What should a rental listing include?

The rent, the move-in date, the area and the size in the headline, then what's included in the rent and what the tenant pays, pets, parking, laundry, the lease length, the home's condition and what's nearby, photos of every room, and how to book a showing.

How do I write a good headline for a rental listing?

Use the things renters search and filter by. For example, "2 bedroom apartment near Ossington station, $2,450, available December 1" tells a renter in one line whether to keep reading. Words like "beautiful" or "must see" don't.

What shouldn't I say in a rental listing?

Describe the home, not the person you want to live there. Phrases about who the home suits, such as age, family status, religion, nationality or whether someone receives public assistance, can be discriminatory under human rights law in Canada and fair housing law in the US, even when they're meant kindly.

How do I get fewer unqualified inquiries on a rental?

Put the details that rule people in or out in the listing itself, such as rent, utilities, pets, parking, move-in date and lease length, and tell renters exactly how to take the next step. Leasing software such as Nodus by Tuze can publish one complete listing to your website and the major rental sites at once, collect every inquiry in one place and let renters book a showing themselves.

How to write a rental listing that gets the right inquiries

This guide is for landlords and property managers in Canada and the US who list rental homes. A listing that gets the right inquiries answers the questions renters would otherwise ask, so the ones who fit the home reach out and the ones who don’t can tell before they do. That means the rent, the move-in date and the area up front, specific details instead of adjectives, a clear list of what’s included and what isn’t, and an easy next step.

The quickest way to see it is to take a typical listing and rewrite it. Here’s one for an apartment in Toronto that could be on any rental site today. The details are Canadian, but the same fixes work anywhere.

Beautiful 2 bed apartment, must see!!

Gorgeous, spacious unit in a great location close to everything. Newly renovated. Perfect for young professionals. No pets. Utilities extra. Available soon. Serious inquiries only, text for details.

It isn’t a bad home, and nothing in the listing is false. But a renter reading it still doesn’t know the rent, where it is, when they could move in, what the utilities cost or how to see it. So they text, and most of the texts ask the same five questions.

The headline

Renters scan dozens of listings, and many sites show only the headline and the price in search results. The headline should carry what they filter by: the type of home, the area, the rent and the date.

2 bedroom apartment near Ossington station, $2,450, available December 1

“Beautiful” and “must see” are what every listing says, so they don’t help anyone choose. A renter who needs to be near that station, can afford that rent and is moving in December now knows to keep reading. One who isn’t knows to move on, which is just as useful to you.

Details instead of adjectives

“Gorgeous”, “spacious” and “great location” are opinions. Renters trust facts they can check.

Spacious becomes “about 850 square feet, on the second floor of a duplex”.
Newly renovated becomes “kitchen renovated in 2025, with a dishwasher”.
Great location becomes “five minutes’ walk to Ossington station, with groceries on the corner”.

Each fact also does some screening for you. Someone who wants a ground floor unit, or needs a dishwasher, can tell straight away.

Money, in full

“Utilities extra” is where many inquiries come from, because it can mean anything from a $40 hydro bill to $300 a month in heat and power. Say what’s included in the rent and what the tenant pays, with a rough figure if you have one.

Heat and water are included. The tenant pays hydro, which has been about $60 a month.

If you ask for a deposit or last month’s rent, say so here too, so nobody is surprised at the lease signing.

What rules people in or out

These are the details that decide whether a renter can live in the home at all, and leaving them out is how a landlord ends up showing a home to someone who was never going to take it.

Pets: which ones, if any, and why if it isn’t obvious. “Cats welcome. No dogs, because the yard is shared.”
Parking: included, available for a fee, or street parking with a permit.
Laundry: in the unit, shared, or none.
Lease length: one year, month to month, or something else.
Move-in date: a real date, not “soon”.

“No pets” in the original is a rule without a reason, and it turns away a cat owner who would have been fine. Being specific can widen the pool as well as narrow it.

Describe the home, not the tenant

“Perfect for young professionals” is meant as a friendly way to set the tone, and it’s common. But it describes the person you’d like to live there rather than the home, and a phrase like that can suggest you’d prefer some people over others because of their age or family status.

In Canada, provincial human rights codes cover what landlords can say in rental ads, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission has a short guide to writing them. In the US, the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to publish an ad that shows a preference based on things like familial status or national origin. The safe and useful approach is the same everywhere: describe the home and the rules that apply to everyone, and let renters decide whether it suits them.

Photos and the next step

Good photos do more than any sentence. Take them in daylight with the lights on, show every room including the bathroom, and add one of the street and one of any parking or yard. A floor plan, even a simple sketch, answers a question many renters have.

Then end the listing with exactly what to do next. “Serious inquiries only” doesn’t screen anyone out, and it can put off the careful renters you’d most like to hear from. A clear next step works better, such as a link to book a showing at a time that suits them.

A good listing only works where renters see it, and most look on more than one site. Leasing software such as Nodus by Tuze lets you write the listing once and publish it to your own website and to Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, Rentals.ca, Zumper and Zillow, so every renter sees the same complete details wherever they find it. Their inquiries come back to one inbox, and renters who’ve read everything and still want the home can book a showing themselves.

The listing, rewritten

Put together, the same home reads like this.

2 bedroom apartment near Ossington station, $2,450, available December 1

Second floor of a duplex, about 850 square feet, with a kitchen renovated in 2025, a dishwasher and in-suite laundry. Five minutes’ walk to Ossington station, with groceries on the corner.

Heat and water are included. The tenant pays hydro, which has been about $60 a month. Street parking with a city permit. Cats welcome. No dogs, because the yard is shared. One year lease, then month to month.

Showings on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings. Book a time with the link below.

It’s longer than the original, but it answers almost every question the original created. Fewer people will reach out, but more of the ones who do will want the home and be able to take it. When those inquiries come in, booking rental showings without the back and forth covers the next step.