Archive for the ‘Marijuana’ Category

Ontario Landlords Need To Be Protected From Legal Marijuana – Ontario Landlords Association On CTV News, CityNews, National Post, Financial Post

Monday, October 1st, 2018

“I Need The Province To Help Me Be Able To Protect My Tenants, Keep My Rents Low, And Run A Successful Rental Business!”

It wasn’t that long ago the challenges small residential landlords face was rarely in the media. While landlords were dealing with ridiculously unfair rules which allowed clever tenants to manipulate the system, it was all hush-hush.

There was nothing. And small landlords kept getting ripped off and losing thousands of dollars in lost rent and damages.  (And also many stressful sleepless nights).

The Corporate landlords were silent. No one was sticking up for us, the small landlords who have invested our hard-earned money to create high quality rental housing across Ontario.

Things began to change when a landlord who rented to a “Tenant From Hell” became an OLA member and we got the message out loud and clear. This landlord was only one of a string of landlord victims and she wasn’t going to go down without a fight!

It was so shocking that these types of tenants could easily rip-off unsuspecting small landlords that the media noticed and the challenges of small residential Ontario landlords finally started to become known.

(For your information this tenant ended up criminally charged for their actions against small Ontario landlord, which would not have happened without the support of OLA members).

Now landlords face a huge another new challenge.

Ontario Will Treat Marijuana Smoking Like Tobacco Cigarette Smoking

The news Ontario was going to treat the smoking of marijuana similar to simply smoking tobacco was a huge story. The news was that people would be able to smoke weed in public spaces without any worries.  So toke up in parks, soccer fields, and while you are walking down the street.

How Is This Different Than The Previous Rules?

Under the Liberals cannabis was only going to be sold in government controlled stores and people wouldn’t able to smoke it in public places.  The new rules will allow marijuana to be smoked by anyone who is over nineteen years old and where the smoking of tobacco is allowed.

According to the Ontario attorney general: “If you’re able to smoke tobacco in your home the you’ll be able to use cannabis as well.”

“I’m just following the law! Give me a break!”

Ontario Landlords Speak Out

The media were eager to learn from Ontario Landlord Association how landlords viewed the new rules and how they would handle tenants potentially smoking weed in their rental properties.

The Ontario Landlords Association was interviewed by the Canadian Press for CTV News and a member explained why small residential landlords are worried and need to be protected.

Our concerns on legalized recreational marijuana were made clear.

Legal weed will create a lot of big problems for both Ontario landlords and Ontario tenants, including:

1. Conflict Between Tenants Who Smoke Weed and Those Who Are Exposed to Second Hand Marijuana Smoke

2. Important Safety Issues For Those Who Grow Marijuana In Their Rental Units

3. Expensive Clean Up Costs When Cannabis Smokers and Growers Move Out Need

4. We Need A Change In The Residential Tenancy Act For FAST EVICTIONS Of Tenants Smoking Weed Illegally (Within 24 hours)

Getting the Message Our Message Out

The message was loud and clear.  The good news is story and the comments on why landlords need to be protected spread to other important media:

It was picked up by the National Post.

It was on CityNews.

The story also go picked up by the highly influential Financial Post.

Landlords And Our Rental Properties Need To Be Protected

The government has stated their goal is to increase affordable housing and that means encouraging more people to invest in residential rental properties and become landlords.

Landlords need to be able to manage risk, be able to provide safe homes for our tenants and be able to earn some profit in return for managing the property and investing our capital to increase the provincial rental stock.

In the past year the Ontario Landlords Association has worked tirelessly to let everyone know our situation. 

We’ve done this with stories on CTV, CityNews, The National Post, The Financial Post…and also Vice, CBC, Toronto Star, Bloomberg International and more. We have also made sure the Premier and Housing Minister are aware of our concerns with our “Take Action” campaign.

Big changes take time and the new leadership in Ontario has a lot on their plate. Also the landlord/tenant file is a very sensitive one. So let’s keep our message strong and get the changes we need.

As landlords across Ontario agree:

“I Need The Province To Help Me Be Able To Protect My Tenants, Keep My Rents Low, And Run A Successful Rental Business!”

“Ontario Tenants Will Be Able To Smoke Marijuana And There’s Nothing Landlords Can Do About It”

Thursday, March 1st, 2018

Ontario tenants speak out

Tenants Speak Out and Share Their Concerns and Opinions on the Rental Industry

marijuana tenants ontario 1

“Ontario Tenants Will Soon Be Able To Smoke Marijuana In Their Homes And There’s Nothing Landlords Can Do About It”

The uproar from landlords and their friends in the media regarding marijuana is both frustrating and frightening. While landlords are allowed to frame the debate regarding the non-existent “tenants smoking marijuana issue” there has been a great racist and class discriminating wall preventing tenants from sharing our opinions and experiences.

Hey Media! I am aware landlords spend millions of dollars in advertising dollars to the media, but couldn’t you even give tenants a few iotas of your precious ad space, I mean news stories.

It’s clear the landlords in Ontario, both big and small, have spent a lot of time and money working together to create a plan to try to prevent tenants in Ontario from using marijuana in our homes.

I can just imagine all the secretive meetings between all the landlord lobby groups at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto to prepare a “united front” against tenants. While sipping $100 bottle Bordeaux at the Cafe Boulud they talk about how tough life is being a landlord. 

And “oh how dare the working class enjoy smoking cannabis now that it will soon be legal” they sigh while downing dishes the average worker could never afford!

It seems they only want wealthy homeowners to be allowed to enjoy a toke of a nice strain due to their wealth and privileged position in society.

Tenants Have the Human Rights To Do The Same Things in Their Homes That Homeowners Do In Theirs

Homeowners need to realize that when you rent to a tenant in Ontario it is no longer “your property”. It is now the tenant’s home. And just like you tenants can do what they want in their home. 

So just like you in your home, tenants in our home can do things like:

-play scrabble

-watch Netflix

-cook really tasty popcorn to eat while we watch our favorite shows

-play with our pets

-have passionate sex with whomever we choose to do so

-pray to our gods and goddesses without discrimination or fear

-smoke marijuana and grow our own plants with sweet as hell strains that the LCBO chains will never match

It almost seems landlords think a tenant should pay the rent and yet never even live in the property.

ontario tenants flight attendant hot

Ideal Tenant – Never Home!

I often think the ideal tenant for Ontario landlords is a flight attendant.

He rents from you and is never home as he flies across the country earning a wage to pay rent.  Oh and if he ever brings his boyfriend back the landlord will be livid and preparing evictions notices.

Or suddenly things don’t get fixed.  Or there are constant needless repairs. Constant harassment to move. (Probably because both Mr. and Mrs. Landlord are jealous of what they are missing). Unless the hook up is short and the tenant leaves again and seems to just disappear while the rent money keeps flowing in like a river.

Too many landlords view their rental apartments as only a money making machine and not a place where real people live.  I will soon submit my next article on rentals with no parking, ha ha!

The Whole “Oh Marijuana Smells So Bad” is a Straw man Argument and Not Logical   

Does curry smell bad? No, I get hungry when I smell it because it was part of my family’s regular food supply. Does marijuana smell bad? For me, no not at all. I can barely even smell it and if I do notice it I’m reminded of my family garden as a child.

Smell is subjective and based on the life experiences of the person smelling. Some people don’t like the small of curry and “Indian food” or garlic and “Chinese food”.

It’s like asking 10 people “What do you think of this perfume?” Some will love it, some will like it, some will dislike it and some will hate it.  Everyone has a different opinion and it’s the same with the smell of marijuana (if there really is a smell, because I usually don’t even notice it).

What would I like to ban? 

Fat slobs who over cook animal flesh.  I don’t like the smell of burnt meat. It reminds me of how much the cow must have screamed while being slaughtered. 

Ontario tenants marijuana tv dinner

Burn animal flesh reminds me of the pain the animal felt. Let’s make tortured meat smell a way to evict people

But since meat is typical “landlord” food there’s nothing I can do about it. Stop eating meat! And notice they advertise this as “hungry-MAN.”  That says a lot. Another reason to never rent from male landlords.

Tenants Can Smoke Marijuana And There Is Nothing Landlords Can Do About It

I have felt so threatened and angry over the past few weeks. Maybe I need to give up social media. 

The good news is tenants can smoke marijuana and grow plants in our homes and there is nothing landlords can do about it. It is reassuring to know that tenants have the same rights as homeowners and that means tenants are protected from landlords who only want to enjoy the benefits of marijuana to themselves and their land owning class.

And don’t think any “no smoking clause” will work for you because the tenant can just say she wasn’t smoking and it was the smell on her clothes or something. You won’t get your eviction!

I want to create some balance here so landlords repeat after me:

What the Tenants Are Doing In Their Homes Is Our Business And If We Are Smoking Marijuana and Growing Some Plants There Is Nothing You Can Do About It. 

Marijuana is not only for the wealthiest in our society and not only for the homeowner class.

 

As part of our “Let’s Improve the Ontario Rental Industry” we have invited landlords and tenants to share their opinions on how we can make these improvements. These opinions are from individual contributors and are not the opinions of the Ontario Landlords Association. We believe by fostering communication between landlords and tenants we can improve the Ontario rental industry.  Landlords and tenants can share your thoughts and opinions by emailing us at landlordtenantsolutions@groupmail.com Submissions should be between 500 to 2000 words and up to 5 pictures.)

Evicted Tenant Leaves Duffle Bag of Marijuana Behind

Saturday, February 1st, 2014

 February 1st, 2014

Guelph landlords tenant criminal check Make Tenant Criminal Checks Part of Your Expert Tenant Screening System

Ontario landlords know the importance of tenant screening in 2014.

Renting to good tenants is the key for succeeding as a landlord.

And there are lots of good tenants out there.

They are looking for high quality rental housing run by service-oriented, knowledgeable, professional landlords like you.

Good tenants pay their rent on time and respect your property.

We’ve seen so many stories of the damages bad tenants can cause over the past year.

A quick look at the our landlord forum will show you stories of landlords losing thousands of dollars in lost rent and spending even more to repair damages to their rental properties.

Some investors, such as these Ottawa landlords, are even thinking of getting out of the residential rental industry and moving to commercial rentals.

With commercial rentals you have a lot more landlord rights.

You don’t have to deal with the Landlord and Tenant Board and if your tenants don’t pay the rent you can take effective action.

Bad Tenants and Marijuana

A recent story in the Guelph Mercury shows another problem landlords can face if you don’t screen properly: renters who break the law.

Here’s what happened.

According the newspaper report the landlord evicted their tenant.

Experienced landlords know some tenants leave garbage behind when they leave.

After all, Ontario landlords are not allowed to charge a damage deposit and this often leads to tenants moving out without cleaning up thoroughly.

Usually a few hours of cleaning or hiring a cleaning company can get your rental property back into good shape.

Except this time it was different

Instead of the usual bags of trash, refrigerators full of food, or old clothes and toys, this evicted tenant left something behind we’re sure he regrets forgetting about.

The landlord got the police involved because what the tenant left behind was a duffle bag filled with marijuana.

According to Guelph police, there were over 3 grams of marijuana left in the bag.

The reality is it’s not only British Columbia landlords who have to worry about tenants and pot these days.

It’s a problem landlords are facing all over Canada.

How much marijuana was left in the duffle bag?

If the amount left by the evicted tenant was old on the ‘market’ at current prices the street value of the pot would be over $30,000!

The former tenant from Owen Sound was charged not only with ‘possession’ but with having it for the purpose of ‘trafficking.’

Tenant Criminal Checks

This is another example for why smart landlords focus on tenant screening.

This includes tenant credit checks and checking references carefully.

But what about criminal checks?

Fortunately, landlords can now do high quality, low cost tenant criminal checks with Garda through membership with the Ontario Landlords Association.

Protect yourself and your investment.

By adding a criminal check to your screening system you lower your risk factor and increase the chance you will find and rent to great tenants.