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Have Your Say On Bill 19 (Changing the Annual Rent Increase Guideline Formula)

Friday, February 17th, 2012

February 18th, 2012

 

Small Private Landlords Are Encouraged to Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard

The Ministry recommends that upon the resumption of the legislature on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 – the OLA and its members visit the Ontario legislature website at www.ontla.on.ca daily to follow the progress of Bill 19.

Should Bill 19 pass Second Reading and be referred to Standing Committee, the Ministry encourages the OLA and its members to take this opportunity to participate in the legislative process by making a submission to or appear before the Standing Committee.

For more information regarding the Standing Committee process please contact the Committees Branch of the legislature at 416-325-3500.

What is Bill 19?

The Government has introduced proposed legislation to change how landlords can increase the rent.

Bill 19 proposes to amend the Residential Tenancies Act (2006) so “that the annual Rent Increase Guideline be capped at two and one-half percent.”  It would also ensure that “the guideline would never fall below one percent.”

If passed by the legislature during the Spring 2012 legislative session, the revised formula would be used to calculate the Rent Increase Guideline beginning in 2013.

The proposal would also require that the Ministry review the Rent Increase Guideline formula every four years to determine the effectiveness of the new changes as economic conditions evolve.

Fair? Unfair? Make Your Opinion Known

Bill 19 will in all likelihood be referred to Standing Committee.  You can play a role in how policy is shaped by getting your opinions known via submission or showing up in person.

Follow the news about this and other ways our business environment is being shaped in the Ontario Landlord Forums.

 

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Are Landlords Taking Advantage of Newcomers to Toronto?

Monday, January 30th, 2012

February 1st, 2012

A member of the OLA Defends Landlords in the Toronto Star

The January 28th edition of the Toronto Star included an informative article on the challenges some newcomers to the GTA face when finding rental housing.

A new immigrant was unaware of his ‘tenant rights’ under Ontario law and paid his landlord nearly $9,000 “upfront” in order to secure an apartment (bachelor) in Mississauga.

Rafiqul Islam stated he and his wife spent months looking for a rental apartment.  He stated his tenant application had been refused because landlords wanted a year of rent upfront.  Desperate to find a place of their own, they finally agreed to do so.

According to Islam:  “The landlords said we had no jobs and no credit, and we must pay up. It is just unfair, but what can we do?”

According to tenant activists, this social and economic phenomena is because of unjust motives of landlords.

Geordie Dent of the Federation of Metro Tenants Association explains it due to “landlords who prey on newcomers’ lack of education of the law and a lack of understanding of the rental situation.”

The Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation said this issue is the ‘norm’ in their English classes.

Jennifer Ramsay, of the Ontario Human Rights Support Centre these “additional requirements of newcomers is discriminatory and exclusionary.”

However, Mike Chopowick of the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario has not seen any evidence that large rent deposits are commonplace.

Ontario Landlord Association member Stephen Peacock went further and offered a real explanation of the situation.

According to Peacock, this isn’t a “immigrant issue” at all.  It’s an issue about the deficiencies of the McGuinty Liberal Governments Residential Tenancy Act.

Peacock explained that landlords must obey the law.  However, the laws in Ontario are lacking and harming both good landlords and good tenants (newcomers or not).

According to Peacock “If landlords could easily evict non-paying “hell” tenants and ask for a damage deposit as a safeguard  they would be more willing to take a chance on those with no credit history and employment references.”

To read the original Toronto Star article go here.

To discuss this in the biggest and best landlord forum in Canada, go here.

 

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Small Scale Landlords Targeted by Bad Tenants?

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

January 25th, 2012

You are a small scale landlord.  You offer a great property at a great price and hope to find a nice and decent tenant.

Have you been “targeted?”

Here is a recent post on Kijiji:

Tenantrights2012

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:38 pm Post subject: Social Justice? LLs Won’t Rent to: OW/ODSP/Bad Credit!

More and more Tenants across Ontario are finding landlords are colluding and scheming to create a joint force of DISCRIMINATION against people on government assistance or have damaged credit!!

If you are on OW or ODSP, or have damaged credit get ready for rental doors to be SHUT on you!

Thousands of good Tenants face discrimination in the rental market daily and need to fight back!!

If you are on OW or ODSP or have damaged credit, here are some tips for you to get into a rental to make your home.

1. Do not waste your time with corporate landlords. They have policies of discrimination. If they know you are on social assistance they will shred your application and not reply. It is corporate policy! I acted as a landlord and called a building and spoke with a property manager who said their policy is not written down, yet every manager knows the corporate Minto policy is: NO OW, NO ODSP, NO GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE.

2. To avoid wasting time and money, it is best to find a “mom and pop” landlord. You won’t find them on most of the paid rental websites because they want to save costs. You can look here at Kijiji where ads are free. Or if you have a friend with a car, drive around and you will see some “For Rent” signs on lawns. Third idea is to go to local places like Price Chopper, Freshco, Metro, No Frill and look at their free bulletin boards. “Mom and Pop” landlords will put free ads there.

3. Mom and Pop landlords don’t check credit because they don’t like to pay $50 to check. Unlike the corporate landlords who all sign up to credit check services and have a policy of checking everyone. So if you have damaged credit this is your best bet.

4. Never say you are on “welfare” when you meet the landlords. This is an instant redflag for them. Say “Ontario Works” or “ODSP.” Many mom and pop landlords don’t know the terminology.

5. If the mom and pop landlords question you about Ontario Works or ODSP make sure you tell them it is “government assistance” and that means the rent money will come directly from the government to the landlord. The landlord likes the sound of this security.

6. To seal the deal, most Mom and Pop landlords rely on a former landlord reference. This is impossible if you are coming from a shelter or had problems with your last Misunderstood landlord. It’s a good idea to get friend with a cell phone to act as your last landlord. It may be a bit dishonest, but finding a home is about survival and having a safe home is more important than a little fib. Make sure you write down some details for your friend. For example, an address, an amount of rent, and the date you moved in. Also make sure your friend says some things the Mom and Pop landlords love to hear like

“She was very clean and quiet.”
“The rent came directly from the government.”
“I’m sad to see him go.”

7. Remember, even you pay a deposit it doesn’t mean you can get the place. You need the key and need to put some of your stuff in the property. That means legally it is your place and you finally get a few Tenant rights.

8. When you move some stuff in, take some pictures for proof you have possession.

9. If you have pet, do not tell the landlord. As soon as you move in, you can bring in your pet and you cannot be evicted for this.

10. When you are a tenant make sure you read the Landlord and Tenant Board website because you finally have some rights. The important thing is to get in the rental and get a Home.

Is the Ontario system fair?  Look into it.  Contact your local MPP.  Just realize: you have been targeted!

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When kindness doesn’t pay (Reflections and Analysis)

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

It’s over now.  Some advice for new landlords in Ontario

September 3, 2011

The house has now been sold.  I couldn’t be happier. This whole experience has only made me stronger!  I’m better than ever before and feeling great!  What a great learning lesson.

It’s just not worth it to be a landlord in Ontario in 2011 with the current McGuinty Liberal government in power.  Bad tenants are not only enabled, they are encouraged to create havoc for the landlord.

Looking back and reflecting, I hope I can offer some good advice to new landlords.

We have had many OW/ODSP tenants in the past, and still have some as a matter of fact.

We have had some good welfare tenants, but generally they make for bad tenants….here is why……

1. they are ungarnishable- their welfare cheques are protected from being garnished

2. welfare tenants have too much control over their cheques even though they have a caseworker

3.one of the big problems is that case workers move around in their departments….so if a welfare tenant who has a pay-direct arrangement in place because they are irresponsible in paying their bills, they can have the pay-direct arangement stopped with one phone call…now perhaps if they had the same case worker who knew about their spotted history, it wouldnt be so easy to stop the pay-direct chq but a new case worker may not have this info

4. the tenants we just had thumbed their nose at the law in every way they possibly could ie. unpaid parking tickets and traffic offenses, unpaid utility bills, and being known to cops for unlawful behaviour (it is very sad when you have an initial conversation with a police officer and they say “oh yeah I know T…”)

5. if you do a credit rating and it comes up ZERO- then pass on this person….sorry to say this because it wrecks things for those who dont yet have a credit rating…but a zero is as bad as a 500-600 score

6. the old saying “no good deed goes unpunished” is very true in the rental business…some of these people become very good actors….perhaps they get a rush when they suck people dry

7. listen to your gut feeling- if you get a bad sense BEFORE they move in- then cancel the contract- give them their money back- dont let them in because as a landlord in Ontario, you truly have NO protection

8. a landlord in Ontario has all cards stacked against them, we have the OHRC looking to stick it to us, we have tenant activist groups looking to stick it to us, and we have ill-informed, biased politicians looking to stick it to us SO the key is be ultra careful in renting to anyone- take your time- dont let any tenant pressure you into making a decision….it is very hard to lose a months rent by letting a unit sit vacant, but if necessary do it until you feel comfortable about letting someone in….

9. if possible try to see the unit they are living in before they take your place because a credit check doesn’t screen for cleanliness

10.  bottom line- these are our properties that we worked very hard to obtain- do not ever let any tenant, tenant activist, politician, LTB tribunal Member tell you what you can or cannot do…research things yourself, become a member of www.ontariolandlords.ca and be aware of who might be coming in and out of your property- NO one else cares except you!

Discuss this in the Landlord Politics forum here

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When kindness doesn’t pay (Part 4)

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Cleaning up the mess…and I’m out nearly $10,000!

August 23, 2011

 

I went inside.  I was ready for bad news.  But not like this.

They say a picture says a thousand words.  So I included some pictures.  Looking at them still doesn’t convey just what they did to my house.  It turned out that 2 tonnes of garbage/junk had to be removed and the level of filth was out of this world!

So yes folks not only did I not receive my rent- I was now in a position where I was having to drop thousands of dollars into my property just so I could get it on the market.  Only this time it wasn’t on the market for rent…it was on the market FOR SALE!

I hadn’t been just sitting back the previous months doing nothing.  During the last few months the tenants were abusing my property, I was working with undercover police and supplying them with info to help with their drug investigation.  Also, I had given info to the CAS- the worker called me to thank me for calling in the info as they had lost track of these people(!)…but sadly they closed the file because they were not able to contact the tenants via phone or by unannounced visits for almost a year…..

My last statement to the CAS worker was “So what you are saying is that you now have to wait for a phone call from the cops in order for you to apprehend the child?” and the answer was “yes.”

Tenants had their Union gas disconnected on them back in April due to non-payment – I had received a phone call from  Union Gas to say there would be a disconnection and asked me what I wanted to do- meaning “do you want the heat left off or do you want it put back in your name?”

Fortunately because it was April I didn’t have to worry about the pipes freezing so I said leave the heat off but I could have run into a real dilemma there  if it were January…in fact in December & January many times I had driven by the house and they had all the windows wide open!

The tenants left the evening of June 6- it was on June 8 that the hydro was about to be turned off- I had to call the hydro company as I was needing to put the hydro back in my name and with the massive work that needed to be done in the house I needed electricity and hot water.

How convenient that they left right before they lost their power- and to top it off in Hamilton the municipality has the right to put any outstanding water charges on the property owners tax bill- yes you guessed it I’m now  stuck with  water portion of the bill!

The clean-up and repairs were huge!   My costs included $1200 for new carpet with installation. I also paid $200 for pest control so my total for clean-up costs is $7500 (plus the 2 months lost rent at $950/mo) is where I get very close to the $10 grand mark.  We did most of the clean up by ourselves, otherwise the amount would have been even higher.

Another thing for landlords to factor in- is when you are forced at times to resort to using professional help like a property management company-or a paralegal for court help, this comes right off any profit you are making- so at the end of the day there is just not enough money to make the venture worthwhile- it really does suck to be a landlord in Ontario!

To discuss this and view pictures, go to the Ontario Landlords Advice Forums here

 

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