Friday, October 28th

This date needs to be marked in your calendar!

Why? Because it's the date of ROMS BC's Associate Members Trade Show, Annual General Meeting, and [the first ever] Trivia Night! Once again being held at the beautiful Crystal Garden in downtown Victoria, BC.

From 4:00 until 6:00, join us for our formal Associate members trade show. Nearly 30 exhibitors will be excited to tell you about new products and incentives. In addition, there are multiple Associate member product demonstrations and informative workshops. This portion of the event is free to attend for ROMS BC members and their guests.

At 6:30, we will have a gourmet dinner catered by the Fairmont Empress Hotel. This will be followed by our [brief!] Annual General Meeting. The early bird registration cost to attend dinner and the evening that follows is $54.95 per person for ROMS BC members and their guests.

Beginning at 8:00 will be Trivia Night. Replacing the Casino Night of the past three years, Trivia Night gives you the opportunity to reconnect with Associate members - while having a great time! Each booth will have questions from one of seven categories; geography, entertainment, history, arts and literature, science and nature, sports and leisure, or BC's residential rental industry. Each question will be timed, and in order to fill all the pieces of your "cake," you'll need to visit every booth. And if you get the answer correct at any booth, you'll win ROMS BUCKS!

At 9:45, Trivia Night will be over. At this point, all members and their guests will come down to the prize auction, where ROMS BUCKS are used to "purchase" fabulous prizes. And if you don't win any ROMS BUCKS? No worries; there will also be door prize draws.

If this sounds like your kind of evening, watch your mailbox and inbox for more information!

-- AdviserToTheAdvisers

HST Referendum

How do we get past the emotion and vote on the facts? Some things to consider:

> HST hurts the residential rental industry because we pay tax on more items than we did with the PST, and can claim no input credits.
> If HST is repealed, it will cost BC taxpayers $1.6 billion in repayments to the federal government.
> When HST was implemented, about 400 provincial government jobs transferred to the federal government. Will those positions return to the BC government and have to be paid for by BC taxpayers if HST is repealed?
> HST is a more efficient tax; it costs less for businesses to administer.

ROMS BC isn't advocating yes or no, but we do advocate that you exercise your right to vote. And because of Canada Post's lockout, voting deadlines have been extended; if you haven't received your voting package, you need to request it by midnight on July 22nd, and you must mail your voting card before 5:00 pm on August 5th.

Remember; "NO" means keep the HST and "YES" means repeal it.

How do I do a credit report?

Credit checking is one of the most important services we offer our members. But how do you actually get a credit report?

What you need:

1. The full, legal name of your tenancy applicant(s).

2. Either date of birth or Social Insurance Number of each applicant.

3. Full present address (this includes postal code!).

4. A signature for consent to perform a credit [and reference] check.

Other helpful items:

1. Having both the date of birth and the SIN, if your applicant will provide both.

2. Full previous address.

3. Cell phone or house phone number.

4. Credit card number (DON'T record the expiry date!).

The process:

1. Provide us with the necessary information by a) stopping by the office with your Application for Tenancy form, b) giving us a call with your Application in front of you, or c) faxing in the completed Application.

2. We check the Evicted Tenants List. This is a database of 1000 ex-tenants who were evicted by members of ROMS BC. If your applicant shows up on this list, we recommend you stop the process here - and you don't pay!

3. We check the Delinquent Tenants List. This is a Canada-wide database (managed by our partner Tenant Verification Services) of ex-tenants who owe $200 or more to a former landlord. Again, if your applicant shows up on this list we will recommend you stop - and you still don't pay!

4. If your applicant does not appear on the Evicted nor Delinquent Tenant Lists, we will run a TransUnion credit report. The cost for this service is $8.95 when done via fax, $11.50 when done over the phone or in-person, or if no information is found - what we call a "no hit" - you don't pay anything.

Other important information:

1. Applicants are not required to provide you with a SIN or credit card number. If they are uncomfortable providing these items, don't force them; we can still do a credit check, and requiring a SIN is illegal!

2. These credit reports take a maximum of 4 business hours to complete. Please be patient; we do over 12,000 reports each year for our members!

3. Our staff are trained in interpreting credit reports. If there is any part of the report you don't understand - or you don't know what to do with it! - simply give us a call.

4. We are also able to perform American credit checks, Canadian and American commercial credit checks, and criminal record checks; contact us for more information.

You've heard it before and I'll say it again; tenant selection is the very most important aspect of being a landlord, and your process should include a credit check. It's easy to evict bad tenants - before they move in!

-- AdviserToTheAdvisers

ROMS BC's 3rd Annual Charity Golf Tournament

Join us Friday, June 24th at the Royal Oak Golf Club in Victoria to golf nine holes; either in a foursome package (to golf with whomever you choose), or individually or as a couple (with fellow members or Associate members). We will golf in a scramble format, taking the best ball each shot.

Then head inside for drinks, a gourmet buffet dinner and team and individual prizes - not to mention great company. Whether you've golfed once, twice, 100 times or never, we guarantee you'll have a good time - all for a good cause!

Sign up as:

An individual golfer: this includes green fees, one dinnerticket, and a $30 tax receipt for your donation.

- $89 per person

A foursome team: this includes green fees for four people,four dinner tickets, and four $30 tax receipts for donations.

- $329 per team of four

Registration: 11:30 - 12:45

Pre-round golf fitness: 12:00 & 12:30

Tee time: 1:00

Dinner and prizes: approximately 5:30

To sign up or make a donation to the Next Steps Transitional Shelter, call the ROMS BC office at 250.382.6324 or 1.888.330.6707, or go to golf2011.speedsurvey.com.