Kijiji, Marketplace, Centris or AA Location: an honest comparison for owners
Posting on Kijiji or Marketplace is free. But total cost — time, bad-tenant risk, legal exposure — can far exceed a professional placement.
This page honestly compares free listing platforms (Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace, Centris) with AA Location's tenant-placement service. No attacks — each option has its use case. The goal: help you choose based on your actual situation.
Option A
Listing platforms (Kijiji / Marketplace / Centris)
Classifieds sites where the owner posts their unit, receives applications, sorts them and signs the lease themselves. No professional verification is provided.
Option B
AA Location
Tenant placement service in Montreal, Laval and Longueuil. Full verification, lease signing coordinated by an OACIQ broker. The owner always keeps the final decision.
Detailed comparison
Line by line
| Criterion | Listing platforms (Kijiji / Marketplace / Centris) | AA Location |
|---|---|---|
| Direct cost | Free or ~$10 for boosted listing | Fee shared during the free evaluation (typically ≤ 1 month's rent) |
| Owner's time | 20 to 30 h on average (listing, sorting, visits, verifications) | About 3 h (evaluation, choosing from 2-3 files, signing) |
| Application volume | Often 30-80 messages, many not serious | 2 to 3 already pre-selected files |
| File verification | Up to the owner (often partial) | Equifax/TransUnion credit + phone references + TAL search + employment |
| OACIQ broker | None | Lease signing coordinated by an OACIQ-regulated broker |
| Charter / CDPDJ compliance | Owner's responsibility (complaints possible) | Objective criteria only, defensible documentation |
| Median time to lease | Variable, often 4 to 8 weeks | 14 to 35 days by city, neighborhood, and season |
| Bad-tenant risk | Without rigorous verification, industry risk ~8% | Reduced to approximately 1.5% with full verification |
| Post-lease support | None | Placement follow-up + optional complementary management |
Choose based on your situation
When each option is the right one
Choose Listing platforms (Kijiji / Marketplace / Centris)
If you have time and experience
If you already manage several units, know how to read a file, run verifications and draft a compliant notice, Kijiji or Marketplace can be enough for simple situations.
If the unit is highly sought-after
For a centrally located, well-priced unit, you'll receive many applications fast. If you have the discipline to filter objectively, the zero direct cost can offset the time invested.
Choose AA Location
If every hour counts
You work or manage other responsibilities, and 20-30 h on a rental isn't worth it. Our service reduces that to ~3 h.
If legal exposure concerns you
A single ill-worded phrase in a listing, a poorly justified refusal, and a CDPDJ complaint becomes possible. Our method documents every step on objective criteria.
If you want an OACIQ broker at signing
Lease signing is the most legally sensitive moment. An OACIQ broker brings a professional protection that listing platforms do not offer.
This comparison is authored by AA Location and reflects our honest reading of the options available to owners in Montreal, Laval and Longueuil. Product or service names cited belong to their respective holders. None of the companies mentioned sponsor this page. Figures (timeline, cost, probabilities) reflect averages observed on the Quebec market — your situation may differ.
Frequently asked questions
About this comparison
- Is Kijiji really cheaper in the end?
- Direct cost is free, but TOTAL cost includes your time (20-30 h × your hourly rate) and bad-tenant risk (8% industry without rigorous verification, i.e. 8% × $12,000 average = $960 probability-weighted cost per placement). When you add it up, a professional placement often costs less in total.
- Can I post on Kijiji AND use AA Location?
- No. The placement mandate means we manage the listing and selection. Posting in parallel splits the candidate pool and complicates compliant documentation.
- Isn't Centris reserved for brokers?
- Centris is mainly used by brokers but accessible to owners via certain platforms. The logic remains that of a listing platform: no verification or signing support is provided by default.
- If I find a good candidate on Kijiji, can you just verify their file?
- Yes. Our File Verification Only service is designed for exactly that: credit, references, TAL, employment, on written consent. Fixed fee shared at first contact.
Go further
Dig deeper
Related articles to dig deeper.
Kijiji, Marketplace and Centris vs a tenant placement service
A platform posts your listing. A placement service selects your tenant. Here are the concrete differences, the real costs, and when each option is the right one.
How to write a rental listing that attracts the right candidates
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How to avoid a bad tenant: a guide for property owners
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5 objective criteria for picking the right tenant in Quebec
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