The city of Toronto is not helping the tenants by launching a legal challenge with respect to non paying tenants eviction. That is the conclusion of many small landlords groups in Ontario.
Earlier this month, the City of Toronto launched a legal challenge to the 2006 Ontario Residential and Tenancy Act amended in 2020 which gives landlords some protection from non paying tenants. The law allows tenants to be evicted without a hearing if they fall behind on late payments after signing a binding agreement to be up-to-date with their rent payment. .
According to press reports and the The Toronto Star citing a court filing, “the city of Toronto argues that the Bill 184, called the Tenant Protection and Community Housing Strengthening Act, is unconstitutional, violates the personal safety of tenants, and creates “an unfair administrative process” that facilitates evictions. accelerated.”
The majority of cases brought into the Landlords and Tenants Board (LTB), the quasi judicial administrative body that has exclusive jurisdiction on tenancy issues in Ontario are for non-payment of rent. In the fiscal year 2020-2021 landlords applications to Terminate & evict for non-payment of rent (L1) were 24,481 out of 41,647 applications, a whopping 58 % of all cases brought to the LTB. The amount of arrears owed to landlords amounts to hundred millions of dollars in unpaid rent.
The LTB mediates a payment agreement that the tenant agrees to pay on a timely manner. If the binding agreement is breached the landlords have the right to bring an application for eviction which may be granted ex-parte – i.e. without a hearing. This will save court time since non payment of rent is a legitimate ground for eviction.
S.D. is a Solo landlord whose tenant has refused to pay rent for 4 months getting an arrears of 9,200 dollars and when the landlords waited 7 months – the current average time to get a hearing – the tenant agreed to pay off the arrears now mounting to 16,100 dollars. Of course the tenant did not pay and S.D. applied for eviction and is waiting for the order that should come “any time now”. Then the landlord has to apply for a sheriff eviction which may take up to 2 months. As it stands the landlord is out 32,000 dollars for 10 months but still has to pay for repairs, insurance, mortgage, property taxes etc…
“When a tenant refuses to pay, what is there to “negotiate”? Why do we need a hearing to discuss what?” fumes S.D. who claims he is going out of the rental business in Ontario. “I can’t afford to house people for free. Would you?”
According to a Solo Landlords Inc. – a small landlords organization – board member: “This is why we have in part a housing shortage in Ontario. If you can not evict a non paying tenant within reasonable time, why stay in business to house people for free? Many landlords are selling or leaving their property empty because of the delays to get a resolution and that is unfortunate because the current situation penalizes good tenants in need of affordable housing.”
The city of Toronto legal challenge is seen by some as a “waste of taxpayer money” since according to the Toronto Star, the city’s own legal department has in a secret report advising elected officials against it.
