From the Canadian Real Estate Magazine- http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/
Following another long and costly case, landlords are calling for a complete review of the Tenant and Landlord Board process.
Experienced investors and others in the field of housing should be members of the Landlord and Tenant Board, while the process should be reviewd to save time and money.
Calling the whole set-up a “money-making scheme”, Kayla Andrade from the Ontario Landlords Watch says the whole process, from fees to the decision-making process, needs to be overhauled and fair to both sides.
“It is $170 to file an issue with the board and the landlord has to also hire a paralegal to represent them during the case, while the tenant does not have to do,” says Andrade. “Many of the cases take a long time to come to conclusion, after which time the tenant can stay rent-free in the unit. It’s unnessary and unfair.”
Andrade’s criticism of the Board follows in the wake of a recent decision from the Divisional Court with one lawyer saying the system is screwing the landlords.
In that case, the landlord applied to the board to terminate the tenancy and evict the tenant on the grounds that she had not paid her rent (which amounted to around $2,000). The hearing was postponed on two occasions, with the tenant arguing she needed more time to obtain documents. Despite the Board finding in favour of the tenant, she appealed the decision which she subsequently lost.
The landlord sought partial indemnity costs of under $17,000, meaning costs must have been in excess of $25,000. The court stated that the tenant was of modest means and that the issue were relative to simple issues and awarded the landlord a measly $2,500 in costs.