Discouraged

Why is it that there seem to be so few self-proclaimed tenant advocates/activists types that actually are inclined to do anything that might be construed as in any way positive or productive?

I find it extremely discouraging.

If the sort of so-called advocates & activists that show up in the Ontario Landlord Association forums are any indication, it's no wonder that the situation - for both landlords and tenants in Ontario - is such a mess.

No respect - not for tenants or landlords. They constantly frame - and speak to - tenants as incompetent infants incapable of taking responsibility or making decisions for themselves. And of course, as far as they are concerned, every single landlord is an evil greedy slumlord. It doesn't matter what we say, they cannot see past their biases & lack of respect. 

I understand that people who have never been landlords do not see things the way those of us who have do - in fact, I know that as a tenant, I too was ignorant of the realities of being a landlord. But at least I treated them with respect. And when there was an issue, I talked to them ... funny...I never once had to run to the Legalized Theft Board to resolve an issue (nor did any landlord ever feel the need to serve me with any sort of form/notice/whatever).... but among those who participate in the forums, that is the ONLY possible approach to anything. Name-calling, rudeness, and file with the LTB.

The landlords too sometimes recommend that a tenant who has asked for advice file with the LTB - but very rarely without at least first suggesting that they talk to the landlord directly and attempt to resolve their difficulties.  Which is not to say that we are all perfect any more than the tenant uh... ~contributors~ are; many of us are more than a little frustrated & cynical & fed up, and it definitely comes through.... but most of us do try to treat others with respect, and to offer actual advice when it is requested.

It is more than a little discouraging to be constantly attacked no matter what we say.... but more than that, I am discouraged because if these interactions are any indication at all of how ACORN and the other activist/advocacy groups work, the likelihood of any sort of positive or productive dialog happening is slim to none.

People on assistance, people with any sort of disability, and seniors are increasingly going to be discriminated against when it comes to housing in Ontario - and no one seems inclined to do anything to fix that.

It is very unfortunate - especially because it does not need to be this way.

Simple low and no cost fixes ... but hey... what do I know. My solutions tend not to make anyone rich ... must be useless then, huh?

Legalized Theft

Legalized theft – while I am willing to concede that this is not the actual intent of Landlord & Tenant Board Legislation in Ontario, this is, in fact, the reality. The system is broken.  

If someone books a hotel room, pays for one night, and then the next day, refuses to either pay or leave, are they permitted to stay there for months on end, continuing to pay nothing, while enjoying all the amenities that the hotel has to offer? Of course not. The hotel calls the police, and the person is ejected, and quite possibly charged.

And yet, when my tenants give notice that they will be moving out at the end of the month and then fail to leave, what happens? Absolutely nothing.

Not only am I unable to have the police assist me to eject those who are now stealing from me, they are able to call the police and any number of other community agencies, all of whom insist that I, as a landlord, am required to continue to provide my now ex-tenants with the amenities to which they were entitled while paying rent, and, as if that weren’t enough, they also continue to be entitled to the “enjoyment” of “their” home.

I was able to get an ex parte eviction order, after paying the $170 fee to do so, of course – unfortunately, the Sheriff, in Ontario, is the only one that can legally evict the tenant and they don’t seem to be the least bit interested in actually doing their jobs. Certainly not during the month of December, in any case…. They’ll get to it when they get to it. I had thought perhaps it was simply the Barrie Sheriff’s office which couldn’t be bothered, but a simple Google search shows that this is a common issue throughout the province.

Weeks pass…during which the tenants figure out how to file for a stay of the eviction order. So now I’ve paid $170 for the order which is stayed, plus $401 for the eviction which never happens, and of course, I must continue to pay all of the tenants’ utilities, and ensure that they have heat and water and hydro. Oh, and another $170 for an order re: the outstanding rent and damages.

Makes no never mind at all that they have not paid a single cent since a partial payment in October, or that they gave notice for the end of November, or that they are running around town bragging about how they’re getting away with screwing us over. Nobody cares that our Christmas was ruined and that we don’t have money to pay our own bills – just as long as we keep paying the bills for the tenants.

They demand that we repair the appliances they destroyed, the wall they ripped out, the patio door they demolished – and when we do make repairs, they immediately trash everything again. We, on the other hand, are told by police that we may no longer use our own basement unit because our running of the vacuum cleaner downstairs interferes with their enjoyment.

Seriously?! How is this in any way reasonable?

Perhaps we should just unlock the doors to the basement unit and let them have that too, since we can’t use it?

Maybe we should just sign over the deed – at least that way we wouldn’t have to keep paying for the insurance, taxes and utilities.

At any rate, eventually we do have the hearing. The instructions say that one must sign in by 9 am, and provide 3 copies of any evidence to be offered, and we do that. She, on the other hand, does not, turning up several minutes into the proceedings of our case. The hearing goes reasonably well – or so I thought. Turns out, not so much.

The adjudicator ruled that the male of the couple – the one that actually works, from whom we might eventually be able to garnishee wages to recoup some of the now $5000 and rising we have lost – is not a tenant of the unit. Had he mentioned that he was considering this, I would have had the opportunity to address the issue, and provide my evidence to the contrary. But this, apparently, was a secret. Not only that, even though the adjudicator found that my affidavit as to having received notice for the end of November was credible, and her denial was not, he decided that due to her circumstances it was “not unfair” to permit her extra time. So he extended her totally free tenancy to on or after 16 February.

How very charitable of him.

Toss out our only chance of repayment without so much as a discussion – and then decide that they should remain in the unit, on our dime, for an extra month.

Plus, of course, whatever time it takes the Sheriff to actually do his job this time; a minimum, they tell me, of 5 days, but probably longer.

So -  a partial payment of rent in October, and then not a cent more, and we’re on the hook until basically the end of February. But not to worry, we’ll get “an order”, which thanks to the oh so charitable adjudicator, is not even worth the stamp they used to mail it. To add insult to injury, after all this, they even get credit for their last month's rent - so what is the point of even collecting that?

But hey, I can spend another $50 to ask for a review of the decision.

And even if John is not added back onto the order, I can spend another couple of hundred dollars to enter my order against Christine in Small Claims Court. Perhaps someday she might actually get a job that I could garnishee. Not likely – and how would I ever find out about it? 

And in the meantime, they continue squatting in our house – now with heaters and other appliances running nonstop from every plug, and the windows wide open. And there is not a blessed thing we can do about it. I did call the OPP to ask for assistance with this, but it’s been 5+ hours now and they haven’t bothered to call me back.

Because nobody cares if deadbeats steal from landlords in Ontario.

The system is a complete and utter joke.

It is a disgrace.

OK, now THAT is just funny. I just called the OPP again ... guy asked the address, and said "Is this ------?"  Apparently she called them too - presumably to whine that I yelled at J about having a lot of nerve to be so rude to me when they are the ones who have stolen more than $6,000 from us, and that I slammed the door when I left.  Newsflash - even though you've changed the lock and refused to give us a key, it is still our door, in our house. I have a heck of a lot more right to slam the door than she does.

Or I should have, if this wasn't Ontario, where tenants have all the rights, and landlords have none at all.

Penguins

No doubt this mess is far from over - but did get a bit of penguin worthy news today....

The ex parte order for eviction has been issued and will be in a mailbox by "the end of today."

Another fun day

Another fun visit to the house in yet another attempt to respond to the squatter's maintenance demands. Notice was given on Monday that we would be there today at 11.

We showed up with the deputy fire chief - he was there at our request, as we wanted to address her concern about the "fire hazard" .... the snippet of her note is actually very funny if y'ask me... what she neglects to mention is that they demanded the deck be removed and did most of the work; the patio door was fixed when they moved in - with a brand spanking new handle, even - and THEY broke it; and the 2 inside doors she "needs" for the bedrooms she has no right to be using anyway are CLOSET doors, 1 of them for a closet which has actually never had a door because it is an odd configuration.

Is there something in the Landlord and Tenant's Act that says bedroom closets must have doors?

Anyway ... her whole list is complete & utter nonsense, but I've covered that already, so....

We do, however, need to address the issues around the patio door - they've knocked it off its track so there is a gap to the outside and that will not do under Tay Township property standards.

Our plan WAS to reseat the doors and then seal them up, but since the squatter not only refused to leave as per the notice, she brought in her very mouthy and aggressive sister, we were unable to have R. enter the unit to make any repairs at all... another conversation caught on video ...boring though, just so you know.

So we wound up once again having to fix it only from the outside... did the best we could without access to the interior, and, of course, without spending copious amounts of money, since we don't actually have copious amounts of money and are, in fact, now in the hole by $2900 and counting.

Won't be at all surprised if J. removes it again.... but police officer, bylaw officer and fire chief all now have documented that we have addressed her concerns for her safety.

Anyway .... once we got back home, was sitting here trying to do some other work and the thought just crossed my mind....what if the fax didn't actually go through? 

I did get (and keep) the confirmation slip ... but still..... shit happens .....and honestly, in my life, shit happens a LOT.... what a NIGHTMARE that would be ... if we were sitting here waiting out the week to ten days it supposedly takes to get an ex parte order or, God forbid, a hearing date....

Anyway ... since I was having an anxiety attack, I called the Board - CS person told me that there was nothing showing yet (OMG!?!?!) ... but not to worry ...that just means it hasn't been processed yet... can take up to 72 hours from time it's received, blah blah blah....

not to worry? uh yeah.... no....    So she is going to email the office I faxed it to (Barrie area is covered by the Mississauga office) and ask someone to call and let me know either way. So NOW I am sitting here waiting to hear back from them.... fully aware it won't likely be as quick as I would like it to be though.

What a freaking NIGHTMARE!

Anyone wanna buy a house?

Rescinding Notice

Gotta love it.

Our current tenant-from-hell received an N5 re: the mess in the yard on 10-Oct. She did not clean it up, so we were well within our right to file for an eviction - but I didn't BECAUSE she gave notice.

Less than 60 days notice (which is required both by law, and in our rental agreement) and even less than 30 days (which is what we typically actually expect & get) ... but we happily accepted it. She was supposed to be out by 30-Nov. YAY!!

More fool me.

Here it is December 1 and guess what? *sigh*

It has been SUCH a fun week. Or not.

Last Tuesday, I stopped by to tell CS that I would like to show the apartment at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Well in excess of the required 24 hours notice.

She indicated that she didn't have any place to go and "might" want to extend her tenancy. Now, according to the Landlord and Tenant Act I could have just said no. And really, I did want to just say no - for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is shown here:

1-Dec-2012. After having received not one but 2 N5 notices.

But it is December, and she does have small kids, so even though she is a scam artist, thief and royal pain in my butt, I did speak with her about what we would require to allow her to rescind her notice.

Since she used her last month's rent deposit for November, she would need to both pay December's rent and repay the last month's rent deposit. She would also need to work out a plan to repay additional amounts owing, which include $250 withheld for parts for repairs they insisted they wanted to make, and another $250 for the clean  up of the yard and dump fees. That is, btw, more than reasonable and charges her nothing for my husband's labour - the dump fees and garbage tags totalled $175; the remainder was paid to the helper who provided both labour and his truck.

And because I already have a new potential tenant, I very clearly stated, repeatedly, that she would need to let me know what she and her partner (who is not on the lease, and more than likely, also not on record with OW as living there) decided as I needed to let that tenant know what was going on.

Neither confirmation, nor rent of any sort, was forthcoming on Wednesday, so I proceeded to confirm my appointment with the new tenant. On Thursday morning, just to be on the safe side, I asked my husband to stop by and remind her that we were coming, which he did.

When hubby, I & the new tenant arrived, CS' sister - a particularly ~lovely~ young woman - not only denied us access, she also informed us that CS would not be moving, and that if we did attempt to enter the unit, she would "sic" the rottweiler (brought in to visit especially for the purpose; it doesn't normally live there) on us.

We called the police, who eventually arrived and refused to force the issue because - stupid me - I gave CS the notice and didn't think to snap a picture of her accepting it, I guess - won't make that mistake again.  We served yet another 24 notice for access on Friday, at which time, with police again in attendance, I served CS with another N5 re: the condition of the yard, and received from her a list of items she wants repaired (SO worth another post all of its own!) and finally a key to the front door (which we have been asking for for more than a month).

Must. Love. Landlording.