How landlords can evict bad tenants in Toronto

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tom

I rented my place to a woman last Oct. She seemed very nice and quiet. She was on a pension and had good references. 1st month she did not have full rent. I let her move in as it would have been empty anyways.

On her pay day I would drive out there ( it was 20 minutes from town ) give her a ride to town, she would pay me and I would drop her off somewhere.

In Dec she called me wanting a ride back home as her friend cancelled on her. I explained I could not help her. The next day her friend from church ( they paid some of her 1st months rent for her ) called saying that she called and said she had no heat. I called (Kathy) and told her maybe the bettery in the thermostat died. Replace it and if it does not work call me. No call came. I finally went inside in late December and discovered she had labotamized the furnace. The panels were off, the control panel was gone and all the wires were cut. Her excuse was that she had a siezeure. That accounted for the hole in the tub surround tile also. The place was also a pig sty. You could smell the dog crap from outside.

She would not pay Feb rent. I went to court today with pics of the damage. The fricking judge is letting here stay for all of March without paying rent. Trial is in April. She gave him the sob story how I am the devil – the sink had a bomb under it and the furnace was wired up with lighter fluid. Sound a little crazy to me. I am selling the place.
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9:23 pm on February 28, 2013

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Chris Saracino

This is a great article. We cited it in a recent blog post on our blog.
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12:55 am on December 23, 2012

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Justice

THANK YOU GRID!

For such an enlightening story on how it really is in the city. If you are plain ol’ Canadian Bagel Honest as a landlord, you are in for a surprise. A lot of us still just believe in people….and shucks its sweet alright, but WTF. there are some serious bastards out there. I mean, my faith in humanity is still there…but it teetered for a bit…. I recently had the same problem because we just trusted the dude, and I’m now on a personal crusade to stop these imposters! (this is where it gets crazy…)

I think its ridiculous how loopy the system is and was in shock that the ‘rules’ helped these criminals by protecting them…all the while they shake the system, use your home as a crack house and nearly got us living on the streets cuz we couldnt make rent and mortgage. So it sounds small and silly, but I’ll try as I might…(shameful plug in 2…1…)

I have started a list, where people can email me their personal stories of TENANTS from HELL….I won’t share any names, but I want to create a network…a social network if you may…think facebook meets kickass…however in private…and hopefully this list gets long enough that landlords can just email me and ask if this guy is a total douche or not… And i’ll let them know how i feel…. with a story if they like.

to point out, I would require proof that this person screwed you over and you cant just put your ex on the list for the hell of it. Proof of non-payment of rent, eviction notices, letters, forwarded promises via email, photos, etc. It would all be a private exchange of opinions, no public publishing of names, info….etc. systems. phe.

email me at terribletenantstoronto@gmail.com
i’m inspired. I trust you Toronto. Let’s do Thiiiiissss!

Thanks again to The Grid…you rule.
and I apologize for the plug (but it isss appropriate no?)
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9:42 pm on November 8, 2012

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JB

I think that the whole tenant problem has to do a lot with the current real estate situation in Toronto. It is obvious, that A Slowdown in Canada’s Housing Market is Coming; while it is still not true in Toronto, Vancouver´s housing market hit its peak this summer. People are indebted and are running out of money, and this makes the relations worse. Especially when they feel they are being treated unfairly. With too high price or too strict conditions. i think that the compromise has to be made before the contract is firmed.
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6:24 am on November 7, 2012

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Angie

Read the act. You don’t have to give 48 hours written notice. It is 24 hours. Nor does it have to be 24 hours or in writting if –IF the tenant gives verbal CONSENT. I’ve been a landlord for 20 years, and many times upon the tenant asking for something, entry to the apartment is required, you ask can I come in to do that? They say yes, sure. I’ll be at work, but sure go in, do it, no problem. That’s consent. If the tenant says later when they’re pissed off at you, oh you went in my apartment without 24hrs notice and in writting, it’s their word against yours.

Residential Tenancies Act, 2006

S.O. 2006, CHAPTER 17

Consolidation Period: From June 19, 2012

Last amendment: 2012, c. 6.

Entry without notice

Entry without notice, emergency, consent

26. (1) A landlord may enter a rental unit at any time without written notice,

(a) in cases of emergency; or

(b) if the tenant consents to the entry
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9:46 pm on October 23, 2012

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CathyM

I am genuinely sorry that the writer of the article had such a terrible time. Her tenant sounds like a total asshole, and i can’t imagine what it would be like to have someone so seemingly volatile living in my basement. (If i were so fortunate as to have a basement, rather than living in one).

I am not taking issue with the writer’s personal experience, but i feel like the way the article is presented suggests that this is somehow a typical situation…when i think that it is far, far more typical for landlords to be taking advantage of their tenants. I am lucky to not have any dramatic stories of horrible landlords,(although i have plenty of friends that do) but every single landlord i have had has taken advantage of me in some way. Because landlords know that it’s hard to find a decent, affordable apartment, and that if they ask you for those post-dated cheques of for that security deposit or tell you that you can’t have pets or more than three guests in your apartment at once you’ll probably agree, because you need to find somewhere to live.

At the end of the day the landlords are the ones with the power, and thus i think it’s only fair that tenants have the LTB to protect them and their rights. Like any system it has it’s faults (simply handing your landlord a personal cheque shouldn’t count as paying up rent, that’s just ridiculous) but despite these isolated examples i am sure that it’s the tenants that need the protection, not the landlords.
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11:08 am on October 20, 2012

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Rachel007

The sad reality is most of these ” bad tenants” are immigrants who would not ever try pulling those ” stunts” in their home country. Because in most countries that i know and that i have lived in middle east, asia, africa, europe, the landlord tenants act does not FAVOR bad tenants.

Before you bear the label landlord or tenant, you are first and foremost a human being. And if just like cars there are good cars and lemons in the pile. Can you spot a lemon car without driving it off the lot, most often nope.

So regardless of your due diligence, a bad apple will be a bad apple and all you can do is damage control. Damage control is going thru due process even if you dont believe in it. Ensuring you don’t lost yourself in the mess, Remembering to give God control to remedy the situation on your behalf.

Because at the end of the day , we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities in high places….. including those who worship animals, statues and idols.

Yes i know the mess these MOFOs create is costly, and the insult is they most ofen still got their swag on, driving around, eating, entertaining , using utlities and living in the rental unit but just trust that there is a GOD who serves sweeter justice than the LTB or than you could ever do with changed locks.

So sit back, relax, pray and have faith….. it works and it never fails.
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9:40 pm on October 18, 2012

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GG

I can’t believe what a ridiculous statement that is, in so many ways.

As a landlord I’ve had mostly lovely tenants, and a couple of crappy ones. One that won’t pay his rent, or return my calls right now is third generation, white Canadian. One that always paid his rent promptly and never bounced a check was born in the Philipinnes.

And unless I’m mistaken, Rachel007, unless you are a member of the First Nations you are also an immigrant. As am I.
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12:15 am on November 16, 2012
SD

“So sit back, relax, pray and have faith….. it works and it never fails. ”

This is NOT the place to evangelize your mystical belief in an invisible uber-Wizard that you pretend looks after your financial affairs so long as you pretend to telepathically communicate with him and blindly believe in His undetectable existence.

Most of us would like REALITY-based advice, thank you.
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9:59 pm on February 19, 2013
Anonymous

In my experience the immigrants are the better tennants. In most cases I get my rent in time and they rarely, do diliberate damage.

They are the most likely to do the midnight move but that is much better than the people who do not pay rent and refuse to move.

My latest tennant to cause me grief was gone last yesterday. All the “good” stuff was gone. She left a nasty mess AND lots of documents. I cannot open her mail but any open paperwork left behind I always persuse to see if it would help me.

Kathy claims the furnace never worked and was trashed when she moved in but utility bills show she used a lot of natural gas in oct/sept/dec. She also left behind court documents. She has trashed other peoples homes as well as other criminal acts.

I called the cops about the damage and was told it was a civil matter but I found police reports where she had damaged her rental units and was charges with wilful damages under 5K and was arrested for it. I guess once you commits a crime so many times they no longer consider it a crime.
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4:24 am on March 3, 2013

marts

I wasn’t aware The Grid has now become a forum for personal, biased journalism, but if that’s the case, please allow me to waste your time with my personal grievances against my past landlords.

My last landlord’s “maintenance guy” used to have sex with a crack-addicted sex worker in the tenants’ laundry room. If he wasn’t having sex there, he was masturbating to ladies’ underwear-one of which was mine, which he stole from my apartment while I was out. Heck, he stole lots of our things from our storage too and sold them at his garage sales. When he told the landlord about this, his response was ” its not my problem” and ” I don’t want to hear about it” even after the police spoke to him. Last I heard about the landlord, he tried to punch another tenant in the face after he lost a court case to her.

The next and now my current landlord recently bullied me and threatened to cut-off some of my amenities if I go to the LTB about the lack of repairs, and safety issues in our rental. After 4 months to asking him to fix things, I gave up and explained he has left me no other choice but to go to the LTB and file for lack of maintenance and repairs.

The other tenants weren’t as bad, but most never cared to fix anything that was broken or do any other work but cash rent cheques. Out of the 10 landlords I have had, probably only 2 were honest and caring. I have ended most of my tenancies because of the landlord and how scummy they allow themselves to get.

I don’t know if I will ever be able to afford a house in Toronto. I have no other choice but the rent. There is no privilege in renting. You never feel like you are in your own home, and are at the mercy of your landlord and whether they decide to be behave decently towards you and maybe even replace a broken toilet seat if you’re lucky. I wish a system was put in place when not only the renter had to proof they were reliable and trustworthy, but the landlord as well. Perhaps then the war between landlords and tenants could end and we’d treat each others with more respect and recognize that we’re helping each other.

FYI, Sarah, it is illegal for a landlord to ask their tenant for post-dated cheques, so you cannot hold it against your tenant that she didn’t deliver them to you fast enough. “53,182: Total number of requests for lease termination for non-payment of rent in that same period”- this is just a number of applications submitted- NOT how many hearings were ruled in favour of the applicant, therefore an useless number to present in this case. A filed application is a filed application, nothing more.
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9:16 pm on October 18, 2012

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E

Re “Sarah, it is illegal for a landlord to ask their tenant for post-dated cheques…”

You are ignorant on this matter. From the LTB website:

Post-dated cheques and automatic payments

When a landlord and a new tenant agree to enter into a rental agreement, they usually discuss how the rent will be paid.

Although the landlord and tenant can agree that the rent will be paid by post-dated cheques or automatic payments (such as debits from a tenant’s account or by credit card), a landlord cannot require the tenant to pay by either of those methods.

Once the landlord and tenant have agreed on a method of payment, it cannot be changed unless both the landlord and tenant agree.

Source: http://www.ltb.gov.on.ca/en/Key_Information/STEL02_111677.html
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3:15 am on October 27, 2012
Anonymous

Sorry, but as a landlord I beg to differ

It is not illegal to ask for post dated cheques. It is illegal to demand them as a precondition of residency. But really, does a tenant want to see the landlord every month, arrange meeting times and so be inconvenienced?
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9:51 pm on November 9, 2012

andy2394

There are bad landlords and tenants everywhere.

What I want to know is why is The Grid not doing a corresponding piece by a tenant about a bad landlord experience so it seems more balanced.

Trust me, there are as many, if not more, bad landlords out there. Institutional landlords often leverage their know how of the system, refuse or delay to do repairs, etc. Small landlords often treat tenants like guests or children living for free in their house, dictating to them what they can or cannot do beyond what the law allows, tell women tenants they can’t have male guests, come in whenever they want to check on the unit, etc.
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10:25 am on October 18, 2012

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Alex

Sorry, am I supposed to feel sorry for landlords now?

Landlords always have been and always will be parasites living off the money of other people. If you chose to put yourself in that position, don’t whine when it doesn’t work out for you.

Owning a house is not a right; the vast majority of people in this city don’t have the luxury of owning property. They’re tenants because they have no choice in the matter. They are at mercy of landlords who neglect repairs, fail to eradicate bedbugs and other vermin and exploit people on social assistance or working minimum wage.

Sarah Liss – I’m sorry you were able to get a mortgage for your dream house and that it led to having paranoid fantasies about the curtains catching on fire but maybe next time you should realize how out of touch you are from the reality of the majority of people.
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6:50 pm on October 16, 2012

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Clarke

Sorry, is your post supposed to make us feel sorry for tenants now?

The reality is that most people, at one time or another, have had to rent. I have been on both sides of the equation – I’ve been a renter, and I’ve been a landlord.

As a renter, I recognized that my responsibility was to pay rent, keep the unit livable, report any issues to my landlord, and not be an a-hole to those living around me (noise, mess, etc.).

As a landlord, I recognized that my responsibility was to collect the rent, provide a livable unit, perform ongoing maintenance, be responsive and resolve any issues that may arise. I only started renting my house out because I had to move away for work for a couple of years. I can see how that makes me a ‘parasite’ in your very narrow worldview.

As a renter, who is holding a gun to your head making you rent vermin-infested units? I understand being on a budget, but I always rented within my means, even if it meant that I would have to spend a bit more time commuting. Renting centrally generally means higher rents for the convenience of downtown. As part of my responsibility as a renter, I would do *my* due diligence and screen the landlord as best I could. I would ask for references from previous renters. Some were happy to provide, some weren’t. I obviously steered clear of anyone who was reluctant to provide a reference.

Why should Sarah have to apologize for owning a house? And who says it’s her dream house? It sounds like it’s their first home, and that they’re trying to get by just like everyone else. I don’t understand this begrudgery that takes place against anyone who dares to own a home. The reality is that a lot people grow up, get married/co-habitate, maybe have a family, and… buy a house. It’s not that abstract a concept.
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9:24 am on October 17, 2012
andy2394

Most of the points made by Clarke are valid.

But this one is incorrect: “As a renter, who is holding a gun to your head making you rent vermin-infested units?”

The sad reality is many landlords don’t deal properly or extensively with infestation or cockroaches, mice or bedbugs. I understand no one wants that, neither landlord or tenant. But the law states that if you rent your property out for residential purposes, then you, as the landlord, are responsible for such matters.

If you live in your house and you don’t mind living with infestation, that is your prerogative. But if you rent it out, you have a legal obligation even if the tenant knowingly rents the unit expecting you to deal with the problem. It would be like blaming a diner for going to a restaurant that does not comply with public health code on vermin.
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10:30 am on October 18, 2012
Clarke

andy2394 – you’re absolutely right. Of course there are negligent landlords. I’m saying that no one is making you stay there if problems should arise. There are ways to end the tenancy early (through the LTB) that would allow you to leave an unreasonable situation. Presumably, this would also put the negligent landlord on record with the Board. Beyond the LTB, you can also try filing a complaint with the City of Toronto Apartment Standards division – they can enforce compliance if there’s just cause.

My point is that there are ways to be empowered so that you don’t fall victim to substandard living conditions – but you must be your own advocate and be familiar with your options, which is part of your responsibility as a tenant entering into a rental agreement. Just as a landlord should be familiar with the processes, responsibilities and obligations of being a landlord.

I am a full supporter of everyone taking responsibility for their part, whether you’re a landlord or tenant.
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12:08 pm on October 18, 2012
mouse

Owning a home isn’t a right, but landlords are parasites? It’s one or the other buddy.
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10:16 am on November 1, 2012
Bruce Lee

Obviously, you are a deadbeat tenant yourself! Landlords bought their properties from lot of hard work and saving therefore without them where are people like you going to live? In a motel? They will kick you out on first day you dont pay or damage. Dont you get it stupid! Without the timely rental income from tenants, landlords cant pay for the costs of owning the property including mortgage, property taxes and maintenance fees. I cant believe in your stupid response. Please respond to this comment because I want to see how crazy you really are!
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6:07 pm on February 6, 2013
tom

The landlord used their money to buy the place. We have to do all repairs and put of with alot of assholes for tenants ( not all but some are ). We are the parasites? Buy your own damn home then.

My tennnant did at least 10K in damage – if I do the work myself. Somehow that makes me the jerk? Take 10 grand and toss it down the toilet and see how that feels. The guy in front of me inm court today had a tennant do 100K in damage. They took the furnace, the fixtures, tore the pipes out or the wall etc. But that is ok bacause landlords are scum right?
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9:53 pm on February 28, 2013

Donna

Sarah, thank you for sharing your story. My husband and I recently had to find a new place to live after our home of nearly 5 years was sold and the new owners wished to move in. We’d never had to look for a place through Craigslist and Viewit as our two previous homes were found through people we knew, and we were both overwhelmed by the meticulous screening process implemented by landlords– particularly those of places that were decently priced. After reading your story I have a better understanding of why these measures are so important, even in such a competitive city.

One reader suggested a registry that would document people’s tenancy history, I think this a wonderful idea. Credit checks don’t necessarily reflect a person’s suitability as a tenant, and it seems like it wouldn’t be a stretch to set up a bogus landlord reference by telephone. This would not only help landlords, but would take the pressure off of decent renters having to go to extreme measures to prove themselves with a rental unit that may have a dozen or more applicants.
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4:13 pm on October 16, 2012

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Justice

hi donna, just read your post, you are totally right…i moved here from the suburbs and have experienced both sides of the coin….renter and most recently landlord. and got screwed. there is no proper or decent registry, so if you read my post or email me at terribletenantstoronto@gmail.com I want to start that registry. Because either way, people should have the right to know if someone is a conartist (criminal) or not. people have the right to know if a rapist lives nearby…what if a thief is living in your home? wouldn’t you like to know??
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9:56 pm on November 8, 2012

Patrick Clohessy

Classism and Housing 101 for Spoiled Yuppies.

In Response to Sarah Liss’ Space Invaders – The Grid – Wed Oct 10, 2012
http://www.thegridto.com/life/real-estate/space-invaders/

Sarah Liss’ article ‘Space Invaders’ is a rage provoking example of the pompous ignorance to class privilege displayed by so many of Toronto’s urban creative class. The article seems to appeal to the young urban professional home owner, telling a nightmarish story of the grave injustices faced by landlords. It goes as far as to label tenants as “scumbags,” and “deadbeats” who are worse than bedbugs, and generalizes about savvy swindlers who prey on lax laws and the good intentions of their gracious middle class home owning brethren.

Liss’ generalizations are based on her narrow experiences as a landlord, and a few similar isolated examples. Taking these few examples, she completely overlooks the incalculable number of tenants who are abused by landlords. While I haven’t seen any statistics comparing tenant wrongdoing to abusive landlords; based on the examples I’ve seen working in social services, my experience in activist work, and my frequent personal experience with slumlords, I’m confident it’s the tenants who are getting screwed. It’s the tenants who are on the vulnerable end of the power imbalance, who live month to month and face homelessness if things go wrong. And it’s the tenants who pay the landlords bills. With rampant poverty, unbridled gentrification, demolitions, roaches and bedbugs, a 10 year backlog on subsidized housing, and the common yuppie classism exampled in Liss’ article; landlords have an easy time screwing people as the norm.

The list of grievances in Liss’ piece are entirely in the context of home ownership – a privilege many people in Toronto can only dream of. For the working poor, tenants, newcomers, racialized people, and the masses of marginalized folk in Toronto – Liss’ tenant nightmare would seem like a fantasy vacation. If only the most common problems Torontonians had to face were regarding their fancy houses in the Annex or Kensington. If only we had similar dilemmas about our Arts Media jobs, or the maximum number of consecutive Gilmore Girls seasons we could watch without creeping our friends out.

The core issues for Liss and her tenant are essentially the same – somewhere to live. The only difference is class and privilege. Liss has the problem of paying for a fancy house she can’t really afford on her meagre Arts Media salary. And “Traci” was a student from out of town with an apparent drinking problem who needed a place to rent. Sarah Liss may have been intentionally screwed for some rent money by her tenant. If true, it’s unfortunate. I’m sure she’s not a billionaire altruist who can afford to board people indefinitely for free. But she survived to write an article about it. And who knows what happened to Traci?

Taking a few examples of tenants behaving badly to make a generalization about landlords being some kind of “victims of a system gone wrong” is turning reality on its head. It’s time for yuppy media urbanites to step out from their comfortable bubble of yoga mats and designer dogs. Smell the austerity! We’re fucking starving, and your worst problems are petty bullshit.
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1:11 am on October 16, 2012

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Justice

Rude. rude. rude.

Really?? Like you’re any better Mr. Patrick Clohessy….You’re a pure hater chico.
Like hip hop and cristal, you hatinnnnnn fooooo.

Glorifying yourself with a backdoor brag about being an activist and working for social services…wah wah wah wahhhhhhh

All the while dissin on people who go to school, get an arts degree and write their personal experiences in an urbanite paper that YOU read. hating on yogarific yuppies…tsk tsk. Can we ask, are you ‘poor’ Patrick? or do you just feel sorry for ‘the poor’. cuz i’m poor.

Shame on you mr. c…..obviously all your educated years graciously ‘helping’ others and studying the system hasn’t taught you any class or compassion.

What’s wrong with you? this isn’t a war against Tenants and Landlords. And nobody is generalizing…You are generalizing and poking fun at the lives of others, biased to what you are not. Who knows, maybe you’re old, fat and bald and can’t do a downward dog if you’re life depended on it….so what??? i’m not gonna hate. But if you were mugged, then damn that mugger! So why can’t we say damn that traci!!! what a bitch! cuz she was.

But it gets all grey and murky when someone is a tenant…or landlord for that matter. Face it, Sarah got mugged by Traci. Same shit. so relax and stop being rude.

We are talking about bad people in general! Just bad people who take advantage of good people. ta dah!!! all that without using big words!

Sorry for dumbing it down for you Patrick, for I am but a lowly simpleton who has been a tenant in coackroach infested slums, who was on welfare and foodstamps and who has two university degrees, who has worked in social services, who has owned a home and been a landlord as well.

I lived in bed bug infested basement, went to school, got a job and yay! moved into a sexy king street loft! then i moved out of my yuppy loft and into a coackroach infested place, to feed my precious child and dog, as a single parent.

I love yoga, i love jogging, i love graphic novels and Sterling Archer….shallow, yuppy? where do you classify me Mr. C? Am i a hypocrite Mr. C, for wanting a better life, future for my child? Are my problems ‘petty’ enough for you?

So ask me what my asshole tenant did while I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in a mental hospital? He never paid on time. He never paid the right amount. he paid when we did, what he did….90 dollars this week, 100 next week. He put me in the hole. He got the bank telling me they will take my home…its going into foreclosure. he gave me sleepless nights, tears and nightmares. he left shit stains on the toilet, dog shit and period on the carpet. Gave me the gift of a nervous breakdown and put me in the hospital…

So mr. C. you see, unless you have fully lived both sides of the coin, i wouldn’t be dissin’ and whinin’ as much as you. In other words, quit yo’ bitchin and hate on the people that should be hated on…BAD tenants and BAD landlords!
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10:30 pm on November 8, 2012

Anonymous

I’ve been renting for years, and am an excellent tenant. I’ve never missed a single rent payment, am meticulously clean, and have been told everywhere that I am the quietest tenant they’ve ever had. I also have fantastic references. However, due to being hit hard in the recession, my credit is completely wrecked. I find it extremely offensive that so many believe that credit checks are the answer. I have known numerous individuals with stellar credit who are loud, disrespectful pigs. There are other, more effective methods to finding a good tenant than relying on credit checks, which eliminates many ideal tenants.
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12:10 am on October 16, 2012

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Lawboy

Hopefully the use of credit checks is to turn up judgments, collection accounts from previous landlords etc., and not a spotty credit card bill payment history.
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8:55 am on October 16, 2012
Jenny

As a landlord, I agree with Anonymous. I don’t use credit checks as the only criteria for selecting tenants. Obviously, if there are bad credit references from previous landlords, then that is a problem. But I don’t really care if you are late paying your cell phone bill or your department store credit card. For me, the most important criteria is the reference from previous landlord(s) – whether the rent was paid on time or whether there were any complaints from other tenants (e.g. noise).
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3:28 am on October 27, 2012

investor2012

Very interesting and realistic article.

Landlords (and that includes small landlords) MUST start doing credit checks!

You can do an Equifax credit check on a tenant applicant for only $10/check as a member of the Ontario Landlords Association.

http://www.Ontariolandlord.ca
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7:46 pm on October 15, 2012

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Mike Mikelson

There are a lot of “Landlords” here talking about how tough the LTB is on them and how difficult some tenants can be. Here’s a bit of news for you, its a business. All business’ have issues that you have to weigh before you start out. Fact is if you became a Landlord and didn’t figure out what was involved with removing a tenant then that’s your fault. You can’t expect to hang a shingle and make money. How many “Landlords” understand their cap-rate? How many have have a set CapEx prepared each year? I’m sure you’d find that the ones who do are not the ones complaining here.

And another thing. The reason there is very little rental stock being specifically created is not because of the Landlord Tenant Board or bad tenants. Its because if you were going to build a multi-unit residence then it is far more profitable to sell the units rather than rent them off. Think about it, once the building is completed and sold you’ve made your money. With a rental you have to amortize it over a number of years (probably close to 20-25). Therefore it doesn’t make economic sense to build rental properties. Those who have pointed out that the reason for this is otherwise deserve to have issues with their tenants.
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1:24 pm on October 15, 2012

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Name withheld

I don’t see how that’s a satisfactory explanation. Yes….all businesses have risks. But the reason we have rules and regulations governing the practise of each specific business market is so that both producers and consumers can fairly exchange currency and goods/services.

If we could all walk out of a restaurant without paying because we didn’t ‘like the food’…..and the only course of action for the restaurant was to endure a months-long process of paperwork and costly legal appointments?

Assholes would manipulative that market to get free meals and people would be reluctant to open restaurants. The answer would NOT be that ‘all business ventures entail risk’…..the answer would be to revisit and modify the rules and regulations governing that particular market.
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9:04 am on October 16, 2012
Mike Mikelson

Keep in mind when you open a restaurant you factor into your costs (at least you should) losses that you face. You will have to deal with product spoilage, employee theft and customers who walk out the door.

All this needs to be figured into your business plan. You streamline your ordering system to minimise spoilage, accounting controls to reduce employee theft and train your staff to handle customers who walk out. The third point deals with what you’re talking about. Someone walks out of your restaurant then you have to follow legal means to to go after them. You can’t hold them for ransom until they pay you. You have to phone the police, they go after them and if there is evidence that they walked out they are charged with theft. A year later it goes to court and hopefully justice is served. At no point to you get paid back for your loss.

Tenants are not allowed to walk out without paying their rent if they’re unhappy using the current system. They are still responsible for their rent in accordance to the law. Are there ways to manipulate the system? Yes. But those deficiencies are true for both the Landlord and the Tenant.
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10:21 pm on October 16, 2012

afairlandlord

Thanks for the article. This is a real eye opener for me. I think there are bad renters and bad landlords and the writer is probably not a bad landlord but has learned a painful lesson.

I can feel the anti-landlord vibe in some posters comments and I’ve had a few bad ones myself in earlier days but witholding rent was never an option if there was a dispute. And just because someone owns a house and attempts to rent a basement does not make them the enemy. I have come to fall into that category after a divorce and custody issue and as such, I have had to relocate as close to my ex’s home as possible to stay connected to my kids schools, drop off’s, etc. Sure, I could have also moved into a small apartment to survive, maybe even taken up residence at the Y. I certainly could not afford to live in my old hood but bought a house as close as I thought I could afford yet I still have to rent to make it all work. I thankfully have landed solid tennants but could have easily ended up in as big a mess as some have had I not: a) lucked out with nice people & b) done credit checks. Thankfully, my realtor offered me the credit check service.

2 things become glaringly obvious to me after reading this.

1/ You have to do due diligence as a landlord. This is not smalltown Ontario and we are not living in simple times. It’s not the 50′s.

2/ The kind of tennant that refuses to pay rent in this case is not doing so out of rightious indignation or spite because you are a bad landlord. Rather, it reveals a serious deep character flaw. The law needs to change to protect the real victims, be they renter or landlord. Dismissing a pending eviction notice because the renter has promised to pay with a cheque that just bounces after the fact seems to be where all this is allowed to go wrong.
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1:02 pm on October 15, 2012

Reply
Nadine Lumley

Sitting tantalizingly in a warehouse in Winnipeg are 2,000 boxes of information about one of the most fascinating social policy experiments in Canadian history.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/920145–goar-anti-poverty-success-airbrushed-out#article

The experiment began in 1974. It was designed to test the concept of a guaranteed annual income in a small, fairly typical, community. Dauphin, a rural municipality of 13,000 midway between Winnipeg and Regina, was chosen at the behest of former Manitoba premier Ed Schreyer.

The city’s low-income residents were lifted and kept out of poverty, using a negative income tax. (Canada Revenue Agency topped up their income if it fell below the poverty line.) They could use the money as they chose.

…………………

“Canada remains the only country of the G8 nations that does not have a national housing program,” said Lantz. “And this is unacceptable.”

http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/johnbon/2010/10/protesters-renew-call-federal-housing-strategy

♥
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12:46 pm on October 15, 2012

Reply
Randy

What about bad landlords? I rented a townhouse in Woodbridge and the only time I heard from the Landlord in 2 years was when I complained to the Board because he wouldnt do maintainence. The house was filthy when I moved in (smokers had lived there for 4 years previously), needed painting-which I did (two coats on everthing to cover up the yellow smoke stains), a through cleaning (took 48 hours and bottles of bleach and grease remover), cleaned the carpets (again due to smoke and stains everywhere). These were all things the landlord should have done. I was paying $1550.00 a month and he did nothing. Leak in the roof, water pouring into master bedroom….he only had a portion of the repairs done. I did all the lawn and garden work with no rebate in rent from the landlord. He entered the property illegally on a number of occassions (I caught him once). He was a total scum bag and only interested in his monthly cheques while he drove around in his white Range Rover. A total douchebag and the definition of a slum lord. Hope you read this Anthony, you are a complete A**HOLE.
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12:27 pm on October 15, 2012

Reply

Jenny

Usually, properties are rented “as is”, in “broom clean” condition, unless the landlord agrees to do some repairs or upgrades. If the house needed painting when you moved in, you should have discussed this with the landlord before you agreed to rent the place. All landlords and tenants should put in writing exactly what is to be done before move-in, so there are no misunderstandings, which are not a great start to a new landlord-tenant relationship! I always explain by email to my new tenants what will be done before they move in. Earlier this year, I saw a report on CBC’s Marketplace about bad landlords who allowed leaks to happen in their buildings for many months. To me, this makes absolutely no sense – not only do you have unhappy tenants, but a problem that might cost $1,000 to fix today, may cost $10,000 or more to fix in a month or two after leaking, mould, etc. I take pride in my properties, I want them to be in great condition and I want my tenants to be proud to call them home.
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3:42 am on October 27, 2012

Luke

I feel for the writer of this article, as it is very unfortunate to be stuck in a situation such as that described above. My sympathy is somewhat limited, however, by my irritation with people who jump into the rental business with insufficient forethought and become bad landlords.

Ms. Liss admits that she didn’t do a credit check on the tenant before letting her move in, and states that she thought that the mere threat of eviction (an idle threat) would be enough to compel performance on the part of the tenant. As infuriating as it is to deal with someone who isn’t paying rent, Ms. Liss could have prepared herself for such a situation and done the research necessary to avoid or minimize the difficulties it would cause her.

Being a landlord is a job. It is not a casual, part-time hobby. 99% of all residential tenancies will end in either the tenant leaving of their own volition, or of the landlord evicting them for non-payment of rent. It is pure ignorance on the part of a landlord to ignore the realities of the second of these two eventualities.

What Ms. Liss glosses over in this article is the fact that being a landlord allows her to reach a lifestyle that she would otherwise not have access to. Her living arrangement is literally being subsidized by tenants. She owes it to herself and to her tenants to manage these tenancies in a professional and informed manner.

1. Do credit and reference checks. This will go a significant distance in filtering out problem tenants.
2. Don’t threaten eviction when you (a) don’t know how to evict someone and (b) it is a bluff. Frankly, don’t threaten eviction at all. If you want to threaten the tenant, just file the N4 and let that serve as the threat. The notice period allows the tenant to pay you rent, and if they fail to within the time permitted, you can move to evict them.
3. Take the time to fill out the paperwork properly. The LTB will not accept paperwork that is incorrect, and for obvious reasons. When a landlord is successful in an eviction application, it renders the tenant homeless, displaced, and throws their life into total disarray. The standard that must be met is high, and so landlords owe it to themselves to do the homework. A paralegal can help with this work for a small charge.
4. Treat being a landlord like a business. Read the material provided by the Ontario Landlords Association, educate yourself about your rights and responsibilities, and recognize that the rent is something you earn by upholding your end of a legal contract. Understand that, like a business, there will be problem clients and bad days. Expect that at least a few of your tenants will be problem tenants and know how to deal with them accordingly.

There are many problem tenants out there, but the situation is compounded by the number of landlords who don’t seem to acknowledge the responsibilities and potential difficulties associated with owning rental properties.
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12:08 pm on October 15, 2012

Reply

Sarah Liss

Hey Luke -
I appreciate your comments, and agree that being a landlord is a business. We’ve always managed our tenancies in a professional and respectful manner. What I was trying to touch on in this piece—and what I think has been misinterpreted by many readers—is how disconcerting it is, as a small landlord, when someone is literally occupying the same space as you while blatantly disregarding the terms of a legal contract (i.e. not paying rent and refusing to communicate in any manner about their intentions regarding arrears).

To respond to your points:
1) We did do thorough reference checks. We spoke to previous landlords and our prospective tenant’s employer, all of whom had only glowing things to say about her. Ultimately, a credit check can only tell you about circumstances that have come up in the past—and countless students have piss-poor credit, either because they’re carrying a student debt load and/or have not had time to build up good credit. I’m not disregarding the importance of doing a credit check; I’m simply saying that in this case, based on the information we had and now have, a credit check would not have thrown up any red flags. We were open to renting to a student specifically because we did not want to discriminate against students, and because we’re aware a basement apartment is, in general, a transitional space. We had assurances from previous landlords that this tenant had paid her rent in the past, and to the best of our knowledge, this was her first instance of deliberately refusing to do so. As far as we can tell, her choice to consciously stop paying rent came as a direct result of being told by a representative at the Landlord and Tenant Board that she could not be evicted, regardless of her arrears, without a hearing.

2. We “threatened eviction” insofar as we served her with an N4 and noted (as clearly stated on the form) that a failure to pay her rent within the designated two-week period could lead to eviction. Given that she had abandoned the unit and was refusing to take our calls, respond to our emails, or explain what was going on, we felt that we needed to take more formal measures to underscore the seriousness of the situation. We clearly stated what an N4 was in all of our communication with her, and we provided links to the Landlord and Tenant Board website so that she could inform herself. We were compelled to mention the ultimate threat of eviction simply because she did not seem to see any reason that she should pay the rent owing or communicate with us; invoking a consequence was, to us, the best legal way to encourage her to respond to our ongoing attempts at communication.

3. We took pains to try and fill out the paperwork clearly and properly. The problem in this case was a technicality (we had not written the word “basement” in our description of the secondary unit in our house, in part because the official address of the unit does not include the word basement). Otherwise, we went over our paperwork with two lawyer acquaintances who are familiar with real estate law, and they didn’t see any problems. This was an unfortunate glitch. I understand why our adjudicator flagged it, based on the provision in the RTA, but I maintain that it’s absurd that a case in which a tenant is consciously refusing to pay rent (our adjudicator was clear that we had a solid case) can be rendered null and void due to a paperwork “error” that is not in fact an error.

4. As I mentioned, we’ve consistently treated being a landlord as a business. I’d read through the Residential Tenancies Act and had perused the LTB website well before we rented our unit to “Traci.” We are assiduous about responding to any issues that arise with the unit, maintain proper paperwork, and strive to achieve an environment of professionalism and courtesy. But there’s a difference between being an arm’s-length property manager and having to share a building with a tenant—the latter requires a different kind of emotional and psychological respect and understanding because your home is also someone else’s home. Because of this, you’re renting not only to candidates who fit the bill on a pragmatic level (can they pay the rent, etc.?), but ones who you think you can also co-exist with. There’s a different nuance there, which I was trying to express in this feature.

I don’t deny that there are countless terrible landlords out there—and that many of them fail to uphold even the most basic tenets of the Residential Tenancies Act. There are also many, many, many great tenants who can’t find a place to live in Toronto because the vacancy rate is so insane (right now, I believe it’s hovering somewhere around 1.5 per cent, if I’m not mistaken—although that might be off by now), and because rents are so astronomical. This is not a piece about any of those things—it’s a first-person exploration of an experience that, based on my research, is alarmingly common in this city. But I also think there’s a correlation between the current vacancy rate and the fact that a number of those unavailable units are occupied by people who won’t (not CAN’T, but won’t) pay their agreed-upon rent, leaving their landlords in a kind of purgatory.
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12:36 pm on October 15, 2012
George

Sarah,

Responding here because the commenting system wouldn’t let me respond directly–hope this works properly!

While I sympathize with your situation, and you certainly seem like a well-meaning, earnest landlord, there are some issues with the way you’ve characterized things. Luke is right to say you shouldn’t threaten eviction. Check the text of the article–it’s not at all clear that you intended the N4 to act as the “threat”. Furthermore, an N4 isn’t a threat; it’s a document that starts an administrative process, and that, when served, indicates to the tenant that the process has been started. If you want to call this a “threat” for rhetorical purposes, fine (really, you shouldn’t), but own up to it; you can’t have it both ways.

As well, when you say that you “shared a space” with your tenant, you’re being disingenuous. From the sounds of it, she rented a separate basement apartment in your house. If you truly shared a space (i.e. she rented a room in your house, shared kitchen/bathroom, etc), your relationship wouldn’t be governed by the RTA.

Moreover, you mention the added psychological and emotional dimension of sharing a house with your tenant. It’s not just your investment, it’s your home. I understand how this aspect would greatly increase the stress of your situation, especially when you’re worried about making mortgage payments on said home. Again, you’re a particularly sympathetic landlord, and I feel badly for you. But you have to remember, the apartment your tenant was renting was her home. The reason that the RTA has procedural safeguards surrounding eviction is that eviction forces a tenant of out her home. In many cases in Ontario, this results in homelessness. You can’t mount a serious criticism of the RTA’s procedural requirements without at least mentioning (or investigating) the reasons for their existence.

There are other problems with this piece as well–expressing shock that there are serious consequences for performing an illegal eviction, or that the LTB might reject your application based on an error in the paperwork; saying it was “weird” that the tenant did things which were perfectly within her rights (not moving in until after the start of the rental period; not giving you post-dated cheques); failing to mention that tenants are on the hook for filing fees. Generally speaking, this article feels calibrated to attract outrage and conjure the image of the “professional tenant” (“game the system”? Come on.) In my experience, the vast majority of tenants that go before the LTB for rent arrears aren’t there for fun or out of spite or to fuck over their landlords. They’re there because they’re really, truly hard up and can’t pay rent, and they’re embarrassed and frightened and confused and would rather be anywhere else.
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12:39 am on October 16, 2012
Janine Jar

So you are saying that b/c she didnt run a credit check, her dead beat tenant was entitled to not pay rent?
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2:02 pm on October 16, 2012
anon

There is absolutely no way you looked into the landlord tenant act before you decided to become landlords. There are many violations by your own admission in the article you wrote. You aren’t supposed call, email or text your tenant. Everything is suppose to be in writing (that is why property managers send letters about everything) some judges will accept emails some won’t but is that a risk you want to take? Secondly, you wrote that you didn’t bother to do a credit check that is laziness and probably trying to save a few bucks. Thirdly, you wrote that you went to her apartment, something you can’t do without 48 hours written notice. What you did was harass your tenant instead of following the proper procedure laid out by the landlord tenant board. You got screwed over because you didn’t put in the work you should have. Finally, she isn’t living in your space, you have rented out a unit and as such it is HER space. That is why she pays for it.
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6:36 pm on October 16, 2012

Lawboy

Well surprise surprise it turns out folks need to live in somebody’s basement turn out to have a few issues.

I think basement tenants have always been a bit dicey, but I suspect that the reason we are seeing all these cases is that homeowners, who cannot afford their own homes, are jacking up the prices of dumpy basement suites to absurd levels.

I peruse craigslist rental listings for interest, and I’m appalled at the price mortgage poor homeowners are charging people to live in their basements. Note to homeowners: you can charge an absurd price, but only a desperate person will take it, and then in turn will be unable to pay it.
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9:52 am on October 15, 2012

Reply

Paul

So true. It is absolutely insane how much basement apartments go for these days. I guess it makes sense to charge as much as the market will bear, but there is a point where it seems exploitative and I think we’re generally well past it.
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2:06 pm on October 15, 2012
jen

It truly is staggering how much people are charging for basement apartments. I’ve been looking for a cheaper rental for some time ($1200 a month is stretching my budget thin), but the only thing I’ve been seeing in my price bracket are basements, and I refuse to pay $1000 to live in a dark, damp little space underneath people who bought more house than they could afford!

Something has to change with this rental market, and soon.
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8:09 pm on October 15, 2012

sara

Shows like Income Property make it seem like being a residential landlord is easy. It is not. As a former landlord for over 10 years I am glad to be out of the business. The people who bought one of my former properties have no clue about being homeowners let alone landlords, but were led by their real estate agent to believe it was a great investment. I wish them luck.

The law had become too tenant friendly as this article and many like it can attest to. I was fortunate that I never had to deal with the LTB but know plenty of people who did. The thousands of dollars it cost them in arrears and property damage wiped out any rental income they had earned.

I now deal only with commercial property. It is very easy to evict for non-payment and has better tax benefits.
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9:42 am on October 15, 2012

Reply
Thane

So you were “unsure how we were going to survive another month—both financially…” but then when she moved out, you didn’t find another tenant?

Either you needed the money to survive (in which case you would have needed to find another renter) or you didn’t (in which case, you were lying for the sake of your narrative).

Which is it?
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8:58 am on October 15, 2012

Reply

Miss Bee

The tenant has only been gone for a couple of weeks!
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9:42 am on October 15, 2012

Daniel

We too had a tenant from hell last year….she stayed 8 months rent free and we have not collected a dime. We have a collection agency after her now, hopefully making her sweat a bit.

The LTB are a bunch of crooks and they facilitate the crimes against landlords. They give all the power to the tenants and these “professional” tenants know it. They go from rental to rental, paying the minimum and making the landlord`s life hell.

For every bad landlord, you have 10,000 bad tenants.
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1:37 am on October 15, 2012

Reply

Lawboy

Yep, I’m sure that tenant is having a lot of sleepless nights with that bill collector calling her. (Or not calling her, if she simply told the collector that she disputes the debt.)

Let it go Daniel….
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9:56 am on October 15, 2012
Daniel

Hey Lawboy,

If things were the way they are supposed to be, all her crap would be sitting in on the curb or she would be in the apartment with no lights/heat/water like the squatter that she is.

Losers….pure and simple.

There is a misconception from the LTB that all landlords are wealthy. If the tenant does not pay, it means the money comes out of my pocket.

There should be a website or registry where landlords can report bad tenants. The public should be able to search the LTB database for tenant/landlord history.
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12:12 am on October 16, 2012

Sandra

I currently have a tenant from hell too. I can honestly say I never in a million years realized how many losers there were in this world. I’m not saying all tenants are losers… but its ridiculous to see that so many tenants DO think that all landlords ARE losers.

I met my tenant through a friend. (He didn’t know her ‘rental history), he thought she was a woman in need who was just in a tough place. He actually asked me if I could put her up for a while till she got sorted.

I wasn’t renting my suite and had no intentions to do so. I did however take pity on her and empathized with her situation. I too thought she was great and for about 8 months she was. Then she snapped!! Stopped paying rent, wouldn’t move out. Called the cops every time she had a bowel movement and fabricated some far fetched story we were bullying her or harrassing her and even accused me of turning off her power and meddling with her plumbing.

Believe me, I had already taken a crash course in the ACT when I was outside one day and she told me I was interfering with her ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the premises.

I filed a non-payment of rent eviction notice but had to wait a month for the hearing. In the meantime I was able to track her past down and found 5 landlords who had the same horror stories almost verbatim.

two of them were afraid to get involved for fear of retaliation. the rest did give me statements to show a pattern and some were pretty brutal. One guy actually got ‘beat up’ and then she called the cops and told them HE was the one who struck her and she had to punch him in self defense.

This one is a real dangerous psychopath and to be honest its not fair at all on innocent people who are just trying to help someone out.

It gets way better too. She is actually from out of province where in her native province she can’t go back because she has warrants out for her arrest.

I know not all tenants are like this… in the past when I did rent my place I had some wonderful tenants and I am to this day friends with all of them.

Am I to blame?? Answer: yes. Reason: I trusted another human and wanted to pay forward a helping hand!! I invited her into my home and even fed her on many occasions during the week. I introduced her to friends, included her in family gatherings.

I’m just sick about this. I not only lost someone I considered a ‘friend’ I learned after 40+ years of life that some people have not conscience or empathy for the feelings of another human.

I only charged her $500 per month as she is a ‘student’ and I knew funds were limited for her.

I don’t need the money although it came in handy I will admit. I have younger children who are in a few activities and I will say it was very helpful… but not at this cost.

I had my arbitration and I was told to keep the conversation to the ‘facts’ of the case as to why I’m wanting to evict her. I have proven she hasn’t paid rent since August too.

Yet… she sat on the other end and lied through her teeth saying her place was in disrepair and that I was unfair to her and wouldn’t fix things.

She’d never asked me to fix anything before. course she fabricated things that ‘needed fixing’ and basically made me look like the money grabbing scumbag landlord when I have done nothing but look out for her and treat her like a wonderful person.

I am so sad, sick, worried … my kids are petrified because of her recent outbursts. I am sure she is unstable.

The previous landlords (the two who gave me sworn affidavits) have stated they had the same exact treatment, cops, accusations, threats, lies… and the last one ended in eviction.

She told me when I met her that the house she had been in had just been sold and she left her ‘search’ for a new place too late.

The truth is it was the second to last place that had been sold… but the poor woman sold it to get the hell away from her as she couldn’t handle the abuse anymore and couldnt get rid of her.

The apartment before did end in an eviction where the bailiffs had to come and haul her ass out.

Three landlords ago … was a woman with parkinsons who was looking after her son who is dying of a brain tumour. She moved in to obviously help this woman with finances… because the lady landlord obviously couldn’t work. Once she ws in though she turned on her and basically wouldn’t pay her, cranked the heat so the poor woman was getting $800 per month hydro bills and she was threatened that if she got the authorities involved, she’d harm her.

The police are little to no help. they look at this as a RTB issue.

It’s so preposerous that we don’t have rights. The RTB says we do, but we don’t.

again… no two cases are the same.

I dont think its fair though to classify all landlords and slumlords who are greedy the same it’s not right to say all tenants are losers.

They are not, but there are probably a lot on both sides.

I’ve seen some pretty poor statements from tenants on this blog… who I think should be ashamed of themselves… but I am quite sure than few could be as bad natured or as evil as the woman I have.

The worst thing about it is… If she had said to me she was struggling to meet her rent… I’d have worked with her on this… but NO… she has to turn mental on me and put me through the wringer.

so sad… I never thought I would have to not trust … and I always thought I would help others. Now I am not sure I will ever again. Probably I will meet someone who really does need a place to live … but I’ll not help all because of this one person.
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1:15 am on October 15, 2012

Reply

MzZoe

Feel your pain. We’ve had several rentals in the past and a few bad experiences. Most tenants have been good but the bad certainly are not easily forgotten. At the end of it all, despite a HUGE pain to go thru small claims, we didn’t see a penny and it cost us more than it would have to let go the lost rent. Sick. And people wonder why there is a shortage of rental properties. Some renters regard landlords as money bags and figure they can afford the loss of rent. We can’t. The rent pays the mortgages, plain and simple. The Act needs to change.
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7:50 am on October 15, 2012

name withheld.

I saw the headline in this paper and was immediately intrigued.

Left-wing paper…..stereotypically right-wing gripe.

Fact is, the most interesting occassions arise when our idealogies rub against actual real life experience. Sarah writes “This is the weirdest and thorniest part of the process, the ethical quandary that comes from casting your lot on the side of The Man”. But what when an individual that identifies themself as ‘against the man’ is involuntarily cast in that role?

I am a male. Also a feminist. I was a victim of violent spousal abuse in which the perpetrator was female. She was also a well-connected socialist activist with ties to many feminist organizations. When she could no longer violently abuse me…..she falsely accused me of spousal abuse against her. She used many of the activist organizations available to her. I was the one characterized as a ‘controlling/abusive husband’ and it felt like the whole world I had grew up in…..the ‘liberal’ community….had now cast me in the role I spent my whole life criticizing.

It gets really boring when we simply ‘pile-on’ for those events in which our idealogical identity is clear on. When you find yourself on what feels like the ‘wrong’ side of the debate…..there’s the rub.

Toronto clearly has some beauracratic complications with tenant/renter relationships. It is much to easy for tenants to manipulate laws and procedures originally put in place to put a ceiling on the behaviour of slumlords. We go wrong when we respond to specific events in a reactionary way that is determined by our idealogy.

It’s clear that Sarah Liss would have been justified in kicking Traci to the curb. She couldn’t. And alot of knee-jerk reactionary grid-readers will not sympathize simply because she falls on the wrong side of the issue. They can’t make her grievance compatible with their idealogy. This is how bike-lane enthusiasts end up carrying signs that claim Michael Bryant was a ‘murderer’. When we apply our version of who the good guys are….who the bad guys are…..based not on circumstance, but on idealogy…..we produce innocent victims and guilty idols.
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9:18 am on October 14, 2012

Reply
gloria

I thought it funny that someone who owns one house and rents out an apartment or a house, would be required to get an accountant and a lawyer, as some tenants suggest. This would of course be added to your rent.
I know people who have several houses and rent them out and don’t have lawyers and accountants. No one would rent out space, if it becomes a fulltime, very expensive business.
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10:26 am on October 13, 2012

Reply
AC

Everyone, whether landlord or tenant, should feel free to speak out about any injustices or inefficiencies they experience when dealing with a public institution/laws.

But it is worth noting that many people only seem to decry the ‘injustice’ of institutions when those systems are not working in their favour – regardless of whether or not their claim/defence/whatever has merit.

I’m not saying the author’s arguments lack merit – but only to say that it is incredibly disingenuous to dump wholesale responsibility on ‘the system’ when a business was entered into without an understanding the potential risks and rewards. If you want to earn income through your property, there’s a certain risk that goes along with that – and part of the risk is that you get a manipulative ‘deadbeat’ tenant – it’s the investor’s responsibility to mitigate their risk to the extent possible.

Also – trust me, if it was the person on the other side who filled out their form incorrectly, you would be complaining that it prevented a fair hearing etc. etc. and would demand that the matter be delayed until the proper form(s) were filed, so this has really nothing to do with unfairness to landlords.
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12:21 am on October 12, 2012

Reply

gloria

Apparently it is quite easy to fill out the forms incorrectly, and one Landlord and Tenant Board customer service rep? said that it would be advisable to get a paralegal. My tenant had a paralegal.

It is very costly for working class people who are renting out space in their home to supplement their income to go to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Incorrectly filled out form and it translates into more time, and more money to be spent by the landlord.

It is not worth the risk to rent your house to a stranger, even if they formerly lived 3 houses down as you could lose your house.
Also the privacy laws should allow deadbeat tenants to be be identified earlier. If you have lived in 3 spaces in a year(as with my deadbeat tenant)maybe the Landlord and Tenant Board should not waste time with you.
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9:50 am on October 13, 2012

butterdave

A few simple calls to a tenant’s previous employer(s) and landlord(s) – while not foolproof – would greatly minimize this kind of unfortunate occurrence.
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4:34 pm on October 11, 2012

Reply

gloria

My tenant from hell;s landlord lived 3 houses down and he moved her into my house, and (I believe) paid her first month’s rent.
The speculator who purchased my home(which I had to sell to get rid of her) did the same.
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10:16 am on October 13, 2012
DS

Nice try. They fabricate the previous employers and landlords…you need a detective to verify if the so-called previous landlord really is a previous landlord. Some of these tenants are expert at it.
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10:39 am on October 15, 2012

ding

I’m curious – how much were you charging this woman for her basement apartment? And how much of your mortgage did that cover? Did you think you were a good landlord? Those are all important details you didn’t include in your article. I mean, it sounds like at the first sign of trouble you decided to threaten her with eviction, instead of trying to resolve it. I would ignore your calls too because who wants to live like that? In the end all you needed to do to get her to leave was to talk to her face to face. And I think it’s shitty of you to disclose embarrassing personal details about the tenant, who by the way is probably reading your article right now, just because you happen to write for the Grid and can. Is “deadbeat” another word for poor? Thank fucking god it’s so hard to evict.
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3:02 pm on October 11, 2012

Reply

oliver

The writer didn’t threaten her with eviction at the first sign of trouble. She tried to communicate with her tenant repeatedly, only to be ignored:

“It wasn’t just that she had stopped paying rent—it was that she refused to communicate with us.”

She then served an N4 notice, which is following the protocol laid out by the Landlord Tenant Board. Contrary to popular belief, it is illegal for a tenant to withhold rent. If the tenant has issues with their rental unit, the Landlord Tenant Board has other options to address those issues.

From the LTB:

A tenant should not withhold any part of the rent, even if the tenant feels that maintenance is poor or a necessary repair has not been done. A tenant should file a Tenant Application about Maintenance with the Board (T6).

A tenant can be evicted if they withhold rent without getting approval from the Board.

If a tenant files a maintenance application with the Board, the tenant may ask the Board to allow them to pay some or all of their rent into the Board until their application has been decided. It will be up to the Board to determine whether or not to grant the tenant’s request.

There is a form called Request to Pay Rent to the Board on a Tenant Application About Maintenance that tenants should use. This form is available from the Board.

So, if a landlord should be aware of their rights and responsibilities (which they should), so should *the tenant* entering into the rental agreement.
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3:52 pm on October 11, 2012

BR

Yet one more reason why “investors” accepting sub 4% cap rates on new condos are absolute suckers! You’d better bank on capital appreciation to compensate you for the MANY risks you’re taking on, foremost would be risk of capital from price declines and risk of running into a tenant like this. Investors used to understand this. Today they don’t. But they’ll learn.
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2:25 pm on October 11, 2012

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gloria

I was a working class single woman trying to hold on to and maintain a 100 year old house. We are not dot com millionaires. I assume most tenants are looking for a space and not rying to get a free ride for 4 months(as my tenant did). She sent me an email when I requested the second month’s rent, that she would not pay me a cent.
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9:52 am on October 13, 2012
mick

Gloria, pardon the directness of my comment…you were an idiot as are almost all landlords who take on tenants without proper due diligence on numerous issues.

at a minimum;

1. character references
2. credit checks
3. letter from employer (or whomever their financial provider may be), etc.

in a nutshell, BR is bang on. if i had $1 for every time i have to talk a client out of becoming a landlord, i would have at least $8/week.

Far too many people think that leveraging yourself with an “investment” property or “over buying” a personal use property and then relying on a renter to payoff your leveraged mortgage is a slam dunk. Wrong. It is a stupid risk that may very well bankrupt a person if they are not cash flow rich enough to weather the storm.

as a working class woman, you should have purchased a property that didn’t require you to rely on anyone but yourself, period.

if you were a dot com millionaire, a renter would be the last thing you need.

All leveraged landlords, heed BR’s sage advice.

good luck
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10:18 am on October 15, 2012

Lindsay

How can you possibly rent out a unit without doing the proper research. It sounds to me like you wanted to make a quick buck and took the easy way out. Why did you rent out a unit without understanding the landlord tenant act and knowing how to properly evict a tenant? Why did you choose to skip the credit check because you thought she seemed “nice”? Not knowing or understanding your rights and respsonsibilites as a landlord does not make you a victim it makes you lazy and quite frankly, stupid.
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12:34 pm on October 11, 2012

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dj

probably because she’s nice an has faith in people – bitch
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1:40 pm on October 11, 2012
Lindsay

It’s a business not a friendship. If you are going to be a landlord it is your responsibility to understand how the system works. You wouldn’t hire someone simply because they seemed “nice”. Nice is not a synonym for responsible.
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3:24 pm on October 11, 2012
anon

great non-obvious comment lindsay. as if the writer hasn’t realized all of this after going through this ordeal.
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3:52 pm on October 11, 2012
gloria

Unlike yourself Lindsay, most of us are not professionals. My father rent to working class tenants like himself and didn’t have any trouble. He didn’t get the best rent, but he rented to serious people who were looking for a place to live, not trying to avoid paying rent. I got a squatter.
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9:54 am on October 13, 2012
Janine Jar

Even running a credit check on someone, does not mean there is NO WAY they will not, not pay rent. There is no 100% way of avoiding this. What if someone looses their job, or has a accident? And for those reasons can no longer pay rent. What your saying is that it then becomes the landlords responsibility to carry them through life b/c they rent their property? The article is about the system we have to rely on, when these situations occur. If you were walking down the street and somebody robbed you, you would like to know that if you call the police, justice will be served. Or mabey you would be ok with it as long as they have less income than you. Then they would be entitled to rob you. Than that would make it ok, you would turn the other cheek and be on your merry way right? Everyone has a family to feed bills to pay, food to buy, tuition to pay, metro passes to purchace etc. etc. So when is it justified to steal from someone? When ppl dont pay their rent, that is stealing from the landlord. If you have fallen on hard times call on family or friends or move out till you get back on your feet. It happens to many and is part of life. But in no way, should you ever put the burden on someone else, also trying to survive in life. That is just WRONG and SHAMELESS!!
PPl have their own struggles and problems to deal with.

And what does one thing have to do with the other. Good tenants and good landlords should not have to pay for deadbeat tenants and deadbeat landlords

You should use your theory and start stealing from big chain department stores or high end stores, simply b/c they have lots of money and that makes you entitled to do it right. And dont forget the mom and pop business just struggling to survive. You are entitled to steal from them too b/c they own something and you dont. That makes them evil.
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2:55 pm on October 16, 2012

Andrew

I’m not denying that the writer or her sources didn’t have bad tenants or that a hearing at the LTB can be harsh, but I can say that this article makes me miss Eye Weekly. There was a time when this paper (or should I say its predecessor) offered an alternative perspective (i.e. that of tenants) to that which could already be found in the Star, the Globe and Mail, etc., etc.
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11:51 am on October 11, 2012

Reply

gloria

The writer did not get the worst tenant, I did. The tenant lived 3 houses down from me in High Park and was a middle aged woman who said that she had an environmental small business. She had references and credit reports. Glowing reports. She put her friend, a seamstress, on the lease and said that she could get a third person. I thought that would cover the rent for the house. But she only paid first and refused to pay last and she had perfume sensitivities and demanded that all cell phones be turned off and demanded around $100,000 of renovations to my home to suit her “needs”. She sent me so many crazy emails that friends told me that she must be on ODSP, so I forwarded all these to the worker there, but due to privacy laws I could not confirm that she was on ODSP. I told them that I was her landlord and I was not getting any rent, and where was her ODSP money going? She refused to break the lease and a lawyer friend told me that this was the only way out. She had a paralegal there when I requested she break the lease. After a month, she sent me an email that she would not pay me any rent. I was also warned by my friend that if the Board found that she had mental health issues she would have the upper hand. When my father rented space in his home, and there was a disagreement, the tenant moved, now you can have a tenant in your house for 3 to 4 months and not pay rent.This tenant was a hoarder, slept on a mattress on the floor and removed everything in the basement to the walls
Small landlords are a discriminated against minority. They have no rights.
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10:08 am on October 13, 2012

Al

Sounds like Landlord Tenant Board is run by a bunch of Commies. Useless and inefficient. They reward, ‘the weaker’ party? More like the lazy and the irresponsible.

Who is going to stand up for the hardworking people? The ones that get themselves through schooling, find work, positively contribute to society and start building their own future? So, after of years of working hard and saving up for their own home with rental unit this is what they get? Commies and bums.
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10:50 am on October 11, 2012

Reply

Vee

There you go Sarah. That’s your audience.
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3:54 pm on October 11, 2012

gloria

Large landlords can cherry pick their tenants and won’t let in bad tenants after credit and reference checks since they have well paid lawyers and accountants and property managers. Small landlords cannot afford to be so picky, so they get the leftovers.
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10:31 am on October 11, 2012

Reply

Anonymous

Thats very true. I’m about to become a landlord (only bc there is no other way to slowly transition into the Toronto housing market), and I don’t want to pay a lawyer or an accountant or real estate agent to find a tennant. Why would I spend extra money on that? It’s rediculous that you can stay in an apartment and not have to pay rent. Its absurd! I work hard to buy a house that I can rent out- so why are my rights less important than the tennants? This makes NO sense whatsoever!
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11:09 am on October 11, 2012
Unbelievable!!

I agree with you Anonymous; this is outrageous to see that some people can be abused that way and noone is helping them. This is causing a huge amount of stress emotionally and financially and this shouldn’t be tolerated.

Yes some landlords are bad but this all story about some tenants is purely disgusting. Clearly the landlords who end up dealing with tenants like these are not the bad landlords….. Make a difference.
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6:38 pm on October 11, 2012
AC

Anonymous says:
“and I don’t want to pay a lawyer or an accountant or real estate agent to find a tennant. Why would I spend extra money on that?”

And herein lies the problem…Anon wants all the perk of being a landlord (steady income stream) without any of the responsibility – e.g. “Why would I engage specialized professionals to advise me as to my investment/legal rights and responsibilities/potential liabilities?! How silly! All I need to be a landlord is four walls and my entitlement!”.

Ridiculous.
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12:08 pm on October 12, 2012

gloria

I had to sell my house to get rid of deadbeat tenant and I was the second one on the street to do this in one year because of the same tenant.
She found a third home in a year in the same area, High Park. In both cases the former owner helped her find a place, helped her move and provided her with money for the first month’s rent.
I am a working class single woman and I became unemployed after almost 10 years and had to sell the house to get some income I had a mortgage. Also the woman is an environmental activist who has both mental health issues and knows her way around the Landlord and Tenant act(she had a paralegal with her when I went to collect the rent).
I made the mistake of renting a house to someone who lived down the street. First mistake. Secondly, don’t trust the most recent landlord reference. He may just want to get rid of her.
I was told that she has to display a pattern of not paying rent by the Landlord and Tenant Board. Also there is no help for landlords with little or no income from Legal Aid and the Small Landlords Asscciation lawyer told me that people with small incomes should not rent. Also if the tenant claims mental health issues there may be even more difficulities.
I think if the tenant sends you an email saying that she refuses to pay rent, she should be told to leave.
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10:27 am on October 11, 2012

Reply

Thane

If you own a house, and make money off owning property then you are, by definition, not working class.
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9:03 am on October 15, 2012

C

I think one the biggest problems here is that quite literally anyone (with access to financing or lots of cash stowed away) who buys a place with self-contained rental units or with the intent of renting the property entirely, can be a “Landlord”.

You can’t drive without a series of tests, you can’t operate a boat, machinery, you can’t apply for a spot in a municipal daycare without learning the ins and outs. Hell, you can’t even register your kid for city swimming lessons without doing an immense amount of research. But for whatever reason, anyone can rent out a closet in their house (or sometimes a super nice apartment) without needing to know what constitutes meeting the building code, fire code, etc.

Maybe the legislation needs to be reformed to ensure that some criteria have to be met, first?

I have fallen victim to some horrendous landlords, especially in my early 20′s when I was basically moving once a year. Some didn’t need you to sign a lease (yes, red flag, hindsight is also 20/20), some didn’t take cheques (only cash…) and some didn’t live or work in Toronto (or Canada) and had their uncle’s brother’s cousin “managing” the property for them (i.e. collecting rents like a dictator and NEVER responding to inquiries about repairs, etc.).

So yeah….maybe something like that needs to be in place?
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9:51 am on October 11, 2012

Reply
Nick

So, apparently you have to file correct paperwork to evict someone. Also, don’t cry if you let a real estate agent talk you into a purchase of a home you can’t afford/don’t want. Caveat emptor.
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9:26 am on October 11, 2012

Reply

gloria

Yeah it may take you 3 or 4 months and meanwhile you have to pay your mortgage. I had a hoarder in my house who slept on the floor and removed the entire basement to the walls.
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10:29 am on October 11, 2012

No easy way out

You and “Traci” both seem to suffer from a lack of taking personal responsibility for your actions. You, for not doing a credit check on her and properly filling out the eviction application, and “Traci” for not paying her rent and responding to your e-mails as promptly as you’d like.

You also seem to have an issue with the concept of being a landlord. “Traci” wasn’t living in your home. She was living in her apartment. If you make the decision to rent to someone, especially in a basement apartment that doesn’t sound like a legal basement apartment considering the amount of noise and food smells that make it to your unit, you kind of have to accept that you’ll occasionally be reminded that the place isn’t all yours.

While it’s easy to write “Traci” off as a psychopath (especially since she had no opportunity to defend herself in your story), I wonder what role your actions as landlords played in the matter? One sided tales like this are exactly why the Landlord Tennant Act should exist and not be and a quick and easy fix for overextended homeowners who decide the person living in their basement doesn’t fit their lifestyle.
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9:16 am on October 11, 2012

Reply

Legal Apts

The law states that a residence can be separated in to three separate units before it has to include separated ventiliation and services. Luckily, we have lived in peace and harmony with our co-residents, as the landlord lives offsite. We have connected ventilation and often can smell or hear what the other tenants are doing. The house has only one furnace and one water heater in basement unit, the thermostat is on the main floor and we have to keep our windows open on the second floor. That is what happens when you are not in a concrete block building. But it’s not “illegal.”
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9:41 am on October 11, 2012
MC

Right. So it’s OK to not pay your rent, not be responsive and generally shirk your responsibilities as a tenant… because you can? Because there’s a flawed system in place that allows you to? Agreed, some people get into being landlords blindly and naively. That does not make them malicious landlords – it makes them inexperienced. There needs to be a better educational system for both landlords and tenants. There’s a level of responsibility that needs to be upheld by both parties.

Not every tenant is a nightmare…. and not every landlord is a slumlord. The unfortunate mess that is the Toronto housing market has put a strain on both renters and homeowners.
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9:41 am on October 11, 2012
gloria

If Traci was a psychopath you would have great difficulty evicting her in Ontario.
I had a tenant who had mental health issues(no perfumes, no cell phones, demands for $100,000 of renovations on a 1919 house to accomodate her) and knew her way around the Landlord and Tenant Act(she had a paralegal with her when I went to collect the rent), and you have to be very careful to not bring this up if she refuses to pay rent as this will be held against you and you will have great difficulty getting rid of her.
Why is Traci not living in one of the large apartment buildings? She couldn’t pass a credit or reference check that is why. Tenants like Traci should be happy
that there are small landlords who will rent to her. Everyone should treat everyone fairly, but a tenant who has no intention of paying the rent should be evicted. And Traci probably did it before, but of course the landlord can’t find it out due to privacy laws.
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10:39 am on October 11, 2012
Guy Macher

Landlords only want people who will pay rent and look after the property. And if a tenant in the basement doesn’t fit the lifestyle of the landlord, when the rental agreement is up, what’s the problem with that?
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9:17 am on October 15, 2012

Mr. Late

Wow … who would want to be a landlord under these conditions? Talk about red tape and making a simple issue complicated. No wonder nobody wants to build rental units!
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7:46 am on October 11, 2012

Reply
Homeless and Employed

I would have so much more sympathy for your case if landlords in this city weren’t literally robbing tenants BLIND.

I have searched for a place to live for 4 months. Anything under a grand is littered with bedbug carcasses or smells of 10 years of indoor smoking.

$1400 for a basement 1BR at Ossington and Bloor?!?! $1100 for a bachelor basement in Parkdale?!?!!?

If you are charging this much for a place for one person to live, you deserve everything coming to you.

Having said that, there should be laws protecting BOTH sides of this situation.
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7:10 pm on October 10, 2012

Reply

Ronald

you read this entire piece and this is the insightful comment you have? smh
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6:57 am on October 11, 2012
Chris

“The rent is too damn high!”
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8:59 am on October 11, 2012
Gloria

You’re not looking hard enough; in fact, you’re barely looking, if you’re really just picky about the worst things like bugs or smoke.

We’ve been looking to move up from our basement apartment ($750/month, including utilities) and we’ve seen many listings in the downtown area for well under a grand. If we weren’t already in a basement, we’d be looking at a lot of places.

Try an apartment building if you’re on a budget.
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10:53 am on October 15, 2012
Jay

Apartments are very expensive in Toronto, but that’s because real estate is expensive in Toronto. If you have $500,000 mortgage on a house, you’re paying $2,000/month, minimum. It’s not a landlord’s job to lose money on an apartment to subsidize you.

You can find better deals than $1400 for a basement 1 bedroom, and you know it. My partner has a 5th floor bachelor at Church and Wellesley that he moved into 3 months ago for $875/month. Is it luxurious? No, but it’s clean and fine. You have to hunt around. Toronto is the place that A LOT of people want to live, so demand is high for places to live, so the prices are high.

If you want to pay $500/month for a one bedroom apartment, either get in your time machine and go back to 1990, or move to Timmins.
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11:24 am on October 15, 2012