The Ontario Landlords Association (OLA) and its sister organization The Canada Landlords Association (CLA) are leading provincial and national organizations for private small residential landlords. We provide a unified voice for private landlords and promote and protect our members' interests to national and local government.
May 21st, 2013
There are lots of good tenants out there. We’ve also read about some not so good tenants. Here’s a story of Ontario landlords who faced challenging tenant problems and found the current system left a lot to be desired.
Part 1: I Guess We Were Naive
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We’d been having issues with our tenant – or, more specifically, the boyfriend who had moved in with her after 8 months of relatively problem-free tenancy.
They were irked with us for having cancelled their fire permit due to our unwillingness to be responsible for paying fines for their insistence on having fires even during a total fire ban – and their response was to start piling up their garbage in the yard, rather than taking it to the curb.
We didn’t want to pay those fines either – so when the township by-law officer gave up on dealing with them directly and sent us a letter notifying us that we would be responsible for the cost of having a crew clean it up, we served them with an N5: clean it up or risk eviction.
She did make an attempt at cleaning, or rather re-organizing the mountains of trash, but he came home from his job and threw an almighty tantrum, not only undoing all of her attempt, but also ripping bags open and scattering dirty diapers from one end of the yard to the other.
So – my husband hired a helper and a truck and cleaned the yard, paying more than $200 in dump fees – and I completed the paperwork to evict. We didn’t serve it though, because when we went to speak to them about an outstanding portion of October’s rent and November’s rent, they gave notice. Insufficient notice – they said they would be out by the end of November, but since we were happy to see the back of them, I accepted it and agreed that we would apply their last month’s rent to November.
Problem solved, right? Did I mention naive?
On the 27th of November, my husband stopped by the house to let the tenants know that I had arranged a showing for the 29th. The woman was home, but had someone there and refused to speak to him beyond telling him to get lost (in not nearly such polite language).
I went down later in the day to find out what was going on, and she told me that they had not yet found a place that they could afford, and therefore “might” not be moving. Although not at all pleased with this development, I did clearly state the requirements necessary to continue their tenancy: they needed to make a decision by the next day and let me know, and they would be responsible to both pay rent for December and replace their last month’s rent.
Repeatedly, I told her, you MUST let me know by tomorrow if you want to stay – repeatedly she agreed. Right before I left, I again re-iterated that I needed to know by the following day, and that if I did not hear from her, I would assume that her tenancy would end on the 30th, and would proceed with the showing on the 29th. I also wrote a notice and left it with her – without retaining a copy.
Nothing from her on the 28th.
But when we showed up as per the notice on the 29th with prospective tenant in tow she had company – a foul-mouthed friend who spouted off at length about their “right” to stay and to not to pay any rent before she proceeded to threaten to sic her Rottweiler on us.
Calling the police accomplished little – because I did not have a copy of the notice, the officer refused to facilitate entry. He instead had me write another notice for the following day, which also included demand for a key to the front door, since they had changed the lock.
The next day, I met the officer there. The prospective tenant did not attend – can’t imagine why! There didn’t seem to be much point to entering, but the officer did serve her with the forms I had completed – a second N5, and an N4 for non-payment of rent.
She handed him a key – presumably for the front door, but in fact, a key that did not open any of the doors in the unit…
To discuss this and other landlord and tenant issues go to the Ontario Landlords Association free landlord forum
May 6th, 2013
Many small and medium sized landlords in Ontario and those who plan to become landlords have questions about protecting their rental property. This means getting the right insurance to make sure you are ready for any potential problems down the road. Landlords need to protect themselves and their properties because there are dangers at every corner.
Humberview Insurance Brokers helps thousands of landlords and income property investors across the province and has provided the following general information. Remember to always check with an insurance broker before making a final decision on how to best protect your investment.
1. House Keeping
Step one for insuring your income property is to ask yourself: Have all the improvements and updates in the property been completed in compliance with the most recent building code for your area?
This includes, updated electrical, plumbing and roof. Is the property in good condition? If you just purchased a home and plan on doing major renovations to it, make sure you notify your insurance company. Depending on the renovation your insurance policy may not be valid. Furthermore, you should ask yourself who will be responsible for maintenance such as clearing snow, general repairs and tenant inquires.
Important News If You Are An International Landlord
If you are an international landlord with a rental property in Ontario, please note it is a requirement that you have a designated individual residing near the property for maintenance and upkeep. This designated individual can be a friend, family member or a property management company.
2. Personal Policy vs. Commercial Policy
Did you know that as a landlord you can have your rental property insured under your homeowners insurance? Of course, there are a few catches but for the small to medium sized landlord renting out a home to 1 family or even up to a sixplex this can be a very viable and affordable way to insuring your rental property or properties. So what’s the catch?
Depending on the insurance company, most require that the rental property in question have only one related family per unit. But, what if there are two families living in one home? This can still be insured under a personal policy as long as the rental property in question has separated units and the people living within the unit are one family.
This includes each unit having their own kitchen and bathroom and that none of the facilities are shared between units. This does not include if let’s say you plan on having 1 unit rented to a family and the other unit to three university students.
Most insurance companies will accept a rental property under your home owners policy with up to 4 units, some will even do up to 6. Another restriction includes the number of rental properties or the number of units insured, most companies will only insure 3 or 4 rental properties under your homeowners policy, we represent one insurer that will insure over 20 rental properties which qualify under their rules.
Other restrictions may include having at least 3 years previous homeowners insurance, how many claims you’ve had in the past 6 years and where you live in proximity to your rental property. Another very important consideration is that if a claim were to occur on your rental property that is on the same policy as your homeowners, this claim will be reflected on your homeowners policy and may affect your ability in obtaining homeowners insurance.
What are the benefits of having your rental property insured with your homeowners policy?
Well if you have a car insured with the same company you probably qualify for a multi-line discount which could save you 10-15% on both policies. Some insurance companies will offer coverage for your rental property under an all risks basis (all risks with the exception of the exclusions) when insured under your homeowners policy. Another benefit is having the payments for your home and rental property come out at the same time. So if you live in Ontario, have a homeowners policy on your primary residence and own a rental property rented to 1 family, chances are you qualify for coverage under a personal policy.
3. Student Housing
Maybe you own a student rental house, a small apartment building or you own multiple properties and want a policy with less restrictions, than a commercial policy is the way to go. Homeowner policies are usually written under an all risk basis (with the exception of the listed exclusions) or named perils basis as mentioned above. Under a commercial policy coverages are different than a homeowners insurance policy. You as a landlord are responsible for verifying the coverages and should ask your insurance representative what the policy may cover. Under commercial policies there may be less restrictions as to the type of tenants occupying your rental property. But, the insurance company must know the exact occupancy and this must be clearly shown and rated on your policy. For instance, if your policy shows rented dwelling, and your rented dwelling is occupied by 5 students, this may not reflect the proper occupancy. The occupancy description in this case must declare rented dwelling 5 students, or along that effect.
Humberview Insurance Brokers
Humberview Insurance Brokers is an insurance brokerage headquartered in Toronto, Ontario that provides insurance for small to medium sized businesses, landlords and their families. Our services include business insurance, landlord insurance, car insurance and home insurance.
OLA Membership Benefit
As a member of the Ontario Landlords Association, you qualify for a group home and car insurance rate through Humberview Insurance Brokers in partnership with Unica Insurance. For your rental properties, Humberview Insurance offers multiple insurers depending on the type of rental property you own.
May 1st, 2013
According to a notice from the Ministry of Community and Social Services some people on social assistance in eleven Ontario municipalities may be inconvenienced by an error in computer processing that affected a portion of this month’s Ontario Works payments.
For landlords this means tenants on Ontario Works may end up being late for their rent payments. We know how non-payment of rent can set off alarm bells for small residential landlords. And with good reason!
It’s important to know if your tenant is late for rent, it may not be their intention.
The processing glitch will affect around 17,000 Ontario Works recipients who have pre-arranged for a percentage of their cheque to be automatically deducted to pay for rent and/or utilities.
The Ministry explained OW clients should expect to receive one lump sum in their bank accounts. This means they will be personally responsible for paying their bills. The error did not produce any over-payments, according to the Ministry of Community and Social Services.
The error will affect only Ontario Works clients who have made prior arrangements for their municipality to deduct some of their payment in order to pay bills such as utilities or rent. The one-time processing error caused the full amount of the Ontario Works payment to go to the social assistance client. As a result, the clients will be personally responsible for paying their affected bills this month.
Despite this error, all payments are being made on time and no Ontario Works client will be short-changed (and the error also did not produce any over-payments). The Ministry of Community and Social Services says the circumstances that caused the unprecedented error are unlikely to recur. The Ministry said it is reviewing procedures to ensure proper safeguards from now on.
The Ministry is working with the 11 municipalities to alert both the affected clients and the vendors.
Areas impacted in Ontario include Toronto, Brantford, Cochrane, Kawartha Lakes, London, Niagara, Northumberland, Ottawa, Parry Sound, Peel and Windsor.
To discuss this you can visit the topic at the Ontario Landlord Forum
April 25th, 2013
According to a report in the news, An Oro-Medonte Township man is charged after a dispute with his landlady.
Barrie OPP were called to a residence on Penetanguishene Road on Wednesday.
The man allegedly assaulted the woman the day before on Tuesday and did again the next day.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time we have seen tenant violence against a a landlord.
Barrie Ontario – Tenant Allegedly Assaulted Landlord with a Punch…and a Broom and Knife!
The 48-year-old was arrested and charged with one count of assault and one count of mischief.
He was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Barrie on June 3rd.
To discuss this and other landlord and tenant issues go to the Ontario Landlords Forum
April 2nd, 2013
In a February homepage story, the OLA reported on a story of a newcomer to Canada who filed a human rights complaint against a landlord in Mississauga, Ontario.
Rafiqul Islam told the OHRC he wanted to rent from rental property from a landlord in Mississauga, Ontario. He said the Mississauga landlord demanded Islam pay a full year of rent in order to be accepted in to the property.
This is against the Human Rights Commission of Ontario rules.
After seeing an advertisement outside an apartment building at 2365 Confederation Parkway in Mississauga, Islam said he applied for a bachelor apartment and paid a deposit for first and last month’s rent. He used his brother as a co-signer. This was on November 5th, 2010.
Ten days later Islam was told he would have to pay not just ‘first and last’ but the full year of rent. This led Islam to file and human rights complaint. It’s clear the company didn’t know or adhere to the rules which is why it’s important to hire property management companies that do.
In March the human rights complaint was settled.
The owner of the property, Helrit Investments Inc. and Trevi Construction Limited said they regretted what happened.
Helrit Investments Inc. spokesperson Dina Krznaric said her company never had any policy that would lead to newcomers to Canada having to pay one year of rent up front which would contravene the Ontario Human Rights Code.
She continued by stating “Discriminating against people as they are starting to build a new life in this country is most certainly not something our company promotes.”
She also said her company is welcoming to tenants from all over and understands newcomers are protected by the Human Rights Code. Helti would make sure all their employees understand the Human Rights Code and this type of situation would not happen again.
Bruce Best was Islam’s lawyer from the Human Rights Legal Support Centre. Best stated, “While we appreciate Helrit’s cooperation, this remains a wide-spread practice in Ontario and one that must be addressed in a larger way.”
The Ontario Landlords Association agrees with Mr. Best. It’s important for landlords to know laws and rules to run a rental business in Ontario.Knowledge is power and it adds us to a successful business.
To discuss this and other Ontario Landlord and Tenant issues, come to the largest Landlord Forum in Canada.
