As a tenant:
We had never rented a home until 2019; when we decided to rent for a year, and then use that time to find a home we could afford and love.
Well … the pandemic broke out, my husband lost his job, and he was without work for a few months, so when our one year lease was up, our landlords asked if we were planning to stay. We said, “Yes, for one more year”, and gave them 12 new cheques for our rent. We thought we would be ok.
By the end of that SAME month, we were told they were listing the house. We couldn’t believe it. Why ask us if we were planning on staying and accepting our rent, if they were going to list it? We always paid on time. We had even repainted the whole house. We had cleaned it when the previous tenants had left it a disaster. We felt: “it may not be our house, but it’s our home”, so that’s how we took care of it.
They sold the home and gave us 60 days to leave. Being first-time tenants, we had no idea what our rights were. We did find out the landlords owed us compensation, which they refused to give, but eventually did give us a part of .
As a Homeowner:
When looking for a new place, we decided to try buying a home. A friend of ours found out we were looking in Innisfil and told us about a home that was, however, still occupied by a tenant and her family. When we arrived at the house, the tenant refused to let us in. The landlord had suspected this would happen and called the police to keep the peace. The tenant was told by the police that we had every right to look at the home because she had been given 24 hours’ notice. We were able to do a walk-through with the police. We knew that if we purchased the home, we would be gutting it and doing full renovations.
At that time, prices of homes hadn’t spiked yet, so we put in an offer and the landlord accepted. The landlord provided the tenant with an N 12 and an L4 (or an L2… I can’t remember). The tenant was given 60+ days, which meant she had until February 28 to leave. We were to move in on March 14, 2021. The tenant did not leave on February 28. She refused to leave until she had had her day in court.
At first, I was confused. How could she do this? We had bought the house. Didn’t she have to leave? Now, I understand why she refused to leave; she had been paying well below market rent, especially for a full house, on a large lot with an in-ground pool. As much as I disliked her for refusing to leave the home, I feel that the LTB is to blame for how long the situation played out.
MY FAMILY OF FIVE WAS LEFT HOMELESS FOR 11 MONTHS!. In those 11 months, we had to go through three hearings before our case was fully heard.
The first hearing allowed the tenant to ‘play games’ which prolonged our case, preventing it from being heard. Having run out of time for that hearing, we had to reschedule. Our second hearing “disappeared” off the LTB’s schedule, even though we had proof that we had a hearing for that day, forcing us to again reschedule. On the third date, we finally got to speak and be heard and the case seemed to fall in our favour. The adjudicator said we would have a decision by the end of the day. The end of that day came and went, and we were given no decision.
Day-after-day, we waited with no response, so after a week, we contacted the LTB and were told that the adjudicator could take up to 60 days to make a decision. If we had heard nothing after 60 days, we could submit a formal complaint. 60 days came and went: we had heard nothing. After 60 days, the landlord, his wife, my husband and I all submitted formal complaints. Four days after our complaints were submitted, a decision was finally made:. The tenant was given 11 days to leave the home, and she owed the landlord money for all the paperwork they had to submit to evict her.
We feel let down by our government, who allows the LTB to operate this way. . We acted in good faith. Why should a family who bought a house to live in, be made homeless by a professional tenant and a system so skewed in her favour? Sorry to say, but we’re happy that she screwed herself over when pulling this stunt, because she ended up with 11 days to find another place to live and rent had increased hugely since the time she originally had been handed the N12. I found out during this process that she had pulled this stunt with a previous buyer, who had pulled out of the deal. She probably thought we’d do the same. There were times we (and the landlord/seller) felt broken and fed up, but we had no choice. Homes had skyrocketed in price, and the home we purchased is estimated to have increased in value $200,000 more from when we had bought it. I hated the tenant for a long time for doing this to us. We didn’t even know her. I still have ill feelings about her actions. I understand why she did it, but at the end of the day, morals have to kick in. She knew my family was homeless.
My real anger is for our government which allows these situations to happen. Buyers like we are should never have to stress and wait for a home they rightfully bought while a tenant enjoys a home she is stealing.
