Tenant advocates will read this post and just scream that landlords butter my bread and that I should be ignored.  But let's get one thing straight.  I do more work for tenants than for landlords.  I'm in nobody's boat, unlike FRPO, the FMTA, ACTO, Parkdale Organize etc. These are my thoughts on Bill 184, now passed and awaiting proclamation.  There are four types of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act brought about by Bill 184;  jurisdictional, fairness/process, landlord side and tenant side. Read more ..read more

Here's an amended letter I drafted that landlords may want to use.  It includes some changes with the known government benefits. This is not legal advice.  This may brick your device :-). You need to modify this letter to make it fit your individual circumstances and tenancy conditions.  I hope you find it helpful: Read more ..read more

Here's something I drafted quickly that landlords may want to use.  This is not legal advice.  This may brick your device :-). You need to modify t his letter to make it fit your individual circumstances and tenancy conditions.  I hope you find it helpful: Read more ..read more

There is a groundswell of support for a rent strike in Ontario starting with the April 1st rent.  It started in Parkdale (hats off to their advocacy work) but has spread everywhere.  Take a look at the home page of Parkdale Organize. http://parkdaleorganize.ca/ The posters are all over Toronto.  Tenants in every group are talking about it.  I've seen landlords in Facebook groups say that despite the law, they are just going to change the locks or shut off utilities where they are paying the bill, when safety or illegal activities are the issue.  Can anarchy be far b ..read more

On March 12, 2020 the government introduced a Bill to amend the Residential Tenancies Act.  Almost 2 years after they were elected, the Ford government has finally taking steps that it was hoped would deal with the Act's shortcomings. Read more ..read more

Yesterday I wrote a letter to Charles Harnick, the new Chair of the Board of Legal Aid Ontario with a copy to the CEO David Field.  LAO is funded by the provincial and federal governments. I've attached the letter here, with the names of the legal clinics redacted.  I wrote the letter after speaking with a prospective client who was in tears as we spoke over the phone.  She was furious that government funds were being used to, in her words, "extort" money from her.  I won't repeat the facts here, they are in the letter. Letter to Chair of LAO re: Appropriateness of Legal ..read more

Over the last week there have been several newspaper articles about cutbacks in funding to community legal clinic programs and then today, cutbacks on programs offered by the Advocacy Center for Tenants, Ontario ('ACTO'). Read more ..read more

Most Ontario landlords know that the law governing landlord and tenant relationships is called the Residential Tenancies Act (the 'RTA').  But most don't know that the Landlord and Tenant Board (the 'LTB'), the agency charged with enforcing the RTA, also has a set of documents called the Rules of Practice.  The Statutory Power Procedures Act gives the LTB the power to make its own Rules. Read more ..read more

I don't understand how the Minister of Housing, the Attorney General and the Premier refuse to deal with the growing backlog at the Landlord and Tenant Board, Ontario's busiest administrative tribunal. There is a critical shortage of members at the LTB, and as of December 31st, more than a dozen of those remaining members will be history with no new ones yet appointed. Read more ..read more

Most Toronto condos being rented out today are running cash flow negative.  This means that with a 20% down payment (which is typical), after the landlord has covered costs of the mortgage, taxes, common area fees, insurance and unit maintenance, they are losing money each month. Now those are the regular, recurring charges that apply to all landlords.  But there are many more costs that may be incurred.  For instance, what happens if the unit sits empty?  That vacancy period has to be factored into the equation.  What about damage and depreciation?  And if a con ..read more