Signing of the lease...

So contrary to a couple previous posts I settled for this different apartment, which also I like 90%, but the 10% of dislike comes from different sources. Well the only thing I don't quite die for in this apartment is the ambiance of the neighborhood. While it sees downtown and is close to old port, it lacks the liveliness and bohemianism of Plateau or even the St. Mathew/St. Catherine neighborhood I was before. But hey it is the sunniest, prettiest, newest and did I mention sunniest apartment I saw...

But anyway, my landlord is Iranian, i.e., an immigrant! Now why does this warrant a mention, you might ask. Ah this is because of Didi's terrible experience in LA with immigrant landlords. So far, between the 2 of us, we rented from 4 landlords, 2 American, 2 immigrant American. While our statistical sample for both are pretty small, we have a 100% score for good American landlords and a 100% score for bad immigrant American landlords... Oh and then this my Iranian landlord lied to me a couple times, nothing concerning the rent or the house, but he said he's going to NYC, then he said he's going to CA then he said he's staying for a while etc... So all these red flags are flying high, yes... And this is actually the first time I am signing a lease with such a high a rent... Oh and also he asked for the 12 months of rent checks, post-dated of course, but still...

So I am ready to throw up on my way to his home to sign the lease. I go there, and he had this government of Quebec Lease form - and that, and that alone, immediately rested all my fears... I thought about it later - we all know how corrupt/helpless government is, in just about every country, right? But still, even for someone like me, a government document instills some form of security - now is that insane or what?

I have taken all possible precautions, like making photocopies of my cheques, paying the bank an extra $2.50/month to have the cashed cheques returned to me etc... but I'm sure there's still a way things could get bad like it did for Didi... Here's hoping against all odds that this deal doesn't go sour...

Oh and did I mention, my landlord is really cute? :) He too is a photographer, but shoots Nikon!!!!??? Ok forget it!!