Laura Petit moved into her present rental in Thunder Bay, Ont., as a result of she wished to dwell someplace quiet and accessible whereas recovering from open-heart surgical procedure.
Nevertheless, she stated, her County Park rental residence has introduced a slew of recent stresses.
She lives within the residence along with her brother, who she stated typically does upkeep work on it at their very own value. However Petit stated she nonetheless lives in concern {of electrical} fires, having her utilities shut off and threats from her landlord
“I do not really feel protected. We’re simply type of dwelling from in the future to a different,” stated Petit, 58, a former private assist employee (PSW).
CBC has spoken to a number of Thunder Bay households who say the identical landlord has shut off their energy, which is unlawful below Ontario regulation, and has didn’t make repairs and threatened them.
Petit and different tenants and their advocates say extra must be performed to guard folks from landlords who repeatedly violate housing legal guidelines.
Petit stated that when she first moved in, she seen some upkeep points, together with a leaky roof, blown fuses, a damaged kitchen gentle and a broken door. A lot of the retailers within the kitchen did not work or emitted smoke when she plugged objects into them, she stated.
Regardless of a number of requests, her landlord did not repair the issues, stated Petit. She started to fret {the electrical} issues might result in a hearth. Her landlord, Jesse Mac Dougall, lives in British Columbia and does not all the time reply rapidly to her texts, calls or emails, stated Petit.
The unpaid bills began coming within the mail, she stated. Whereas the utilities and web have been included in her hire, Petit stated, Mac Dougall would direct her to open the letters addressed to him — they contained “Excellent Steadiness,” “arrears discover,” and “Service disconnection might happen” notices from hydro, water and web suppliers.
“We [Petit and her brother] attempt to be good, be affected person — we repair a number of issues that we did not harm. However but we nonetheless undergo this,” stated Petit.
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Paul Dubé says each landlords and tenants need to have a greater system to settle their disputes.
When energy and web would get minimize off, Mac Dougall would request early hire funds or more money to have the providers restored, she stated.
“The hydro is disconnected, they can not give me element,” she stated in a textual content to Mac Dougall on Aug. 15 that CBC has seen. “Ship me cash,” Mac Dougall wrote again.
When she paid the invoice on to the utility firm to get her energy restored, she stated Mac Dougall despatched her a sequence of voice memos, which she additionally shared with CBC. The cellphone quantity the voice memos have been despatched from is identical quantity Mac Dougall listed as his “most well-liked cellphone quantity” on an eviction software he submitted to Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board.
A male voice could be heard screaming and swearing.
“Unhealthy Laura, unhealthy,” stated the memo, “Now you are being silly and I count on an apology from you, you Jackass.”
Petit instructed CBC: “He is attempting to scare us. And to me, that is not proper. I pay my hire each month.”
Different tenants relate related points with landlord
Petit and a number of different present and former tenants who had rented from Mac Dougall instructed CBC they skilled very important providers being minimize off, harassment and upkeep points.
Shirley Sutherland stated she moved into one among Mac Dougall’s properties in 2019, however left final yr after her water was minimize off for about six months.
Chopping off a utility isn’t a authorized treatment.- Douglas Kwan, lawyer
“The neighbours gave me water. I stuffed up tubs and whatnot. It was like dwelling again once you had no [running] water,” stated Sutherland.
She stated she finally bought annoyed she could not bathe or do laundry, so stopped paying hire.
In accordance with Sutherland, Mac Dougall “stated there’s one thing flawed that wanted to be performed with the pipes, however nonetheless I do not know in the event that they mounted it.”
CBC has seen a lease and eviction software filed by Mac Dougall confirming Sutherland’s tenancy, however was not capable of independently confirm her accounts of important service interruptions at that deal with.
Chopping very important providers all the time unlawful, lawyer says
Landlords have an obligation to supply very important providers and guarantee a rental unit is protected and liveable, even throughout disputes over hire or different points, stated lawyer Douglas Kwan.
Water, gasoline, electrical energy and fuel are all thought of very important below the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), as is warmth between Sept. 1 and June 15.
Douglas Kwan, a director on the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), says he’s frightened about what is going on within the rental market and many individuals’s lack of religion within the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). (Ousama Farag/CBC)
“Chopping off a utility isn’t a authorized treatment,” stated Kwan, director of advocacy and authorized providers on the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario.
Unpaid hire and different complaints should be addressed by way of an software to the LTB, stated Kwan.
Landlord beforehand violated tenants’ rights: courtroom docs
Court docket paperwork obtained by CBC present the LTB discovered Mac Dougall withheld very important providers and harassed two earlier tenants.
Mitchell Kent, a paralegal representing Jeremy Capar and Blair Soloway, stated his shoppers had requested Mac Dougall to repair a leaky bathroom and different issues, however no repairs have been performed. The owner submitted an software to evict them for non-payment of hire. At a November 2022 LTB listening to, it was decided the owner withheld electrical energy for nearly two months and threatened the tenants with eviction and violence, in keeping with listening to data.
“GTFO earlier than issues worsen. I’m planning to take this bodily right here with each of you… WRATH OF THE LANDLORD,” reads an e mail to the tenants from Mac Dougall, who additionally goes by the identify “Powerhouse.”
“Do you know I used to be a Bouncer at a Hell’s Angels bar all by way of out my 20’s? I did not like ingesting an excessive amount of however I positive do take pleasure in beating the piss out of Silly Gentiles such as you which might be thieves (sic),” he stated within the e mail.
Kent stated Capar and Soloway determined to go away the home and transfer right into a trailer as a result of the threats left them afraid for his or her security. The LTB decided Mac Dougall owed the tenants $6,579.61. When offset by the $5,882.93 in unpaid hire, Mac Dougall owed just below $700. Kent stated his shoppers by no means obtained any cash.
‘I like evicting folks,’ says landlord
In accordance with courtroom paperwork obtained by CBC, Mac Dougall has had different dealings with the regulation that are not associated to being a landlord. He is awaiting trial after being charged with uttering threats to trigger dying or bodily hurt in West Vancouver in September 2023, the paperwork say. The allegations haven’t but been examined in courtroom.
Mac Dougall was additionally discovered responsible of assault after incidents in Surrey, B.C., in 2021 and Sudbury, Ont., in 2011.
CBC reached out to Mac Dougall for remark by e mail.
“I’m a ‘UFC fighter’ with a 100% knockout charge once I carry out. Fearing me is sensible,” stated Mac Dougall in an emailed response to the reporter who contacted him for this story.
Mac Dougall has by no means been an Final Combating Championship fighter, a UFC spokesperson stated by way of e mail.
Jesse Mac Dougall lives in B.C. and is a landlord for varied Ontario tenants. (Jesse Mac Dougall/Fb)
Mac Dougall agreed to an interview however stated it could require scheduling an appointment together with his workplace, which might value $77.77. CBC’s Journalistic Requirements and Practices (JSP) prohibits paying for info from a supply in a narrative. After CBC knowledgeable Mac Dougall of this coverage, he stated he was elevating the value to $180.
“Eviction is simply a part of the sport, proper? And I like evicting folks now,” Mac Dougall stated on his podcast, known as “mister mcdoogle,” within the April 2022 episode “Ocean A Properties — Eviction.”
In the identical episode, Mac Dougall stated he has confronted monetary pressures from tenants who did not pay hire and felt annoyed with lengthy wait instances on the LTB.
“I am compelled to take issues bodily. It’s what it’s, man. I will go to jail for 90 days … I nonetheless revenue in jail.”
Tenants say they really feel LTB favours landlords
Landlord-tenant conflicts have gotten extra infected partially resulting from dysfunction throughout the LTB, stated Kwan, the lawyer.
The LTB was discovered to be “basically failing” to supply swift justice, in keeping with a Could 2023 report by the province’s ombudsman. A tribunal backlog ballooned to greater than 38,000 functions, as the common time it took the board to schedule hearings went from days to seven to eight months, the report stated.
Tenants wait longer than landlords to have their issues addressed, stated the report. Tenant functions took as much as two years to be scheduled, in comparison with the six to 9 months it took to schedule landlord functions for a listening to, the report stated.
Whereas the LTB now estimates it’s scheduling hearings sooner this yr than in 2023, many tenants are ready triple the time of the official estimates, the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations instructed CBC final month.
Sutherland stated she did not attempt to contact the LTB when her water was minimize off for six months as a result of she did not suppose they might be capable of assist her.
“I believe the tribunal is with landlords, what I imply? … they do not have a look at the those that hire locations. They need to do it equally.”
Kwan stated seeing particular person landlords repeatedly violate the regulation with none seen penalties degrades tenants’ belief within the LTB’s capability to guard them.
CBC requested remark from Tribunals Ontario, which oversees the LTB, however didn’t obtain a response by publication time.
As for Petit, she stated she’s looking for a brand new rental, however competitors for models inside her funds is fierce.
“I wish to dwell someplace the place I could be at peace and revel in my life, no matter time I do have left.”
