Archive for the ‘Landlord and tenant board hearing’ Category

Let’s All Go To Tenant School! (It’s Free)

Friday, August 5th, 2022

This is Cassandra from the forums. I’ve submitted this and hope lots of people read it.

Tenants only want to follow the rules and protect our rights under the law.

But what if you are busy working multiple jobs just to pay the rent and put food on the table for your children?

Meanwhile, you landlord is trying to do something you think is wrong but how can you fight back?

There is now a terrific way for Tenants learn more about our rights!

This will be informative and fun and teach you about your rights and how to protect yourself. Good landlords will appreciate you knowing about the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) so both sides are equal partners when it comes to understanding the system.

Here is the information:

Come to our August Tenant School – for free!
Register for the FMTA’s Tenant School program

You can now register for the FMTA’s Tenant School program which provides training to tenants and tenant association leaders about your rights under the law and how you can organize with your neighbours.

Some workshops will be over Zoom and others will be held in person at Christie Pits Park (across from Christie subway stop on the Bloor line).

Here is the schedule of workshops:

On Zoom:

Tuesday, August 9, 7-8:30 pm: Introduction to Landlord-Tenant Law

Wednesday, August 10, 7-8:30 pm: Human Rights and Housing

Thursday, August 11, 7-8:30 pm: City Hall 101

At Christie Pits:

Sunday, August 14, 11:30 am – 4:30 pm:

*Getting Repairs Done

*Community Organizing and Tenant Associations

Read more here: Come to our August Tenant School – for free! – FMTA (torontotenants.org)

 

How To Speed Up Getting Your Landlord & Tenant Board (LTB) Hearing

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

Covid hit the province of Ontario hard. This led to the closings of courts and tribunals in 2020 leading to a huge backlog in cases.

While the LTB has made some important changes to help landlords in the past year, we are still faced with these long delays in getting an LTB Hearing. Many small landlords have gone for months not receiving any rent while their non-paying tenants remain in the property.

Small landlords need quicker access to justice. Fortunately the LTB has listened to our members comments and has created a way for small landlords to shorten the time to get a Hearing.

Join our expert discussion on this and other important topics in our landlord forums.

 

TO:                 Ontario Landlord Association Stakeholders

FROM:           Karen Restoule, Associate Chair, Lynn Dicaire, Registrar

RE:                 New Guideline and Updated Form

As discussed during our stakeholder meetings over the past months, the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) created Interpretation Guideline 22 regarding Covid-19 Issues, and updated its Request to Extend or Shorten Time form and accompanying instructions.

Interpretation Guideline 22 – Covid-19 Issues

This is a temporary Guideline that addresses issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be revoked on a date to be determined by the LTB.

Interpretation Guidelines are intended to assist parties in understanding the LTB’s usual interpretation of the law, to provide guidance to members and promote consistency in decision-making. However, a member is not required to follow a Guideline and may make a different decision depending on the facts of the case.

Interpretation Guideline 22, and all LTB guidelines, can be found on our Rules, Practice Direction, Guidelines webpage.

Request to Shorten Time 

The LTB’s Request to Extend or Shorten Time form and accompanying instructions have been updated to make clearer the criteria adjudicators consider when deciding these requests.

The Request to Extend or Shorten Time form and instructions can be found on our Forms webpage.

Thank you for your ongoing engagement with the LTB. These changes are a result of the many discussions that we have had with stakeholders about improving the user experience for LTB parties.

Karen Restoule                    Lynn Dicaire

Associate Chair                    Registrar

The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is working towards implementing Zoom’s videoconference platform to conduct proceedings

Sunday, March 7th, 2021

The Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is working hard to improve the process for small landlords to have access to justice.

The Ontario Landlords Association has explained to the LTB that most of our thousands of members across Ontario are familiar with Zoom for online meetings and not MS products.

We explained that instead of using Microsoft (MS) products, changing over to Zoom would create a space that most small landlords will be familiar with and be more confident using.

March 5, 2021

TO: Ontario Landlords Association Stakeholders

FROM: Karen Restoule, Associate Chair, Lynn Dicaire, Registrar

RE: Zoom Demonstration

The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) is working towards implementing Zoom’s videoconference platform to conduct proceedings.

Before implementation, we are engaging with stakeholders to obtain feedback to inform our plans to rollout the platform for all proceedings.

We are pleased to invite you to attend a Zoom demonstration session on one of the following days next week.

Please log into the session using the Zoom link provided next to each date.

Note that each session will be the same and you should only attend
one.

– Wednesday, March 10, 2021 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Please log in using
this Zoom link: https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/64404762691

– Thursday, March 11, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Please log in using
this Zoom link: https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/67414728067

The LTB values your experience and perspective and we welcome your input on our proposed changes to our processes. We are making this transition to better meet the needs of those who access our services. As we move forward, we will provide more updates in the coming weeks.

We hope you will participate in this session.

Sincerely,

Karen Restoule                         Lynn Dicaire
Associate Chair                         Registrar

Updated Ontario Standard Lease Must Be Used For Tenancies Beginning March 1st

Friday, March 5th, 2021

Reminder to landlords in Ontario on March 1st, 2021 we must use the new version of the government lease 

Ontario landlords know that we need to use the Ontario Standard Form Of Lease. Previously, residential landlords were allowed to create their own leases customized for their tenants.

Fortunately, with the government lease landlords can still add important clauses to protect our rental properties.

What’s Different About The Updated Lease?

OLA members have been discussing this on our forum. Some of the changes include things like allowing for the use of electronic signatures and clarifying the penalties for not following the rules and for “bad faith” evictions.

Where Can I Download The New Updated Lease?

Please click this LINK to download the updated lease.

Where Can I Discuss The Updated Lease And How To Add Lease Clauses?

Join our busy Members forum to discuss this and all other questions you have.

The key to being a successful Ontario landlord to to be proactive and solve issues before they become larger problems.

TENANTS CAN NOW GET A FREE LAWYER TO HELP YOU FIGHT YOUR LANDLORD!

Monday, March 1st, 2021

EVICTION HELP: THE TENANT-LAWYER CONNECTION PORTAL

There was an excellent story by CBC news explaining how Tenants can now get free legal help from an Ontario lawyer.

YES, FREE LEGAL HELP FROM AN ONTARIO LAWYER.

Unlike the venomous “work for the highest bidder” low-life legal reps that want to evict tenants, hurt families and destroy lives, there are lots of good lawyers out there.

They are successful already and don’t have to be “bottom-feeders” like what many landlords are hiring to try to destroy tenant lives. Tenants face so many scary challenges these days. It ranges from defamation and illegal tenants lists (direct link here)  to landlords not keeping the rental property safe from fires.

Good lawyers believe in justice and fairness and they can protect you from the low-class sharks that are used as weapons against Tenants during the current corrupt LTB Hearing system.

They aren’t desperate to make a “quick buck” abusing the system to please their landlord paymasters.

A Lawyer Is Like Your Bodyguard Against Landlord Bullies!

“DON’T BULLY MY CLIENT LANDLORD! OBEY THE LAW OR GET WRECKED!”

Having your own lawyer makes sure your landlords treat you with respect! If they think you are weak they will bully you, but if they know you are protected they will change their tune fast!

The Ontario Bar Association has launched a new pro bono legal service to help tenants at risk of losing their homes when residential evictions resume across the province in the coming weeks.

The enforcement of eviction orders was paused in Ontario when the provincial government introduced a stay-at-home order on Jan. 14 to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Evictions have since resumed across most of the province, though the moratorium will remain for Toronto, Peel Region and North Bay-Parry Sound until at least March 8.

Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board is expected to begin processing a growing backlog of cases as enforcement resumes more widely across the province.

“There will be a wave of hearings,” said Doug Ferguson, the bar association’s chair of pro bono work.

“And there will be a wave of evictions.”

The new service offers 30 minutes of free legal advice for tenants facing eviction hearings.

‘Tenants are stuck’

Ferguson said lawyers who volunteer for the program will walk clients through their tenant rights, and help them to negotiate agreements with landlords, such as deferring payments or delaying an eventual move-out date.

The goal, he said, is to better prepare tenants for hearings that have the potential to fundamentally disrupt their lives.

“The tenants are stuck,” Ferguson said. “When you don’t have the legal training or the information you need, it makes it very difficult to make your point.”

The bar association says it has enough volunteer lawyers to assist 100 clients per week. Some tenants in particularly complicated situations may receive more than the 30 minutes of free counsel, if the lawyer agrees to help them further.

The provincial government says it encourages tenants and landlords to reach “fair arrangements,” such as deferring rent or finding alternative payment arrangements.

Thousands of Toronto tenants facing evictions

Renters across Canada have reported difficulty making their rent throughout the pandemic, mainly due to job losses and increased economic instability.

A survey released in January by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation found that rent arrears increased nationally due to COVID-19, with 58.3 per cent of survey respondents reporting a higher rent arrears rate in 2020 than the previous year.

Toronto recorded the highest arrears rate, with 34,858 units, more than 10 per cent of the city’s rental stock, in arrears in 2020. The estimated amount of unpaid rent reached $55 million in Toronto last year.

Kiri Vadivelu is among the thousands of local tenants in arrears and now facing eviction. He hasn’t paid rent at his Scarborough apartment since April 2020 when he lost his job as a security guard.

“It is extremely, extremely frightening because if my landlord can evict me, I have no means to pay, and I have [nowhere] to go. What am I going to do?” said Vadivelu.

He and his wife are awaiting the birth of their first child this spring.

“I’m afraid our family is going to be homeless.”

Vadivelu is also an organizer with the tenant advocacy group Toronto ACORN, which has called on the provincial government to ban all residential evictions, hearings and orders until the pandemic ends.

The Ontario NDP has made similar demands.

Ferguson, of the bar association, did not echo those calls, though he did raise similar concerns about the possibility of tenants across the province being pushed out of their homes.

“At this point in the pandemic, to have thousands of people homeless cannot be good for our communities,” he said.

“Not good for public health and not good for our economy.”

Don’t Estimate The Depths Landlord Desperate Legal Reps Will Go!

“I will evict each and everyone of these tenants so I can finally make enough cash to buy my Ferrari and Miami beach luxury condo!”

Tenants know that landlords (including small landlords) are hiring expensive legal help to try to steamroll Tenants and kick us out of our homes.

Get Help Here.

With LTB hearings now online, many Tenants claim adjudicators (judges) at the Landlord and Tenant Board are stomping on our legal and human rights!

Make sure you get a free lawyer and make sure your landlord knows you have a lawyer helping you so they must RESPECT YOU!