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Thread: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

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    Canada Avalon Member Justplain's Avatar
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    Default Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    I recently have endured a run-in with a tenant here in Ontario that enlightened me as to the severe legal disadvantages landlords face here. (By the way, this was with our only tenant as a 'small fry' landlord.)

    I do find it amazing that landlords rent at all in this province. Here are some of the absurdities that landlords have to face here:

    1) landlords can be charged under the 'Municipal Act' for municipal bylaw violations committed by their tenants, even if the property is under lease and the landlord had no idea of the infraction.

    2) if a tenant does property damage to the rental unit, the landlord cannot have the tenant criminally charged, unlike someone who throws a stone through your window and will be charged. The landlord has to go through the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) or small claims court for recourse.

    3) it is difficult to evict a tenant even when they are conducting criminal activities on the premises and/or causing property damage.

    4) the landlord tenant board can force a landlord to allow a delinquent tenant to stay in the rental unit when any or all of the above are occurring.

    5) the tenant can impede a landlord's access to the premises, such as refusing to give the access code to a home security system (the landlord has to appeal to a government agency to force this info to be divulged by the tenant) .

    6) landlords have to resort to small claims court to recover costs from delinquent tenants who often cannot be located and/or have no assets. No other recovery method is available except collection agencies whom take a high percentage and often wont consider pursuing delinquent tenants.

    7) landlords have to serve documents to tenants such as eviction notices and then pay for an affidavit of service, and the landlord cannot use the LTB after eviction, whereas tenants only have to file a complaint with the LTB and dont have to serve the notice to the landlord and can file a complaint with the ltb up to a year after eviction.

    8) Landlords can be forced by municipal property standards enforcement to repair rental units that have been (willfully) damaged by tenants, who may not be paying rent, and whose lease indicates the tenants have to repair damages.

    All of these concerns point to a severe injustice and double standard in the way landlords are treated under the law in Ontario.

    When i see "social justice" on LTB signs it makes me laugh.
    Last edited by Justplain; 27th September 2017 at 15:58.

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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    The answer is simple, they dont want you to be a landlord and make extra money (potentially on the side without paying tax) so they make it very hard to be a landlord and reduce the numbers.

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    United States Avalon Member raregem's Avatar
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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    Thanks for sharing. It is abuse to the landlord/ property owner.
    I experienced this very same thing in Texas this past year. I lost many thousands of dollars. They destroyed my property and lost rent and moving there crud out. Not to mention roach infestation, Disgusting. New appliances, new carpet all destroyed. Law ignored the issues. Hired lawyer, law still ignored their job and wouldn't remove them. Back to court. They were squatters to boot. I am living in poverty now from all the loss and a car wreck with the loss from the physical and financial. The person I stay with is abusive.. so I do not know anymore about life and people. So much, so cruel, so betrayed by strangers and friend and a family member. Just crazy, unreal.
    Well, back to looking with in as to why I attracted such abuse. I wish you all the best.

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    Ecuador Honored, Retired Member. Warren passed on 2 July, 2020.
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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    All of the points that you make can be converted to losses of money. These all cost the landlord money to rent the property. It seems to me that the laws that you cite will eventually force the rental rates higher so that landlords can cover these excessive costs as simply the cost of doing business. Therefore, ultimately, these costs will be passed to all tenants - good and bad. Those who cannot or fail to pass along the losses will get out of the business. Any existing rules controlling rate increases will only slow the process.

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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    Yes, I know that feeling. Here New York State is a pro-tenant State. Evictions, money for repairs, criminal activities and all of that are the same as you describe. I almost lost my house thanks to "professional renters" that go from one house to another pay first month rent, security deposit and then they live free of charge for the next 6 to 10 months until the eviction is done and there's nothing a landlord can do. In my case the tenants went away and new people who I never met before came to live in my house and according to police I had to allow them to live free too even when I did not have a lease or contract with them. Not a funny time in my life, I still rent the house; just got educated on the fact they have the good hand in their favor.

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    Canada Avalon Member Justplain's Avatar
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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    So sorry to hear of your situation, raregem. Is there a landlord help service in Texas? There's a helpline in ontario for small time landlords, its a service linked to legal aid, but i found that it wasnt very helpful, though they did tell me the rules. One thing that i have done that helped was called the provincial ombudsman's office to file a complaint. The 'ombudsman' in ontario is a citizen's rights watchdog service that sort of acts as a government funded counterbalance to problems with government services. The service centre guy advized me what i could do with a problem i was having with a municipal bylaw issue.

    I really believe that landlords and property rights have been severely eroded in our society, and it seems that the small folk are the ones suffering. I havent heard of too many complaints from the corporate world, who appear to have another set of rules. But, then, what's new?

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    Canada Avalon Member Justplain's Avatar
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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    Quote Posted by latina (here)
    Yes, I know that feeling. Here New York State is a pro-tenant State. Evictions, money for repairs, criminal activities and all of that are the same as you describe. I almost lost my house thanks to "professional renters" that go from one house to another pay first month rent, security deposit and then they live free of charge for the next 6 to 10 months until the eviction is done and there's nothing a landlord can do. In my case the tenants went away and new people who I never met before came to live in my house and according to police I had to allow them to live free too even when I did not have a lease or contract with them. Not a funny time in my life, I still rent the house; just got educated on the fact they have the good hand in their favor.
    Hi, latina. The renters we just evicted were almost of the 'professional' type. They admitted to my maintenance contractor that they had ripped off their previous landlord by not paying rent for the final six months of their previous tenancy. I heard about that about six months before they started witholding rent from us claiming fictitious problems with the house. I immediately started the legal eviction process which had them out a little more than two months later. I would recommend getting a good real estate lawyer or paralegal who can advize how to best terminate a tenancy quickly. And, after that if/when renting a unit again, do a thorough background check on prospective tenants, including getting 5+ years of previous landlords, employers, etc. That was my mistake, i didnt do a proper background check, the references given were family and friends which is not the way to do it. I got too impatient and paid a heavy price for my error. The damage to our rental property is in the area of five thousand bucks, and although i have a court judement against the tenants i will be lucky to see a dime cuz they have no assets worth anything and work for cash only. I guess this is a life lesson learned, but i feel sorry for those who need this type of income to survive.

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    United States Avalon Member raregem's Avatar
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    Default Re: Don't be a landlord in Ontario

    Latina, that is also what happened to me somewhat. I had rented to a family and had a contract. They moved out without me knowing and put some of their extended family in. All avenues legally during the eviction process were fairly useless. Also, I did not mention how this all came about trying to sell my home with renters in it. The real estate agent scammed me and did not show up for the final sale. He did take the buyers' ( squatter ) down payment though. I have a hard time thinking like these people or I would have been on top of it better than I did. I took a great loss and sold for less than half the value plus paid all the clean up etc.. It is over now.
    p.s. the women was so thrilled to put this over on me like she had pulled off a coup. lol. guess she did. Her hubby was a convicted pedophile which also caused a problem for me. Not serious just the tentacles can affect you in ways we don't think about.
    Last edited by raregem; 27th September 2017 at 21:30. Reason: addition

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