This story is just heart-wrenching. It was difficult not to feel for someone going through so much. For all we do as landlords, Elsie (Julie was used as a pseudonym for the initial article) is probably the one person who doesn’t deserve what she’s had to face. Her story is one of a single mother of an autistic child who needs almost constant care. Her child has faced a near constant upheaval, leading to serious deteriorations in health.
Update: Help out Elsie, donate to here GoFundMe here.
Update: Elsie’s story has been picked up by the CBC. See the story here.
Elsie’s story starts when she buys a small condo townhouse in Orleans, ON, a city in the Ottawa area. The sale’s closing date was April 6, 2022. As part of the sale, the previous buyers assured her this new tenant would respect a 60-day notice to take over the home. As planned, Elsie served the tenant with an N12 on May 10, 2022, and compensated as per the process. But they decided not to vacate. Not only this, the tenant decided they’d just not pay rent, period.
As of October 1st, the rent unpaid will be $8,550.00.
But this goes so much deeper than a refusal to leave. The dominos for Elsie have been falling in almost every respect. The only people who can give Elsie her life back are the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), and they’ve thus far denied her request for a shortened hearing timeframe. While this all ensues, Elsie is denied access to her new home with threatening tactics (letters on the door warning of infections) and blocking entryways. Elsie has no way to make regular inspections, nor can she get contractors into the house if something needed to be fixed. One visit Elsie made, the tenant forcibly tried to close the garage on her head. Given this sort of arrangement, Elsie has almost no way to gain access to her house.
The new tenants also blocked access to the house during the sale leaving Elsie in danger of losing financing. To buy this house, Elsie took a higher interest loan just keep the sale alive – to buy a house she has never used. This terrorizing seems straight out of a pulp crime novel, yet horrible tenants with no conscience and the apathetic LTB gives life this horrible injustice. The fact that there is proof the tenants might be growing copious amounts of marijuana suggest that there is far more for them to protect than just a low rent grandfathered over 12 years.
Elsie has had to find new living arrangements which means being a renter herself. As the vicious cycle continues, Elsie now struggles to pay her current rent, facing an N4 notice in the same manner as she’s had to serve. She is missing property tax payments and the house purchase is in danger of defaulting. Imagine all this pain while paying to house freeloading tenants. This deep loop of pain and despair is fuelled by LTB delays.
Here’s the thing. Elsie has already called a suicide hotline and her young autistic child is developmentally held back by these delays at the LTB. I get that they’re covered in a mountain of cases and paperwork, but for the love of God, if there is any case to prioritize, this is one. How can we let this happen to people and consider ourselves a benevolent society? We need to take action and get the LTB on track. I’ll let Elsie finish this post in her words:
“If I die, let it be known that LTB killed me. Let it be known that I have sought every help I know of and the LTB is willingly hurting and robbing my daughter of vital services. Let it be known that I did everything I was asked to do, cheated no one, but the government decided to ruin my life. I have cried and begged, and begged some more and spent too much…I AM TIRED.”
A GoFundMe has been setup. Please click here to help Elsie.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Call 211 in Ontario or Talk Suicide Canada at 1-833-456-4566 any time of the day. There are many other resources that can help locally.
