Archive for the ‘legal aid’ Category

Group takes Landlord and Tenant board to Human Rights Tribunal over ‘digital first’ system

Monday, July 4th, 2022

Legal clinics that support renters have banded together to file human rights complaints against Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board alleging its “digital first” strategy has discriminated against tenants based on age, family status and disability.

For the first time in its history, the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario is bringing applications to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the LTB and its parent organization, Tribunals Ontario, that call into question the entire method of holding hearings, alleging that “digital first” has created systemic discrimination that puts Ontarians’ human rights last.

“When you do a single system with a service delivery mode that’s digital, there’s a generation of people that didn’t grow up with computers,” said Mairghread Knought, a community legal worker with the Nipissing Community Legal Clinic who has attempted to help people from all over the province who have struggled to have their cases heard in the often chaotic online hearings. “Putting a justice system online where housing is at stake – this isn’t renewing your licence – there’s a customer service aspect really missing here.”

At issue is a decision made in 2020 by Tribunals Ontario and the LTB to no longer hold hearings in person and focus on doing its work online or over the telephone. Officially, in-person hearings remained possible, but examples of it happening were virtually non-existent until recent months. Initially the move was said to be necessitated by pandemic restrictions, but even as other courts have opened up and begun taking in-person hearings, the LTB has signalled its intent to stay “digital first” for good.

ACTO’s lead lawyer on the file said that the Tribunal’s attempts to prioritize speed have not only failed to eliminated massive backlogs and wait times for hearings, but have been detrimental to a large group of tenants.

“No one can deny it works for a lot of people, and for some people it might be better than before,” said Ryan Hardy, staff lawyer at ACTO, referring mainly to landlords seeking evictions. “Clearly if you sacrifice procedural protections, or sacrifice access to duty council, and sacrifice a lot of the rules of evidence, I’ve seen an application for an eviction disposed of in under two minutes.

“If you do that it’s probably more mathematically efficient, but at what cost? How many people got evicted who might not have been evicted under a fairer system?”

Lorraine Peever, 77, is the complainant in one of the first HRTO cases ACTO is bringing. In 2019, she tried to file a tenants application for compensation after her building – a District of Nipissing Housing Services seniors residence in North Bay with 106 apartments – was infested with bed bugs.

“I had to put on extra pants, and tuck the pants inside the socks. My arms were bitten; I put extra-long socks on my arms, a sweater. I had a towel around my neck, a fancy scarf on my head: That’s how I went to bed,” said Ms. Peever. As the bug issues continued to plague the building well into 2020, Ms. Peever grew increasingly irate at the costs borne by her and other tenants. At one point she was told to put everything she wanted to save in three plastic boxes, which meant throwing away almost everything else, including gowns she had for dancing. But on several occasions she was unable to join the new all-digital hearings on her phone.

“The things going on in this building are not right. I was getting fed up. It bothered me really, really bad,” said Ms. Peever, who eventually contacted her local legal clinic for help. “We’re all seniors and nobody wants to talk up or nothing … we’re not all bright and have computers.”

Ms. Knought’s office has fought twice now to get Ms. Peever’s case heard. Ms. Peever is still waiting to find out whether the LTB will hear her application. She missed her most recent hearing after being badly injured in a winter storm, ending up in a rehabilitation hospital with three broken vertebrae.

“No one wants to have to do a human rights complaint,” said Ms. Knought. “It’s sad that no one seems to be listening.” ACTO runs the provincially funded Tenant Duty Counsel program that puts a trained lawyer in every hearing room – once physical, now all digital – to advise tenants who are allowed to represent themselves at the Tribunal but often need guidance on how to do so. Ms. Knought has worked with the legal clinic on and off for two decades and has advised tenants in hundreds of digital hearings since COVID-19 began.

“It was a Band-Aid solution and it hasn’t been done well,” said Ms. Knought. “What we see is individuals who struggle with mute and unmute.”

In Northern Ontario, in-person hearings were rare prepandemic, she said; about twice a month the Tribunal would set up temporary shop in a Best Western hotel, but at least tenants had a chance to be heard. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it. … I’ve never worked anywhere where the ability to communicate with a government body has been so bad.”

Even though the LTB has hired more adjudicators in recent months and scheduled more hearings, Ms. Knought said there are more adjournments than ever – and even if there is a hearing, the relative inexperience of many of the new adjudicators means there have been lengthening delays in getting written verdicts.

“The Attorney-General must ensure the LTB’s digital hearings are fast, fair, and easy to use for all, and guarantee an in-person hearing if a tenant or landlord requests one,” said Jessica Bell, NDP MPP and critic on the housing file, who has spoken out for months about service problems at the LTB.

Tribunals Ontario did not respond to a request for comment.

“I’m hoping the government will wake up,” Ms. Peever said. “It’s been dragging on and nothing’s been settled.”

Contact Your Local Legal Aid Clinic For Help Against Your Bad Landlord

Saturday, September 21st, 2019

Thanks To Justin Trudeau You Can Get Free Legal Help To Fight Your Bad Landlord!

You Can Use This Free Service To Intimidate & Even BANKRUPT Bad Landlords!

You NEED To Get Free Legal Help! (Yes, Free!)

Often tenants think we are alone and feel helpless.  After all, many of us work long hours or rely on diminishing government assistance to keep food on the table.

Life for us hard-working honest tenants is a constant struggle just to survive!

Many tenants also have young kids and anyone who has brought up children knows how stressful this is. Unlike the rich landlords, we can’t use the rent money to hire nannies, cooks, cleaners and buy the most expensive toys.

So when you have a bully landlord causing you trouble many tenants feel like we are in a “black hole”.

We get depressed, we feel ill and it’s all about a sense of powerlessness.

While your Ferrari owning or $100,000 SUV driving landlord can use our rent to hire lawyers, we feel we are on our own. And life is tough enough without dealing with some rich bully landlord.

While landlords are enjoying our rent money, many tenants are struggling to survive.

Cheer Up and Be Energized! There Is Help Out There For You!

The pro-landlord right wing conservative media such as the CBC and Toronto Star will never write about ways tenants can get help and justice.

Why?

Because they rely on the revenue of advertisements to the “landlord class” to make money.

This is why you see so many ads for expensive vacations to Europe or the Caribbean, ads for expensive cars, and ads for expensive law firms…all directed to the rich “landlord class”.

These landlords are the people who really run our country.  And their source of money is the working class like us paying them rent!

But There Is Help…(and it’s free!)

Fortunately there is help out there. Only most tenants don’t even know about it!

We are too over-worked, too stressed, too tired, and too indoctrinated to even believe such help exists.

But Help Does Exist Thanks to Legal Aid Clinics Across Ontario!

The evil Ford government cut funding to legal aid centers.  These are centers that provide free legal help to people who need protection.

For example, new refugees, women who have been victims of domestic abuse, and most important is tenants.

Ford is controlled by the landlords. So he wanted to shut down the ways poor tenants trying to survive can fight back. The landlords like the OLA pushed Ford to do this!

Justin Trudeau Came To Our Rescue!

The devious Ford gov’t cut legal aid as the Corporate landlords and Ontario Landlords Association told them to do!

This would have stopped refugees and tenants from being able to get help. The was the plan by the OLA and the huge globalist corporate landlords. Without legal aid, tenants could easily be bullied and intimidated.

Thanks to Justin Trudeau our amazing Prime Minister (great hair!) the federal government gave full funding to the legal aid clinics in Ontario!

Contact Your Local Legal Aid Clinic For Free Legal Help

They have amazing trained professionals lawyers and paralegals who will help you. They are very experienced and on your side!

Find your local legal clinic here.

Tenant Duty Counsel Program

This is free legal help specifically for landlord/Tenant matters.

The government provides free legal help to ALL tenants (rich or poor) at the Landlord and Tenant Board Tribunals.

Even if you make $1,000,000/year and drive a Ferrari you get free legal help…but you need to come to your Landlord and Tenant Board Hearing early and get the free help you are entitled to.

This is great because it means the program is non-discriminatory and not based on income. It’s really fair.

Tenant Duty Counsel

The Tenant Duty Counsel Program (TDCP) is a program of ACTO, funded by Legal Aid Ontario.  ACTO funds 30 legal clinics across the province to provide TDCP services. The TDCP is a walk-in service available at locations across Ontario where the Landlord and Tenant Board hold their hearings.

TDCP staff provide advice, legal assistance, resources and referrals to unrepresented tenants on the day of their hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board. Priority is given to tenants facing eviction.

TDCP staff also provide advice to tenants who have been illegally locked out or who have sheriff notices or eviction orders.

If you have a problem with your landlord, you may need legal help before there is a Landlord and Tenant Board hearing. For low-income tenants, this help is provided by community legal clinics, located in each major town or city. Find your legal clinic.

You Can Bankrupt Your Bad Landlord And Make Them Back Down (and even beg for mercy)

We Tenants can get free legal help but the landlords can’t!

They have to pay huge money to “defend” against our “free” legal aid help.

Many times the landlord is  paying thousands of dollars to a paralegal or lawyer and will just back down and give you what we want to avoid paying even more thousands of dollars to lawyers and paralegals who will take their money (guaranteed) but won’t refund them if they don’t win and don’t “terminate” the tenants. 

The legal reps for landlords love getting paid from landlords in trouble. So use this against them. You get free legal help, and every day the legal battle goes on your landlord loses money.

LOL!

It’s Time For Tenants To Get Aggressive And Fight Back

Let’s make this clear: Good landlords have have nothing to worry about.

But tenants dealing with bad landlords need to keep in regular contact with your local legal aid clinic. They are there to help you…and you will win!

Tenants Need To Fight Back And You Will Win!

Many tenants get depressed and feel everything is hopeless as your landlord doesn’t fix things and takes your rent money to buy drugs and fancy new cars and Bahama vacations.

Thank You Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Who Feels Our Pain. As Someone Who Worked As A Teacher & Bouncer He Is Working Class Like Us! PM Trudeau Believes We Are All Equal And Deserve Fairness!

Justin fights for people in need.  And Justin has just made sure Tenants can continue to get free legal help to fight bad landlords. Good landlords have nothing to worry about, just treat us like 5 star clients.