For shady landlords in Ontario, the punishment must fit the crime

[FAIRrenter]

The saying goes that the punishment must fit the crime. And yet, when it comes to shady landlords in Ontario, it would seem the punishment inadvertently rewards the crime.

This is the takeaway from a recent analysis by the Star’s Victoria Gibson which determined that even when landlords break the rules by improperly evicting tenants, they often face “far milder punishments than are available.” Even more damning, landlords caught breaking the rules and fined as a result are often able to quickly recoup their losses by raising the rents on their properties.
Indeed, between November 2022 and November 2023, the Star identified 11 rulings at the Landlord and Tenant Board where a landlord was caught giving an eviction notice in bad faith. In six of those cases where the rent was raised after tenants were inappropriately evicted, the landlord “could have recouped the cost of their punishment by the hearing date.”

What makes this trend particularly troubling, beyond the fact that Ontario faces a growing housing crisis, is that the province has already vowed tougher consequences for scofflaw landlords.

In 2020, the provincial government introduced new legislation that increased the maximum fines for housing law offences from $25,000 to $50,000. Yet, according to the Star’s reporting, none of the aforementioned landlords caught giving bad faith eviction notices were slapped with an LTB fine of more than $10,000. And even when tenants took their concerns to the supposedly more discerning Rental Housing Enforcement Unit — the steepest fine that unit levied in the 2022-23 cycle was $20,000.

It is unacceptable and unconscionable that amid a severe housing shortage, many landlords who defy the rules for their own gain do not feel anything resembling the full extent of the law. The provincial government is keen to remind the people of Ontario how committed it is to building housing; Premier Doug Ford recently handed out millions to cities that met their provincially defined housing targets.
But he has an equal responsibility to do right by renters in the province, a growing demographic typically underserved and ignored by the political class.

It should go without saying that the glaring lack of affordable rental housing in our society is not a problem that can be solved nor even slightly mitigated by way of steeper fines. However, bad actors must know that legitimate consequences exist for their actions; there is little point introducing punitive measures if authorities are hesitant to use them.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editori ... 0c753.html

[Victim]

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