-used rental search tool in smaller Ontario markets like St. Thomas and Strathroy. Free basic listings work well; a paid featured listing ($10–$20) is worth it if your unit has been sitting for more than a week with no traction.
- Facebook Marketplace — enormous reach at zero cost. Particularly effective for attracting local tenants already embedded in your community. Messages come in fast, so have your pre-screening questions ready.
- Local Facebook rental groups — London, St. Thomas, and Strathroy each have active groups with thousands of members. A straightforward post here frequently outperforms a paid listing elsewhere. Search "[city name] rentals" on Facebook to find the active groups in your area.
- Zumper / PadMapper — popular with younger renters and people relocating from Toronto, Kitchener, or Hamilton. Listings on Zumper cross-post to PadMapper automatically. Worth 10 minutes to set up.
- Realtor.ca — useful if you're working with a property manager or agent who can post on MLS on your behalf. Carries a legitimacy signal that appeals to more established, longer-term renters.
For student rentals: If your property is near Fanshawe College or Western University in London, post directly on the institution's off-campus housing board. These boards are free and reach students actively searching — often months before the September move-in rush.
The practical approach: Start with Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace simultaneously. Add local Facebook groups the same day. If you're not getting inquiries within 5–7 days, re-evaluate price before anything else.
How to Write a Rental Listing That Actually Converts
Most rental ads fail in one of two ways: they're either too sparse (2 bed, 1 bath, $1,800 — call for details) or they read like a legal document. Neither attracts quality tenants.
A strong listing answers three questions in the first three lines:
- What does it feel like to live here? Mention natural light, a quiet street, a finished basement, a short walk to downtown — specifics that paint a picture. "Bright, updated 2-bedroom in Old East Village, 5-minute walk to Kellogg's Lane" outperforms "2-bedroom apartment for rent" every time.
- What's included? Parking, in-suite laundry, appliances, utilities — be explicit. Ambiguity drives away good applicants and attracts bad ones.
- Who are you looking for? A brief note like "ideal for a working professional or small family" filters out mismatches before they ever contact you.
Keep your listing honest. Overstating the unit wastes everyone's time and poisons the landlord-tenant relationship before it starts. Under Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act, the lease and the listing description should align — discrepancies create friction at signing.
The Checklist: What Every Ontario Rental Listing Must Include
- Monthly rent and exactly what's included (utilities, parking, appliances)
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms (square footage if you have it)
- Available date
- Lease term (12-month fixed, month-to-month, etc.)
- Pet policy and smoking policy — be specific
- Parking situation (included, available for extra, street only)
- Preferred contact method and response timeline
If you're using the Ontario Standard Lease (required for most residential tenancies), having these details nailed down before listing makes completing the Ontario Standard Lease significantly faster.
Why Your Photos Are Worth More Than Your Ad Copy
A listing with no photos — or dark, cluttered photos — will sit vacant. A listing with 12 clean, well-lit images gets more inquiries in a week than a poorly photographed unit gets in a month. This is the single highest-leverage improvement most landlords can make.
You don't need a professional photographer. You need:
- Good lighting — shoot during the day with blinds fully open and every light in the unit turned on
- A clean, staged unit — remove personal items, make beds, clear countertops, wipe surfaces
- Wide angles — stand in the corner of each room and capture as much of the space as possible
- Exterior shots — front of the building, parking area, backyard or outdoor space, building entrance
- Key feature close-ups — an updated kitchen, in-suite laundry, hardwood floors, or a renovated bathroom each deserve their own photo
Aim for 8–15 photos per listing. More is fine. Fewer than 6 and a large percentage of renters won't click at all — they'll move on to the next listing. On mobile (where most rental searches happen), photos load before the description. They are your first impression.
One practical tip: shoot on a sunny weekday morning when natural light is strongest. Spend 30 minutes cleaning before you shoot. This single investment recurs for the life of your ownership — use the same photos for re-listing after tenant turnover.
How to Pre-Screen Applicants Before the Showing
Every showing takes 30–60 minutes of your time when you factor in travel and cleanup. Multiply that by 10 unqualified applicants and you've lost a full workday. A quick pre-screening exchange before you book saves everyone from a wasted trip.
Send these questions via text or email before confirming any showing:
- How many people would be living in the unit?
- Do you have any pets?
- What's your anticipated move-in date?
- Can you tell me a bit about your employment or income situation?
You're not conducting a full interview — you're filtering out obvious mismatches in under two minutes. This step alone typically cuts unqualified showings by 40–60%.
Important legal note: Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, you cannot discriminate based on protected grounds — including race, religion, family status, disability, marital status, or source of income (which includes social assistance). Stick to questions about the tenancy itself. For a detailed breakdown of what you can and cannot ask, see our guide to tenant screening red flags.
How to Run an Effective Rental Showing
Schedule showings in blocks when you have strong interest. Booking 4–6 applicants in 20-minute windows on the same afternoon creates social proof — applicants see others interested in the same unit, which accelerates decisions. It also reduces the back-and-forth of individual appointment scheduling.
During the showing:
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- Point out features proactively rather than waiting to be asked
- Answer questions honestly, including any known issues (Ontario's RTA requires disclosure of material facts)
- Pay attention to how applicants interact with the space — are they respectful? Do they treat the unit carefully?
- Observe who they bring — a partner, a parent, friends. This tells you something about how seriously they're approaching the search.
Have paper or digital applications ready to provide immediately after the showing. Interest is highest in the first 10 minutes after someone sees a unit they like. If you make them wait two days for the application link, you may lose them.
How Quickly Should Your Ontario Rental Unit Rent?
London: A well-priced, well-marketed unit typically rents within 1–3 weeks. The London market has seen sustained demand driven by Western University, Fanshawe College, and ongoing in-migration from the GTA.
St. Thomas: Strong demand, particularly for family-sized units. Expect 1–3 weeks for a properly priced property. The Amazon fulfilment centre and related employment growth have tightened the market considerably since 2022.
Strathroy: Smaller market but low vacancy. A well-presented unit at fair market rent typically rents in 2–4 weeks.
If you're not getting inquiries within 5–7 days of listing, the problem is almost always one of three things: price is above market, photos are poor, or you're on the wrong platform. Dropping rent by $50–$75/month to rent 3 weeks faster often pencils out better than holding at your target price and sitting vacant.
For more on setting the right number, see how much to charge for rent in London, Ontario.
What to Do After the Showing: Applications and Verification
Once you have interested applicants, move quickly. Have a clear application that collects:
- Full legal name and contact information
- Current address and landlord reference (name and phone number)
- Employment information and monthly gross income
- Consent to a credit check
Ontario landlords are permitted to run credit checks with applicant consent. A score above 650 is generally considered acceptable; below 600 warrants closer scrutiny of the full picture. For a detailed walkthrough, see our guide on tenant credit checks in Ontario.
Call the previous landlord reference — don't just text. Ask: "Would you rent to this person again?" A hesitation before "yes" tells you more than the words do.
Document everything. Good landlord record keeping from the very first application protects you if a dispute ever reaches the Landlord and Tenant Board.
When It's Worth Hiring a Property Manager to Fill Your Vacancy
Marketing a rental sounds simple until you're fielding 40 Kijiji messages at 9pm, scheduling 12 showings around your work calendar, and chasing down employment verification letters. For landlords managing one or two properties while working full-time, the time cost is real.
A professional property manager handles the entire vacancy cycle: photography, listing creation, pre-screening, showings, applications, reference checks, credit verification, and lease preparation. The cost — typically one month's rent or a percentage of monthly rent — is often recovered in reduced vacancy time alone.
If you're weighing the decision, our guide on when to hire a property manager in Ontario lays out the specific triggers that make professional management worth it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which listing platform works best for rentals in London, St. Thomas, and Strathroy? A: Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace are the two highest-volume platforms across all three markets. Local Facebook rental groups are often overlooked but can outperform paid listings. For London specifically, Zumper/PadMapper adds meaningful reach among younger renters and GTA transplants. Use all three simultaneously — setup takes under an hour and maximizes your exposure at zero cost.
Q: How many photos do I need for a rental listing in Ontario? A: A minimum of 8 photos, with 10–15 being ideal. Listings with fewer than 6 photos are skipped by a significant portion of renters, especially on mobile. Shoot during the day with all lights on, clean and declutter first, and take wide-angle shots from room corners. Good photos consistently reduce vacancy time more than any other single marketing improvement.
Q: What can an Ontario landlord legally ask a prospective tenant? A: You can ask practical questions about the tenancy: how many occupants, whether they have pets, move-in timeline, and employment or income situation. You cannot discriminate based on protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code — including race, religion, family status, disability, marital status, or source of income (such as receiving ODSP or Ontario Works). Keep all pre-screening questions focused on the tenancy, not the person.
Q: How long does it take to rent a unit in St. Thomas or Strathroy? A: A well-priced, well-marketed unit in St. Thomas typically rents within 1–3 weeks. In Strathroy, 2–4 weeks is common given the smaller applicant pool. If you're sitting past 7 days with no serious inquiries, audit your price first — a $50–$75/month reduction often recovers its cost within the first month by eliminating additional vacancy.
Q: Should I do group showings or individual showings? A: Group showings (4–6 applicants in 20-minute slots on the same afternoon) work best when you have strong interest — they create urgency and cut your total time commitment significantly. For slower markets or specialty units, individual showings may be more practical. Either way, have applications available immediately at the end of the showing while interest is at its peak.
Q: Is it worth paying for a featured listing on Kijiji? A: Usually yes, but only after your listing has been live for 5–7 days without the results you need. A featured listing costs $10–$20 and bumps your post to the top of search results, which can double or triple visibility in a short window. It's not a substitute for good photos and accurate pricing — fix those first, then boost if needed.
Whether you handle marketing yourself or bring in a professional, the goal is the same: find a tenant who pays on time, respects the property, and wants to stay. A disciplined marketing process is where that relationship begins — and it's far cheaper to do it right upfront than to deal with the cost of a bad tenancy later. Prospera Properties manages rental properties across London, St. Thomas, and Strathroy, handling everything from vacancy marketing to lease signing to ongoing management. Get in touch if you'd like to talk through your situation.