Previously, I had written an article about how the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) has become a useful tool for landlords in Ontario. Useful, but alas not perfect. CanLII is an organization separate from the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB), and they can only post the decisions the tribunal sends them. Not all tenant/landlord disputes that are resolved using the LTB necessarily show up on the database. I secured an eviction using a mediator supplied by the board. Both the landlord and the tenant meet with a dispute resolution officer who facilitates the meeting. Discussions are confidential, and thus if a settlement is reached, it is not posted. As a landlord, I was happy my name stayed private, and no doubt my tenant was happy he did too. This is often an incentive for both parties to reach an agreement. In my last article, I wrote how some decisions are missing for invalid reasons. A landlord could not find his case which went to tribunal. Since it was not on the database, he sent his copy of the decision to CanLII. CanLII, contacted the LTB about the missing decision, and the LTB summarily sent it, but the landlord still does not know why it took his actions to prod the tribunal to do the correct thing and post the decision.
Still, the database is a remarkable tool for landlords, not only for vetting tenants, but also for reading how the adjudicators have ruled in past disputes that may parallel landlords’ situations. Some interesting things can be gleaned from the database. I was reading through the case decisions of last February, and one decision rendered by Member Richard Ferriss on Feb 3, 2021 caught my attention. I was sure that I had read the same tenants’ names before, and once I searched the database, the names came up in an earlier decision rendered September 8, 2020. In the September ruling, the male tenant stated his employment income as an Uber driver had suffered because of the COVID pandemic; thus, he fell behind in rent. The arrears accumulated from January 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020. The second ruling made by Member Kevin Lundy states the tenants’ arrears accumulated between May 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021. The SAME tenants had two leases with different landlords simultaneously for four months. There was no explanation given for the overlap of tenancies. The tenants did not show up for their second hearing. One can only speculate as to the reason. Why would an Uber driver have two tenancies simultaneously, and not pay either landlord?
Another tenant by the name Arif Adnan Syed— who held multiple leases simultaneously— is being investigated by police. News reports state that he duped over a dozen landlords by renting large homes and making them into rooming houses. In some homes, more than twenty people moved in and paid rent to Syed, yet he did not pay rent to the home owners. He did, however, make regular lease payments for the Lamborghini he drove. Arif Adnan Syed has cases filed against him by two different landlords on CanLii. Where are the other cases? It may be that he settled in confidential mediation. It may be that the decisions have not yet been released by the LTB as it is behind by over three months in updating at time of writing. Many of this notorious “professional” tenant’s cases cannot be found on CanLII, at least not yet. CanLII is a useful tool for landlords, but imperfect. Not until the LTB begins to send decisions promptly to CanLII for publishing will it become better.
By Maria Watson
Follow this series of articles by clicking the links:
How the LTB is making a mockery of Canada’s Open Court system
Surprising information which a Landlord can find on CanLII
CanLII, the media and the Ontario Landlord
The opinion expressed does not reflect the official position of Small Ownership Landlords Ontario Inc. They are to be construed as the opinion of the author only.
