The Small-ownership Landlords Ontario Inc. held a protest on May 27 for the hearing delays at the Ontario Landlord Tenant Board (LTB).
Landlords have sat back and watched as the government closed the LTB, without any compensation or regard for their well-being or financial loss. The provincial government recently allocated $19 Million – split between two tribunals. This funding is insufficient to bring about the necessary changes to legislation, policy, procedure and to ensure timely adjudication for landlords and tenants.
With a mounting backlog, wait times for hearings take months or years. The Service Quality Standards (SQS) set by Tribunal Ontario for dispute resolution is unjust, almost criminal in disregard for tax paying landlords to be expected to financially support a tenant while waiting for a resolution. It’s SOLOs position that landlords with these financial pressures to be treated “fair, effective and timely,” and have resolution within 60 days.
Results of LTB Delays
Landlords are often faced with the challenge of having a “professional tenant” – someone who intentionally refuses to pay rent although they have the means counting on LTB delays to live rent free. Meanwhile landlords bear the cost of the mortgage, maintenance, taxes, insurance and sometimes utilities.
This is leading thousands of landlords to exit the rental market, leave their property empty further contributing to the housing crisis.
The cumulative loss is hundreds of millions of dollars of unpaid rent to small landlords with no chance to recover. There have been bankruptcies even loss of life due to the stress as landlords wait for a resolution.
SOURCE Small Ownership Landlords Ontario Inc.
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This is exactly the reason there are so many affordable rental units. The law puts all the power in the tenant’s hands, an leaves the landlord, the one paying all the bills, powerless. My investment money is better spent elsewhere than this!
Make that SO FEW units. How about an edit function on this page?
I was going to say so many?? Thank you for clarifying… We are in a housing crisis and we have been for years. The waiting list for low income housing is now at 8 years! Who can wait that long for housing?! There’s nothing affordable out there at all. Maybe if the cost of rent wasn’t almost $2000 a month PLUS these people would actually be able to afford their rent and wouldn’t be putting their land lords in this situation. I look forward to the day when our country learns that even low income citizen count, contribute to the economy, work low paying jobs serving EVERYBODY, pay taxes just like everyone else, all while barely scraping by. We need to take care of every citizen not just the ones with money!
I have a tenant who has not paid rent since May 2021. He brings guests into the building through the back door (to avoid detection from security) despite repeated requests from security personnel to use the front door; these guests broke into the lockers and stole various items. Application to evict this tenant was dismissed by LTB (after 6 month wait time for the hearing) despite video recordings of these illegal activities, police reports and security reports; the LTB adjudicator deems the evidence provided insufficient. The tenant is now stealing entity from the building hallway because toronto hydro has disconnection service for non payment of hydro bills.