An open letter to the Ministry of Housing
I have been a victim of the Residential Tenancies Act and find the entire legal situation unjust, petty and completely in favour of the tenant. The laws should have some balance, but it is quite laughable here. It’s not just my opinion either. I talk with various people and surprisingly those that have asked a lawyer whether they should invest in a rental property, the lawyer tells them bluntly don’t do it the laws are completely against you.
I have also talked with other landlords and they tell me of their stories of impeding silly paperwork rules. As an example they had to learn the hard way that if you don’t put the letters exactly within the little boxes your paperwork will be rejected. For my silliness, I miscalculated a deadline date, as I had never been a landlord before, this of course blew 6 weeks of time as I had to resubmit paperwork. Who can afford to get justice by trial and error?? I hired a paralegal. The message of the courts is clear, under no uncertain terms you will you get justice without the proper papers. Russia anyone?? Other landlords let me know of stories of a roommate, not on the lease, that refused to leave an apartment, once the actual tenant had moved out. She wasn’t paying rent, but stayed because it was her “right” to stay. She was so brazen about it, she plainly said to the landlord: “Get this through your head…I’m not going anywhere”. These stories are everywhere, there not even isolated anymore. I understand these statements are hearsay, but what is the quantity of examples required so the government will listen?
For my own tenants they stopped paying rent back in February. I talked, I tried to communicate, I tried to be a fair landlord. I tried to do what was outlined in the literature only to learn that I am the jerk that wants rent, go away or I will charge you with harassment. The situation deteriorated from there. I hired a paralegal as I needed these users out of my house and my knowledge of the system was lacking. Work for me right now is slow, I was the one to try and support 2 mortgages. My “sad” story is so long as to bring tears to anyones eyes. Did I have any rights? I took a chance on these people and I was treated like a sap because of what I did.
Finally after months of waiting, the Landlord Tenant Board Order finally came that the tenants were to leave. I live out of town, so a friend of mine was checking whether or not the tenants where actually leaving. He reported to me a statement the tenant actually said: “I’m not inclined to move out anytime soon”. Is this not a blatant disregard for the law? I was to obey the law, why wasn’t the tenant? In order to enforce the law, I had to spend even more money to hire Sheriff’s to enforce the law? I paid the mortgages, I paid the lawyers, I paid the Sheriff’s, the tenants literally sat on the front porch looking at the cars pass by for months, and I have witnesses to this fact.
The system is so messed up, people believe it is their right to abuse others and blatantly refuse the courts, without so much as a batting of the eye. Why not? There were no consequences to these people’s actions.
I don’t understand any of this? I don’t understand how someone thinks this is fair. I don’t understand why this is sanctioned or defended by the government as fair. From my point of view, everything has been against me. All the decisions don’t seem to take into the account my situation. It’s as if I am an afterthought or someone that we all have to put up with, during this process. I have been blatantly used and it’s quite okay that months go by, bills pile up, mountains of expenses with procedures that people are bored with, and will get around to it sometime.
No wonder all the lawyers cry, stay away from being a landlord.
I also learned that if the tenants decide at the end of this miserable process that I’m the bad guy for getting them evicted and they decide to rip the house apart and sell my kitchen and ruin my renovations, everyone will yawn at that too.
Where is the justice? or has it become a case of political vote numbers…There are more renters than landlords.
In Summary:
For $1250 a month in rent, I was screwed out of $5,570, plus sheriff fees, plus legal fees. What is the point of “the tenant owes me…” paperwork when they haven’t paid me for months and months. To continue this charade (updating the paperwork), means greater losses for me. Who cares what the paperwork says, the probability of collecting approaches zero soon after they don’t pay. To be just, I should be able to process paperwork at the beginning of the month of non-payment, utilize my last month’s rent to cover the loss, and have them physically out be the end of the month of non-payment or at the very least, locked out. My risk exposure would be legal costs and sheriff costs, not months and months of mortgage payments, loss of income, plus legals, plus sheriff, plus all of my time trying to get through the system.
Also, I don’t have any trouble ensuring that a tenant has the right to live in a living space, with proper heating, hydro, water and working sewage and if they are paying rent, they are entitled to these items by all enforcement of the law. Why do I not have any rights when the tenant opts to not pay? This is a “rental” agreement, it’s conditional on the tenant paying the rent, why is the agreement not void, as soon as the tenant doesn’t pay the rent? Every other business transaction is this way within Canada? Why the favourtism?
What I learned
Do not be kind to people, offer no second chances, assess the potential tenant on their credit rating and their ability to pay only. Listen to no sob stories and be not concerned to help innocent children caught in the middle of the debacle. And the final personal lesson, at first chance, sell the house and get out of being a landlord.
Perhaps the biggest crime of all is not being allowed to keep a list of the slugs and users of the system, so other landlords don’t have to go through what I have been through. A list like that would be a small consolation to the risks currently taken to rent a house. Apparently a list like this is illegal. WTF!?
Robert Brodie
June, 2011
Tags: landlord warning, Ministry of Housing, new landlord, want to be a landlord?
