The Legalized Theft Board

I know that it aggravates some people when I refer to the LTB (as in the Landlord & Tenant Board, which is their proper name) as the Legalized Theft Board.

But that has most certainly been not only my experience, but also the experience of many other landlords who post in the Ontario Landlords Association forums - and, no doubt, of thousands more besides.

I happened to be on the LTB site yesterday looking something up and noted, once again, their (supposed) mission statement:

The mission of the Landlord and Tenant Board is to inform landlords and tenants about their rights and responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act and provide balanced and timely dispute resolution in accordance with the law.

Right there on the front page. And hey... if they actually did that, I'd be happy to call them the Landlord Tenant Board.

Unfortunately, what they claim to do bears little/no resemblance to what they actually do.

• Rules are required to be followed to the letter by landlords, but not at all by tenants. Legal resources provided to tenants, but not landlords. Privacy for tenant information, but not landlords'.... where in the mission statement does it suggest tenants should be advantaged at every turn while landlords are not?
• almost 6 months for a case where the tenant gave notice, tried to rescind it 2 days before their stated move-out date, and then paid not one blessed cent rent for that almost 6 months? HOW is that timely?
• the adjudicator finds that the landlord is credible, the tenant is not, and awards judgements to the landlord on all three counts - but goes out of his way to ensure that not one cent will ever be collected and that the tenants get several extra weeks at the landlord's expense  - as a result of a conversation after the hearing to which the landlord was not privy?  HOW is that balanced?

I could go on and on ... I've learned an awful lot as a result of my research & reading - but I can tell you with 100% assurance that the vast majority of evidence - BY FAR - is that the LTB in Ontario has completely lost sight of its mission statement and its purpose.

The mission statement would be far more accurately stated as follows:

The mission of the Legalized Theft Board is to ensure security of tenancy for all tenants whether they live up to their responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act or not.

Period, full stop.

Interestingly, the LTB seems to now be rather ~slow~ to post annual reports and/or recent decisions on their website. The last Annual Report which is available is from 2009 - 2010; decisions end as of December 2011.

Things that make one go hmmmm.... could it be that they know they've lost the plot and are loathe to advertise it? Inquiring minds want to know!

In any case, the people who are most impacted by the failure of the LTB to live up to its mission statement? Not landlords.

We are hurt financially - but hey, we still have a roof over our head (at least until you get ~lucky~ like I did and get more than one problem tenant in a short period and lose everything thanks to the Legalized Theft Board) ....

it is the good tenants who don't take advantage of the ~system~ (using the term loosely) to rape their landlords that are harmed.

It's the single mom or dad on OW who can't find a landlord to rent to her because she has no garnish-able source of income.

Or the person with a disability on ODSP who is even less likely to find a place because they not only have no garnish-able source of income, they have the potential to cost us even more money and aggravation because Ontario has decided that landlords are responsible for any and all accommodations, no matter how unreasonable or expensive.

Or the older potential tenant who we are cautious about renting to because you know, they could become disabled or develop Alzheimer's and hey, guess what? Landlords in Ontario are regularly forced to cough up for any and all accommodations, no matter how unreasonable or expensive.

Or the person who is coming from another country, or from a mental health facility, or from the streets... yeah, no... no credit rating, no garnish-able source of income? No shelter, sorry.

It sucks. It breaks my heart. But don't blame the landlords. Blame your Ontario government - the one that has decided that the ONLY people in Ontario who should have rights when it comes to rental housing are the deadbeats & scammers.

Not the good tenants.

Not the good landlords.

Sorry 'bout that... I wish I could be part of the solution. But you know what? Still can't find anyone that can be bothered listening.

Cindy Forster, housing critic for the ONDP did respond to my email - well sort of - she ignored MY email, but did respond to one someone more well known among the ONDP forwarded on my behalf - but that was more than 2 months ago now... somehow I think that "we will have to get back to you in response..." means "please just go away."

Pretty sad when my own party can't be bothered, eh?  *sigh*

But at least they did send an acknowledgement - the Ontario Liberal's can't even be bothered with that. My tax dollars at work. Or not.

Ah well...I'm a stubborn old bitch ...think it's time to start yet another letter writing campaign.

Perhaps this time, I will post the actual letter, and names, addresses & dates of each person I send it to, and any response. Still no guarantee I will get a response, but hey, it might be a fun experiment, no?

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?

Our Recourse

So... another post in the ongoing saga of how much I love being a landlord.

Once it became clear that this ~charming~ young lady has no intention of vacating our apartment, nor paying any rent, nor cleaning up her garbage, nor allowing us access to the unit unless we bring the police along, I was off to the Landlord and Tenant Board site to see what our options are.

We could file for eviction on the second notice N5 (L2 - $170) but that requires a hearing, and realistically, the woman I spoke to on the phone told me, it is unlikely that we would even get a hearing before Christmas. She suggested that I file an Application to Terminate a Tenancy - Tenant Gave Notice or Agreed to Terminate the Tenancy Form L3, which will be completed on Monday, 3-Dec... just need the town office to be open so that I can have my affidavit sworn.  Will do that first thing tomorrow, then come back here and fax the application.

Has been a bit of a challenge getting fax set up, but seem to have that running now... at least for outgoing.

Tomorrow, Bell Canada will activate my new identi-call service, and then will try to figure out how to make the fax pick up only on that ring.

A working fax machine seems very necessary right now.

Another tool that I have found extremely helpful as we work through this tenant-from-hell nonsense, is NitroPDF.

I used to have a licensed version of this software and loved it, but lost it in one crash or another... but when I was dealing with the Landlord and Tenant Board forms and getting SO frustrated at being unable to save the pdf forms once they were filled in, I went looking for it again.

Have downloaded a free two week trial and honestly, it is SUCH a relief to not have to keep retyping the stupid forms every time I need to make a change ...and to be able to pull up and reprint copies of what I need rather than have to get so freaking stressed out about keeping track of the forms.... can never seem to put my hands on the one I want when I want it.

I have ~plenty~ of stress right now.... don't need more! It's a small thing, but Nitro helps to reduce my stress...am very glad I thought to go find it again. STILL think it's ridiculous that LTB site doesn't provide saveable forms though!  Or allow us to send/receive stuff by email!

It's not bad enough we're paying taxes so that deadbeats like CS and company can ruin MY family's Christmas by stealing thousands of dollars out of our pockets - and the incoming tenant's Christmas as well....  you would think that the LTB could go just the wee bit further to make things just a bit more convenient for the landlords that are expected to bear the brunt off all the costs associated with this nonsense!