‘Landlords do not sign up to financially support their tenants,’ writes Donna Gareau

People become landlords for a variety of reasons, believing it’s a good investment. Most small-ownership landlords are working people who own one or two houses or condos, maybe a basement apartment in their own home; some increase their investments to 10 or more units. Regardless of the reasons, it’s an investment for the landlord and an essential service providing housing for tenants.

What it is not is an agreement to be a social service. In normal times or during a pandemic, landlords do not sign up to financially support their tenants.

It’s no secret in our province that the landlord and tenant board, which oversees the legal disputes between the two and enforces the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), has been in a dire state of affairs for years. So much so that in January, the ombudsman agreed to investigate the serious delays.

Enter COVID-19 and the premier’s state of emergency order on March 17. The LTB is closed indefinitely except for emergency applications, so the backlog of cases – upwards of six months – is about to get longer.

Take the case of a young couple living in the City of Toronto with two small children. Like many people, they wanted to own their own home, but with average prices in the City between $600,000 to $1 million, it was simply out of their reach.

Continued in the Toronto Sun