It is a litany of abuse, disfunction and sheer incompetence that the just released Ontario Ombudsman Report highlighted on the state of the solo landlords when dealing with the Landlords and Tenants Board (LTB) the administrative judicial body dealing with rental disputes.
Among the findings and “host of inefficiencies” the investigation identified were:
- A shortage of qualified adjudicators (members), compounded by a lengthy, cumbersome appointment and training process
- A complex application process that sometimes forces applicants to start over for errors.
- Antiquated systems that are not equipped to triage or expedite urgent cases, track orders and member caseloads, or identify members near the end of their terms
This has led to enormous suffering that Solo landlords are well aware. The complaints against the Landlords and Tenants Boards have skyrocketed prior to launch of investigation (January 2018 through December 2019) from 471 to 4,345 after launch of investigation (January 2020 through April 2023). The entering applications in system standard was 3 days but in reality in 2022 was 3 months. And the scheduling hearings for evictions and rent collection with a standard of 25 days was in reality in November 2021 was 66.5 days. The average time to schedule landlord applications: 6-9 months as of March 2023. The applications received per year are 80,000 and the backlog went from 20,000 in 2020 to over 38,000 currently.
Excerpts from the 97 pages report : “Trapped in the queue: Selected stories”
- A landlord’s urgent application in September 2020 to evict a tenant who tried to slash the throat of another tenant was heard a month later, but it took two more months for the order to be issued. (Para 38) A 74-year-old landlord applied in December 2019 to evict a tenant who assaulted him and damaged property; an order wasn’t issued until January 2021. (Para 41)
- A landlord applied in December 2019 to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent. The hearing was delayed during the pandemic; an order was not issued until March 2022, by which time the unpaid rent totalled $36,000. (Para 43)
- A 78-year-old woman who depended on income from a rental unit to pay for a personal support worker for her 90-year-old husband applied to evict an abusive and non-paying tenant in March 2020. She became depressed and suicidal after waiting more than six months to hear from the Board. (Para 44)
- A man purchased a home in 2018 that had an existing tenant who never paid rent. By 2022, he was living in a trailer without utilities and using homeless shelters while waiting for the Board to process his eviction application. (Para 45)
- A landlord whose two tenants had not paid rent for several months and damaged the property was living in his car while waiting for the Board to process his applications in October 2022. (Para 46)
- A woman who rented out the upper half of her home and lived in the basement sought to evict the tenants in December 2021 because she was dying of cancer. In March 2022, she was told to start the process over again because of an error in her application, but she died two months later. (Para 128)
- An ailing woman was granted an expedited hearing to evict a tenant so she could move her caregiver into her basement unit. The hearing was held within five months, but the order was not issued for another three months. (Para 172)
- A single mother of a child with autism was denied an expedited hearing to evict tenants who refused to pay rent or allow her to inspect the property in August 2022. She was in debt, jobless and facing eviction herself. The matter was scheduled for December 2022, then further delayed because a French hearing was requested, even though the adjudicator was bilingual. (Paras 173-175)
- A landlord whose tenants didn’t pay rent and were suspected of violent and criminal activities sought an urgent hearing in October 2020. The request was granted but the matter was not heard until July 2021. (Paras 182-184)
- A landlord asked for an expedited hearing in March 2020 to end a tenancy so he could use the property himself to recover from surgery in October 2022. His request was granted in July 2022, but the hearing didn’t happen until December 2022, two months after his surgery. (Paras 185-186)
- A landlord applied in September 2020 to evict a tenant for damaging property and not paying $11,000 in rent. She couldn’t access the online hearing in February 2021 and couldn’t reach the Board. By the time the matter was reheard in July 2021, the unpaid rent had more than doubled. (Para 219)
- A woman waited 10 months for an online hearing in October 2022, but she had trouble logging in and the matter was dismissed. It still has not been rescheduled. (Para 220)
A landlord whose tenants were threatening her sought an expedited eviction order in August 2021. The hearing was held in November 2021, but the Board lost track of the file and called it “closed.” The order was not issued until June 2022. (Para 230) - A landlord who applied in June 2019 to end a tenancy so his daughter could use the rental unit was told in February 2020 that the matter would have to start over because the assigned member had left the Board. The hearing did not happen until February 2021. (Para 266)
- A landlord’s February 2021 application to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent was twice delayed because the assigned members left the Board. By August 2022, he was owed more than $19,000; as of January 2023, he was still awaiting an order. (Para 269)
- A landlord was granted an expedited hearing in March 2021 to end a tenancy for illegal acts, but the member left the board without issuing an order; the matter was not reheard until October 2021, after the tenant had moved. (Para 272)
- A newlywed couple hoped to move into a home they purchased from the husband’s grandparents. They applied to evict the existing tenants in June 2021 and had a hearing in November 2021, but heard nothing from the Board until June 2022, when they learned the member had left the Board and a new hearing had to be scheduled. (Para 274)
The full report is available at the Ombudsman website.
