A legal watchdog has blasted both the government and the Landlord and Tenant Boards (LTB) on the well publicized delays that have ballooned from 12,944 as of March 31, 2018 to 32,800 on March 31, 2022 according to the Tribunal annual report.
Tribunal Watch Ontario is – according to its website – an advocacy group of professionals legal minded people concerned with the integrity of Ontario’s system of tribunal justice.
Their report – published this week – is damning with this summary with regard to the Ontario landlords and tenants situation. According to Tribunal Watch:
- Small landlords are losing their life savings because of an inability to obtain an eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board.
- Tenants are unable to have their disputes resolved in a timely and accessible way, including disputes resulting in unsafe living conditions or homelessness, or involving unreasonable conduct by landlords.
The advocacy group caution the government that “landlords and tenants have increasingly turned away from using the LTB to resolve their disputes” like “including illegally changing the locks or refusing to pay rent” according to the report. A situation frequently discussed in private online forum by frustrated landlords and tenants.
Tribunal Ontario is skeptical of the recent 1.4 millions infusion to the LTB by the government to tackle what it sees as a “structural problem” – namely the online hearings and the lack of financial support to tenants in difficulties. Although SOLO position has always been that small landlords deserves also financial support like every other group during this post pandemic economical situation.
“By doubling down on these two structural shifts at the LTB, Tribunals Ontario is compounding the delays that started with the failure to retain experienced adjudicators” concludes the watchdog.
The full report is on the Tribunal Watch website with the LTB detailed from page 3 to 5. This in addition with the intense SOLO lobbying and the numerous media mentioning the unbearable delays both for landlords and tenants – put the ball in the government court.
