After dropping greater than $8,000 to an individual he describes as “an expert tenant,” landlord Nicholas Sikatori desires politicians to repair Ontario’s “badly damaged” Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).
On the high of his record is permitting landlords to shortly evict tenants in clear instances of non-payment, avoiding what’s now typically a months-long course of he mentioned hurts each tenants and landlords.
“It is simple to repair,” Sikatori informed . “No hire, no keep. Landlords are leaving models empty due to the chance [of renting to bad tenants] proper now.”
Sikatori endured a six-month ordeal to evict a tenant who stopped paying after the second month, deliberately delaying the authorized eviction course of, then demanded hundreds of {dollars} in fee to go away.
It began final August when Sikatori purchased an eight-unit house on Ross Avenue in St. Thomas, renting out a two-bedroom house to a person who receives a month-to-month stipend from the Ontario Works (OW) program.
Their association was that the tenant’s $1,200 Ontario Works hire complement was paid to Sikatori instantly, with the tenant agreeing to cowl the stability on the $1,800 month-to-month hire.
Sikatori mentioned the man paid first and final month’s hire and in addition for September. After that, Sikatori mentioned, his tenant did not make one other fee.
‘Landlords are leaving models empty due to the chance proper now’ -Claire Whittnebel, ACORN
Sikatori filed an L1 kind with the LTB, which is a authorized eviction discover utilized in instances of non-payment.
Nevertheless it took months to play out, partly as a result of the tenant was capable of get two keep orders authorized by the board, each delaying the eviction by greater than a month. Sikatori mentioned the tenant additionally failed to point out as much as a number of the LTB on-line hearings, and people no-shows added to the delay.
“The adjudicator would simply postpone it, leaving me helpless,” mentioned Sikatori.
A number of months into the troubled tenancy, Sikatori mentioned his tenant requested him for $10,000 to go away in a “money for keys” deal.
“He wasn’t going to go away in any other case,” mentioned Sikatori. “He was not afraid of being evicted by the sheriff.”
Sikatori did some digging and mentioned he discovered his tenant had used related techniques towards earlier landlords. Sikatori mentioned the final landlord gave Sikatori a false optimistic reference simply to eliminate him.
Determined, and now out hundreds in hire, Sikatori threatened to put up his eviction notices towards the person on Openroom, a web site that compiles court docket paperwork and LTB selections in a searchable on-line database.
Sikatori mentioned the positioning has change into a typical device for landlords to display potential tenants. The tenant finally agreed to vacate, as long as Sikatori did not put up his eviction order to Openroom and in addition agreed to cease chasing him for again hire.
“If I had paid him $10,000, that will have been his first and final month’s hire for his subsequent house,” mentioned Sikatori.
Whereas tenants typically complain the LTB works towards them, Sikatori mentioned his months-long ordeal illustrates the LTB is not serving landlords properly both, as a result of it may tie up rental suites for months.
A tenant from the Webster Avenue residences in London holds an indication advocating for metropolis officers to strengthen their renoviction bylaw by requiring landlords to relocate and supply hire top-ups to displaced tenants. (Isha Bhargava/CBC)
Sikatori’s state of affairs illustrates what was clearly spelled out in a scathing 2023 Ombudsman’s report, which discovered widespread issues on the LTB, illustrating it is not working properly for landlords or tenants.
A report launched final 12 months by Tribunals Ontario discovered the LTB had a backlog of 53,000 unresolved instances.
Tenants additionally say fixes wanted
Claire Whittnebel of the London chapter of the tenants rights group ACORN agrees the LTB “is not working for anybody.” Nevertheless, she mentioned any fixes coming from the following authorities at Queen’s Park ought to first be directed to serving to tenants, saying the system is weighted in favour of landlords.
In our expertise, landlords have extra entry to attorneys.- Claire Whittnebel
She’d wish to see a return to in-person hearings, which are actually solely executed by video chat, and a triage course of for tenant functions to hurry up the listening to course of.
“In our expertise, landlords have extra sources to entry attorneys,” she mentioned. “The system must be improved, however our focus is on tenant conditions.”
What the events are saying
Ontario Progressive Conservatives informed in November they’re spending a further $6.5 million for 40 new LTB adjudicators together with 5 new employees members.
Additionally final fall, the province introduced it will introduce the Slicing Crimson Tape, Constructing Ontario Act to hurry up operations on the LTB, by permitting employees to miss small errors in functions and provides executives the ability to reassign instances to a brand new adjudicator if the unique one fails to finish a listening to.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Legal professional Common mentioned the province has made latest investments within the LTB — together with spending a further $6.5 million in 2023-24 for 40 new adjudicators and 5 new employees.
ACORN was vital of these modifications, saying they included measures that will enable client reporting businesses extra entry to details about tenants who’d fallen behind on their hire.
In an announcement to , the Ontario Liberals agreed the LTB “wants an overhaul.”
They’re providing phased-in hire management and in addition say they’d rent extra adjudicators to get disputes resolved “in two months.” They’re additionally proposing an emergency reserve fund to assist susceptible renters keep away from eviction in the event that they fall behind in hire on account of an emergency. The Liberals additionally need a return to in-person hearings and extra face-to-face helps, together with counter service, for tenants who need assistance with the method.
In an announcement issued Thursday, the NDP mentioned fixing the LTB will probably be a part of a wider bundle of helps for renters, one that features “actual hire management” in order that rents do not leap so sharply when models change into vacant. The NDP additionally guarantees to crack down on renovictions and restrict short-term leases to the property proprietor’s main residence.
