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

“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.

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. 

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.)