Today, a new story of a landlord’s struggle and the tenant who takes advantage of this. Today’s story is about landlord Ryan (not his real name) and Ryan’s tenant, I’ll call him Freddie, or as Ryan suggested in our interview, “Freeloading Freddie.” Ryan’s story goes back to April 2021 when Freddie came to him in dire need. You see, Freddie had sold his house and was desperate to find a place and help the sale finish. He needed to rent a unit for a year and was willing to pay a full year up front. Ryan was happy to help and I’m sure he was pleased to see that many months in advance. But, Ryan made it clear, after the year, Freddie might need to move out and Ryan might want to move in or sell his home.
Fast forward to a year later and Freddie was asked to move out. It seems fair that Ryan warned Freddie, and let’s face it, Ryan did him a huge favour by helping him in his time of need last year. This is no cakewalk for Ryan either because he has a child on the way and needed to take over his house for his growing family. I guess you can tell what happened next, Freddie decided he wanted to stay and decided he wouldn’t pay rent. To add insult to injury, when Ryan requested a signed N11, Freddie (aware of how ‘Cash for Keys’ works) asked for $35,000 for the pleasure of moving out. I’m sure Ryan was wondering how someone could be so horrible.
So Ryan turned to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), filed an N12. He managed to get a hearing for June 11, 2022. Ryan logged into to the Zoom hearing ready to explain the urgent need to get his home back and plead his case. This was not to be as the LTB made an email address error, forcing another delay until October. Now, with months in unpaid rent, Ryan has to turn to LTB and file an N4 form with Freddie refusing to budge.
Ryan is now stuck with a tenant who hasn’t paid four months of rent and $1,500 in unpaid utilities and, just to add insult to injury, Freddie happily cashed the N12 one-month compensation cheque. The financial burden for Ryan is nearing $20,000 with paralegal fees. Ryan and his pregnant wife must rent an apartment somewhere else while also paying for the tenant’s housing. LTB delays and incompetence made this possible.
There are two things I hear too often when speaking to landlords. Ryan emphatically echoed this statement when I talked to him. “I’ll never go out of my way to help a tenant,” and “I’ll never rent again.” As landlord myself facing many thousands in arrears, I share each of these sentiments. As small landlords who provide housing, many of the rules are so onerous that it’s us landlords who have to pay for bad actions.
