Renting a room is a different transaction from renting a flat, and the differences are all in the paperwork. This page covers what you are actually committing to when you rent a room in Edmonton, using ours in Garneau as the worked example.
Where the rooms are
Two buildings a block apart in Garneau, a street from the University of Alberta.
Garneau Towers, 8510 111 St NW — the bigger of the two, with the fitness centre, two laundry rooms, the lounge, and the cheapest rooms we let.
University Tower, 8515 112 St NW — right on the campus boundary, with the only rooms that have a private balcony.
Every room in both is a private bedroom in a four-bedroom suite: one bathroom and one furnished kitchen shared between the four bedrooms.
What it costs
| Room | Building | Every four weeks | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flex Basic | Garneau Towers | $560 | $140 |
| Flex Plus | Garneau Towers | $660 | $165 |
| Deluxe | Garneau Towers | $800 | $200 |
| Flex Basic | University Tower | $700 | $175 |
| Flex Plus | University Tower | $800 | $200 |
| Flex Balcony | University Tower | $820 | $205 |
| Deluxe | University Tower | $880 | $220 |
Rent is quoted every four weeks because that is the billing period. Four weeks is slightly shorter than a calendar month, so a nine-month term comes to nine and three-quarter payments rather than nine. A monthly average would look tidier and would be a number you are never billed.
Heat, water, power and Wi-Fi are in it, along with the furniture, the bed made up, laundry in the building and on-site maintenance. No utility bill, no service fee, no application fee.
What you are signing
A nine-month lease, covering the academic year. A shorter summer term runs June to August on the Deluxe and Flex Plus rooms at Garneau Towers, at a lower weekly rate.
A lease for your bedroom, not for the unit. This is the part worth understanding before comparing us to a room in a shared house. On a joint tenancy, four tenants sign one agreement for the whole property, and one person leaving in February leaves their share of the rent behind for the others. Here, each bedroom is its own agreement. Someone moving out is ours to refill.
One security deposit at signing, and nothing else up front. The amount is on each room’s page because it differs by room. Under Alberta’s Residential Tenancies Act a security deposit is capped at one month’s rent and is returned with interest after you move out and the room is inspected.
The walk, which is most of the point
Distance to campus is the most underrated line in an Edmonton housing budget, because it is the one you pay in January rather than in dollars.
From University Tower, the Education building is a five-minute walk and the hospital four. From Garneau Towers, one block east, the same walks are seven and six. Main Quad, at the far side of campus, is twelve to fourteen from either.
A cheaper room forty minutes out stops being cheaper once you price the bus pass, the winter, and the mornings you decide not to go in.
Before you sign anything, anywhere
The checks that matter most when renting a room in Edmonton, wherever you end up:
- Is the lease for the room or the whole unit? It changes what happens when someone leaves.
- Which utilities are included? Heat specifically, in writing.
- What is furnished? Bed, desk, and what size.
- How many people share the bathroom? Here, four.
- What is the deposit, and when does it come back? Alberta: capped at one month’s rent, returned with interest after inspection.
- Is the quoted price the billed price? Four-weekly and monthly are not the same number.
- How long is the term, and what happens if you leave early?
- Who do you call when something breaks?