OH, IT’S SO MUCH FUN BEING A LANDLORD

I used to be a Landlord in the Town down below, before I moved to South Park, SCA.  Disillusioned by my experiences as a Landlord, I bought my cozy, single family home here in SCA.  Based on my experiences with tenants, and thus, becoming very familiar with the Landlord & Tenant Act of Ontario, I would never do it again.  It’s no wonder Ontario has the lowest vacancy rate of rental accommodation in the whole Western World.  It’s my opinion, that the Landlord & Tenant (L & T) laws are so slanted in a tenant’s favour, that no rational person would want to be a Landlord more than once.  Okay, okay, maybe some of the preceding is a little exaggerated, but really, not much, in my opinion.

My last house was in the Town down below and was built around 1959 (and so just a bit younger than me).  The white, brick bungalow is on the curve of a crescent, set well back from the road, surrounded by a very long, cedar hedge.  The then-scraggly hedge ran the length of the 155’ lot (47 meters), with a small break near the east end, allowing access from the wide boulevard and the driveway.  It is surrounded by parks on three sides of ravine areas.  Originally built by a M.D., it is still locally known as The Doctor’s House. 

The house was owned by a woman in her golden years and her daughter, and had been rented out, top and bottom, by them, for about 10 years.  They also owned another house on the same crescent, in which they lived.  Nice people and, coincidentally, I knew the older woman’s sister, who worked in the bank I patronized near my office.  All very nice people, BUT, and you just knew there had to be a BUT, somewhat deceptive when it came to what they had done to ‘enhance’ the property for sale but that story will have to wait for another time.

The house was not very far from Toronto and almost exactly half-way between the two major 400 highways.  There is a beautiful, three-bedroom basement apartment in that house.  Before I bought the house, I made sure that the apartment was legal and registered with The Town.  At that point in time, I wasn’t sure that I would rent out the apartment but so loved the house and especially its private location on the crescent, I couldn’t resist buying it.  I also made sure that I could manage the mortgage, taxes and upkeep without having the rental income.  At that time, I had a high-powered, well-paying career and could swing it by myself, but I would have to tighten the belt here and there, especially since most the windows and patio door would have to be replaced soon.  I was prepared to do whatever it took.

There was no inside access to the apartment from the main floor, where I lived, and it seemed like such a shame to have that beautiful basement apartment sit vacant.  After six months or so and making some improvements, I naively found my first set of tenants. 

A couple, in their early twenties, along with their one year old son convinced me that they would make excellent tenants.  While they were at work, both of their extended families, approximately 8 -12 people, stayed at the house pretty much all day, ostensibly to babysit the child.  How many people does that take?  They were doing their laundry and washing their vehicles in the driveway, leaving the hose running (yes, even during water bans).  I’m not sure how many of them actually left to spend the nights in their own homes.  The utility bills more than quadrupled.  

One night while I was home, I could hear the smoke alarm sounding for quite a few minutes.  It was finally silenced.  A few months later, the young couple gave me their sixty day notice that they were moving out at the end of their twelve month lease, apparently because they bought their own house.  When I did my inspection before they moved, I could see that the kitchen ceiling was black with smoke damage.  According to the husband, something on the stove caught fire while he was occupied playing with his son but it wasn’t his fault.  “Who’s fault was it?” I asked.  “Oh, the stove’s fault”, says the tenant, absolutely straight-faced.  I was dumbfounded that he actually seemed to mean it.  It took many coats of paint (applied by me) to fix that damage.  There was no compensation for the cost of the paint and my time and effort. 

Do you think that if Ontario Landlords could request a security deposit, tenants may have to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and repair damage before they move?  Or, at least Landlords would be compensated for their tenants’ carelessness by being able to keep their security deposit.  BUT Ontario Landlords are not allowed to ask for a security deposit.  Why not?

Tenants can be hard on a property.  A Landlord’s frequent lament is, “Tenants just don’t care about the property.  Why should they?  They don’t own it.”   After being a tenant most of my adult life, I can speak from that persona – tenants should care, after all, it is their home but most of them don't.

Another set of tenants, two men, friends in their early twenties, seemed promising.  By this time, I had learned a lot more about being a Landlord.  I did credit checks, employment checks, and previous landlord checks.  While my checks turned up an odd tick here and there (nobody’s perfect), they seemed like nice boys and I decided to give them a chance. 

Within three or four days of moving in, the roomie who had the best credit rating, couldn’t stand his flighty friend anymore and wanted to move out.  I explained that if he moved, his friend would also have to go.  Oh, and they would have to give me the equivalent of two months rent to compensate me for moving out only a month into their six month lease.  He chose to stay and I have to say, the next six months were rather interesting.  The volume of their fights increased with the passage of time and I had no trouble hearing their problems. 

Then, the ‘flighty’ one moved his brother in, gratis.  The brother had the chutzpah to say to me one time that he was ever so grateful to his brother for giving him a place to live after his marriage broke up and his wife kicked him out.  Really?  Other than maybe making some space in a cupboard so he could hang up his clothes, who was really paying the price for his presence?  Who does he think was paying for the increased utility usage?  Not his brother, for sure.

What inspired me to write this story?  I finally got around to reading a newsletter, published by an organization geared to Landlords who need help navigating the maze of government gobbledygook.  The lead story in this latest issue is entitled, ‘Human Rights in Rental Housing’ and is about whether or not landlords have the right to refuse to rent to same sex couples or gay individuals.  Oh, joy, now people have to worry about that kinda crap.  I can just see our tax dollars at work on this particular subject instead of going towards things like pensions (for the average Joe) or health-care, or education and so on, and so on, and so on. 

The inside story was even more interesting to me, because it seems that there is at least one Judge out there who has developed a bad case of reality and recently became enlightened.  He’s actually calling for legislative change, because as he put it, “My recent experience sitting as a single judge of this Court to hear motions, has convinced me that there is a growing practice by unscrupulous residential tenants to manipulate the law improperly, and often dishonestly, to enable them to remain in their rented premises for long periods of time without having to pay rent to their landlords.  It is [this] practice that imposes an unfair hardship on landlords that reflects badly on the civil justice system in Ontario.  It calls for the Government, the Landlord and Tenant Board and this Court to respond.”  The judge also stated that his case was ONE of many that went before him in a five day period.  The judge was referring to a case involving a small landlord who has just one residential unit above a store for rent.  The tenant owes a STAGGERING $22,445.00 in arrears. 

The problem apparently began the FIRST month of the tenancy in 2011, with the monthly rent being $3,600.  Can you believe that?  That poor landlord.  She didn’t let the situation drag on and hope that the tenant would pay what he owed and, subsequently, pay his monthly rent on time.  She took prompt action, following the rules and regs as set out by the Landlord and Tenant Act.  According to the landlord, the problem began only 6 days after the tenant moved in, in late 2011.  At the time of the printing of the newsletter (September 2012), almost ONE year after the problem started, at least one media report quoted the landlord as saying, “It’s not over yet.”   What will it take before the Province of Ontario and its lawmakers realize that they are shooting themselves in the foot by legislating landlords into the poorhouse?  As I asked, “Who, in their right mind, would want to be a landlord in Ontario, especially after reading that story?”

Apparently, that rental scammer has had one of his days in court, and provided a postdated cheque for the entire amount owing.  Then he persuaded the landlord’s friend who appeared on her behalf to withdraw the application to evict.  The cheque, which was POSTDATED only two days from the hearing date, was refused by the bank and returned it about a week after the hearing because the tenant stopped the payment.  Fun, huh?  Why didn’t the landlord insist on cash, you ask?  According to the Landlord and Tenant Act, Landlords CANNOT insist that rent be paid in cash.  Landlords cannot even insist that the tenant provide postdated cheques for the term of the lease.  Why not? 

Granted, it sounds like the Landlord shoulda/coulda handled things differently but, as we are fond of saying, “Hind sight is 20/20.”  I believe it is exactly this kind of experience that deters people who are of sound mind, to never even think of becoming a Landlord.  Oh, and I just love tenants who think that their rent is paying the Landlord’s mortgage.  

My most favourite tenant scam?  I ALWAYS drew up a lease, which clearly stated the names of the tenants allowed to reside in the rental unit, including any children.  I cannot think of any tenant who did not promptly ignore the stipulation of who could live there and moved in additional adults and sometimes even children.  You know, oh, she’s my niece, or he’s only staying a few days (which stretches into months).  The agreed-upon rent included utilities, based on the number of people.  What do you think happens to utility consumption when the number of people doubles or triples?   Especially since there was a full-size washer and dryer in their very own private laundry room.  Oh, and, get this, according to the bylaw person I spoke to in the Town down-below, the maximum number of people who can inhabit a dwelling, is based on space -100 square feet per person.  Thus, if the apartment is 1,200 square feet, which it was, that means 12 people could live there.  I was astounded that this could happen and when I pointed out that there was a legal, signed document, that being the lease, which stipulated the people who could live there, the reply was, “Bylaws trump lease.”  Nice, huh?  Why bother with a lease? 

Considering the lack of reasonable and available rental accommodation in this province, especially in the GTA and just a bit north, I really believe that Ontario has to be forward thinking when it comes to Landlords & Tenants and enforce the terms of a lease, the onus being on the adult tenants to understand what they are signing.  It should also be province-wide, not municipally enforced.  It sure would be simpler for Landlords to know that no matter where they buy a rental unit in Ontario, the laws will still be the same. 

I joined Landlord groups and organizations and read copiously to educate myself in the intricacies of Landlord & Tenant laws.  One of the organizations I joined enabled me to do credit checks on potential tenants (for a fee, of course).  It helped weed out some of the more undesirables.  Landlords have to learn how to use ‘The System’ better than unscrupulous tenants or the tenant could end up owning the Landlord.

What incentives are there for Landlords when government is so concerned with tenant’s rights that it is ignoring the Landlord’s?  What about giving Ontario Landlords the right to request a security deposit?  What does the government think happens when a Landlord has to evict a tenant?  The first thing many of them do is inflict damage upon the rental property.  A security deposit would most likely deter this kind of retaliation in a lot of cases, without the Landlord incurring additional financial stress by having to take the tenant to small claim’s court to be made whole.

The above are only a few examples of the trials and tribulations a Landlord faces, here in Ontario.  I could probably write a book just about the six or seven sets of tenants I endured, the last one taking the ‘peach’ award. 

Oh, and nowadays, let’s throw bed bugs into the mix and how much it can cost to get rid of them (thousands of $$$$), which a landlord is responsible for, even though it was the tenants who brought them into the premises in the first place.  Nice, huh?

And another wrinkle on the Landlord horizon – at this point in time, Landlords must only meet  minimum requirements for heating, usually between September and June (it differs between municipalities as to temperature and time frame) – ta da! coming soon to a theatre near you  – they may also have to provide air conditioning too!  Can you image the cost to retrofit?  And who do you think will be picking up the tab for that one?  The tenant, to some extent with increased rent, (and they’re already screaming about the high rents in the GTA), but I can guarantee you, it will be the Landlord who bears the brunt of the expense.  Whatever happened to a room fan blowing over a bowl full of ice cubes?

Give your head a shake, people, if you’re thinking about becoming a small landlord in Ontario.  Especially, if you’re planning to live in the same building as your tenants.  Given my experiences and what I read in the Newsletter, I think I would rather live under a bridge in a cardboard box than be a Landlord again.