
Archive for the ‘landlord advocacy’ Category
Let’s Improve The Rental Industry For Good Landlords & Good Tenants – Share Advice, Tips & More
Wednesday, March 1st, 2023
Sunday, February 19th, 2023
MEMORANDUM
TO: Landlord and Tenant Board Stakeholders
FROM: Ian Speers, Associate Chair
Lindiwe Bridgewater, Acting Registrar
RE: Landlord and Tenant Board Updates
We are writing to provide you with an update on scheduling, and evening and weekend hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).
Beginning January 2023, the LTB resumed scheduling initial hearings for all landlord and tenant applications, in addition to scheduling previously adjourned matters. We’d like to advise you of the following details:
- Urgent matters will continue to be scheduled on a priority basis. If you believe your matter warrants an earlier hearing date, you can file a Request to Extend/Shorten Time.
- As was done previously, L1s, and L2s and tenant merits, will be scheduled on alternating weeks (for example, week 1 will consist of L1 blocks, and week 2 will consist of L2 and tenant merit blocks).
- Merits hearings for Above Guideline Increase (AGI) applications continue to be scheduled. AGI Case Management Hearings will continue to be scheduled in the Spring.
- Motions, reviews, and co-operative housing hearings also continue to be part of the schedule as required, as well as weekly French/bilingual hearings.
- Online dispute resolution continues to be available for all applications filed in the Tribunals Ontario Portal. Routine mediation also continues to be available upon request for all application types.
At our stakeholder meeting in November, we asked for feedback on the evening and weekend hearing initiative. Thank you to everyone who provided submissions. We received a lot of valuable feedback, which we are in the process of reviewing as we continue our planning.
Our goal and priority is to provide timely and accessible dispute resolution services to the people of Ontario. We thank you for your continued patience as we work on shortening delays at the LTB.
Sincerely,
Ian Speers Lindiwe Bridgewater
Associate Chair Acting Registrar
Front Page Toronto Star – Ontario Landlords Campaign Against Discrimination
Friday, October 21st, 2022
…
Let’s Make Sure Every Landlord In Ontario Follows The Human Rights Code And Doesn’t Discriminate in 2022
Many newcomers from around the world are arriving in Canada and deciding to rent a home before buying. Reasons can be to build a credit score to get a mortgage to wisely spending time to learn where they want to live before buying their own place.
Many Ontario landlords were surprised to read a story in the Toronto Star about a tenant applicant who was being discriminated against. Our members are still discussing this now!
This was an applicant most experienced and successful landlords would consider to potentially be an ideal tenant…someone we all want to rent from us!
LTB News To Help You Succeed: Tribunals Ontario Portal – Update
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2022TO: Landlord and Tenant Board Stakeholders
FROM: Dawn Sullivan, Acting Associate Chair
Lindiwe Bridgewater, Acting Registrar
DATE: August 3, 2022
RE: Tribunals Ontario Portal – Update
We are writing to share an update on the Tribunals Ontario Portal.
New process for receiving documents
Over the past two years, the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has made significant progress in modernizing its services at a time where people expect user-friendly and convenient electronic options for interacting with government services.
To that end, we have added a button to the file summary page of the Tribunals Ontario Portal that allows parties to provide consent to receive documents from the LTB via the portal. By default, once a party logs into the portal the button is checked to indicate their consent. A user can uncheck the box if they want to receive communication from the LTB via regular mail. A user can also change their mind at any time about how they want to receive documents from the LTB by logging back into the portal and checking/unchecking the consent button.
If a user never logs on to the portal, they will continue to receive all correspondence from the LTB by regular mail.
Sending all correspondence by email and through the portal has benefits for both the LTB and the parties accessing LTB services. Parties will receive documents faster. The administrative burden is also reduced for LTB staff who track, print and mail out documents. This will allow them to focus on other areas that need attention to improve our service delivery.
We thank you for your continued patience as we actively work to improve our service timelines.
Sincerely,
Dawn Sullivan Lindiwe Bridgewater
Acting Associate Chair Acting Registrar
Ontario Landlords- How Much Can I Raise the Rent in 2023?
Friday, July 1st, 2022Ontario Landlords Can Raise the Rent 2.5% in 2023
It’s a question small mom and pop landlords all over Ontario are asking.
In Ontario, landlords (in most cases) can only raise rent every year by a certain percentage that the provincial government allows.
In past years, this percentage was purely based on the Computer Price Index (CPI) which is a measure of inflation.
For example in 2012 the allowable increase was 3.1%
According to the Rent Increase Guideline explanation the CPI is a reliable and objective way to measure inflation, see a broad picture of changes in the price of goods and services in Ontario, and a sound way to set the annual rent increase.
In June 2012, the Wynne Liberal government put forward the Resident Tenancies Amendment Act to cap the maximum amount Ontario landlords can increase the rent for tenants occupying our rental properties.
Our members were in contact with their MPPs and then Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne about this. Wynne wrote to the Ontario Landlords Association stating this would create stable rents for tenants while landlords will still get a “fair return” to maintain high quality rentals.
This means that despite inflation, higher taxes, higher costs and higher bills landlords can only raise the rent by 2.5% in 2023.
You cannot simply tell your tenants you are going to raise the rent. There are rules and procedures you must follow.
Rules For Raising the Rent
1. The 12 Month Rule
Landlords must wait at least 12 months after tenants move in before increasing the rent.
2. The 12 Month Rule Part II
All future increases must be 12 months apart from the last increase.
3. Proper Notice
Landlords must also provide tenants with written notice 90 days before the rent goes up.
4. Use the Notice of Rent Increase Form
The Landlord and Tenant Board website has a form N1 you can use to give notice about a rent increase.