Never in my wildest dreams would I expect to attend a free “landlord school”- yet maybe there should be so that we can counter professional tenants and Tenant Duty Council!

Just when you think you’ve heard it all- I mean I thought it was a joke initially until I read the dates and times listed.

Dear Mayor Ford,

I wanted to bring to your attention a post that was submitted to the Ontario Landlord Association’s website in the “forum for good tenants”. OLA is a privately funded website that was created as there is such a great inequity in fairness when it comes to rental laws in Ontario. It is a place for landlords (mostly small-time private landlords to come to for help and advice).

here is the post below….. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=5084

Just passing on the exciting message I found for Tenants!! FREE legal workshops for tenants are coming starting in May!!

MAY 4 TO JUNE 2, 2011 6:30 – 9:00 pm

Wednesday May 4 Residential Tenancies Act: The Basics

Wednesday May 11 Eviction Process

Wednesday May 25 Repairs and Maintenance

Thursday June 2 Community Organizing

Address: ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN EDUCATION (OISE)252 BLOOR ST. WEST (ST. GEORGE SUBWAY)

Registration from April 13 to April 27, 2011 at (416) 653-5400 ext. 1280
Preference will be given to Tenants who can attend all 5 sessions
Space is limited, register early

All of this information is already provided in the LTB website, and as you know there are taxpayer funded tenant groups that already provide this information. Now the taxpayers are to pay for another event such as the one above.

Tenants in this province have more rights than you could possibly believe. In fact , there are some landlords who are losing their homes due to bankruptcy because they cannot evict non-paying tenants from their homes for months on end, then when the tenants finally leave they often leave the property earned by the landlord’s hard earned money in a damaged state.

Many of the liberal MPPs know exactly what is going on including the Housing Minister Bartolucci, yet brazenly turn a blind eye to the landlords’ plight.

I was one of the members who met with the Ministry of Housing officials back in February of this year. We asked many questions, none of which have been answered to this point.

MPP Joyce Savoline – a wonderful lady who truly understands what is going on with the RTA/LTB has been asking questions in parliament to MPP Rick Bartolucci. Mr. Bartolucci simply spouts the same nonsense over and over again about how the RTA is balanced.

It is clear that Mr. Bartolucci and his staff over at the Ministry of Housing do not even know their own laws and are unaware of how ineffective the Investigations and Enforcement Unit is.

I do not understand how a person can be qualified to hold a job position without knowing the rules and regulations that surround his/her position. I would never hire a tennis coach who had never played tennis but who had only ever watched tennis on tv. But then this is exactly why, the province of Ontario is truly in dire straits.

Anyway, Mayor Ford perhaps you could look into yet another waste of taxpayers money with regards to the above workshop.

Mr. McGuinty is encouraging citizens to rent out their homes as secondary suites to help with the costs of paying for one’s home. (I realize it is becoming increasingly expensive with rising hydro rates and the tax grab of the HST!)

Yet Mr. McGuinty will never warn homeowners of the risks that are associated with renting out your home. The LTB is severely broken, it is only getting worse. Many tenants have learned how easy it is to scam their landlord.

Now for those of you that are thinking, “well, just screen better”- I have news for you. Tenants lie on their applications. They write down bogus references. There are some professional tenants out there who have caused great financial hardship for landlords. Also if a landlords rents out to a SCREENED applicant, then that SCREENED applicant moves in a friend, then that SCREENED applicant leaves the unit but leaves behind the friend, the landlord is then left to evict the UNAUTHORIZED occupant. So screening in this matter is irrelevant.

Mr. Bartolucci- you have been made aware of this yet you choose to ignore it. Please do NOT send me back a reply stating that you find the the RTA to be balanced etc. I have received those letters before and they are in the garbage.

MPP Joyce Savoline brought forward a very realistic damage deposit private members bill that was shot down.

The province of Ontario is the only province in Canada except Quebec that does not not allow damage deposits. But damage deposits are the just the tip of the iceberg. I recently learned of an appalling decision by a LTB Member that took the word of a tenant stating that he paid for his rent by putting cash in the mailbox- so no receipt obviously. The adjudicator accepted that this was the case.

Yes the decisions are reprehensible. I could go on an on but I won’t. The above example speaks volumes. One of the nights talks about the “eviction process”. Good tenants dont have to worry about the eviction process. Landlords NEVER get rid of good tenants. I can guarantee you that the workshop will be how to prolong an already hilariously long eviction process.

Please contact me for further information if you need it. As I did all my research via reading and through trial and error with regards to the RTA/LTB. I have been a tenant many times in my life and trust me being a landlord now is very hard work.

Thank you

Jane Schweitzer