Common law without rental contract questions?

[philipslight]

Is it okay if we can't provide a copy of our room rental agreement for the proof of cohabitation, but we have a lot of other proofs like bank account, electric bills, phone bills, mail, etc etc. But we dont have this contract we are worried because the VO might reject our application because of that. However, we are planning to submit a letter from our 2 housemate stating that we are renting the room and were living for continous year. In addition to this we are paying the rental by cheque from our joint account so technically the word "rental payment" is indicated in our joint account statement. So my question is, can we just submit the joint account bank statement rather than submitting a rental receipt?

 

[Aquakitty]

Is it okay if we can't provide a copy of our room rental agreement for the proof of cohabitation, but we have a lot of other proofs like bank account, electric bills, phone bills, mail, etc etc. But we dont have this contract we are worried because the VO might reject our application because of that. However, we are planning to submit a letter from our 2 housemate stating that we are renting the room and were living for continous year. In addition to this we are paying the rental by cheque from our joint account so technically the word "rental payment" is indicated in our joint account statement. So my question is, can we just submit the joint account bank statement rather than submitting a rental receipt?

Yes, the rental contract is not the only thing they look at. They look at the overall evidence you are providing. If they want more evidence, they will not just "reject" your application, they would mail you a letter requesting a document.
Just label the rental part of your bank statement as rental payment and specify this in a supporting document that you write that explains your rental situation.

 

[Panamai]

We didn't submit a rental agreement either. My partner has a mortgage on a house he purchased before we met. We submitted lots of other things though.. 2 notarized letters from friends and family stating we are living together in a marriage-like relationship, copies of both our driver's licence with the same address, copies of mail received from different times during the year, joint savings account, stat declaration of common-law status, chat convos and fb posts related to the move, evidence where he's added me to his supplementary insurance at work and his pension account as a spouse, etc. He also changed his marital status with CRA to common-law immediately once we qualified.