Проблемы начнутся, если их научат, как выбить у тебя год бесплатного рента путём хитрых манипуляций...
здрасти... а квартиру я для чего продавать собираюсь?
а как, кстати, можно "выбить год бесплатного рента "Даунтаун, не хочу тебя пугать, или расстраивать, но это как два пальца об асфальт, если их научат... Там главное быть бедным, нещастным и больным, тогда за тебя вступятся всевозможные инстанции. Пойдут отсрочка за отсрочкой. Потом апиляции. Потом ожидания шерифа и тд и тп. Год как два пальца об ассфальт... И это не говоря о твоих доп расходах на адвокатов и паралигалов...
Вот тебе пример, когда чел тупо жал на все инстанции. И он при этом не бедный и нещастный. Могло бы быть и хуже...
How long can a tenant avoid paying rent? How long is a piece of string?
It's no secret that the Residential Tenancies Act is tenant centered, but investors know that fact going into the game so my sympathy for them is limited when they whine the familiar complaint that "the law is so unfair". It's a business. Nobody twisted their arm to get into it.
Rental housing is just another asset class, like precious metals, stocks, bonds, public equities, private equities, mortgages. But what differentiates a rental property is that unlike other types of investments, you also have to actively manage it. As long as the price of the asset keeps rising, you only need to break even on the management side. People think that's easy, but with the rising spread between housing prices (and hence mortgages) and rents, it's getting harder and harder to cover your costs with rental income. For the small landlord with one property, the real risk is that you have a very high percentage of your assets in one basket, with no diversification, and you are counting on the asset going up in price while an income stream covers the expenses.
But what if a tenant doesn't pay? While it's true the system exists for you to get an order for eviction and arrears, rarely do landlords who evict for arrears actually collect anything. It's one thing to obtain a judgment, another to enforce it. That's why when the Tenant Protection Act was proclaimed, the ORHT was given a mandate for expeditious process. Delay changes everything. When the Residential Tenancies Act was proclaimed, the Board inherited that same mandate. But the mandate is all for show. If a tenant wants to not pay a year's worth of rent, it's pretty simple, especially considering most small landlords listen to crazy excuses and promises for months before serving an N4 notice.
The people who are the most dangerous are those who have nothing to lose. No credit, no job. no standing in the community, no self-esteem....why pay rent? And so comes the story of a sociopath who over the last few months used delay at the LTB to rip off a young woman client of mine who went into the business totally unprepared.
The irony is that once I got to know that this tenant was trouble, I Googled him, and right away I could see the trail of debts left behind. Too many landlords do no due diligence whatsoever, and it's so foolish.
In a nutshell, the landlord took the tenant to the LTB in September of 2011 for rent arrears of $3,600, that's one month's rent. He showed up at the hearing with a cheque for $3,770 and convinced her to withdraw the application. She agreed, so they go before the Member, and the application is withdrawn. And to the landlord's great surprise, the cheque turns out to be no good.
So she retains me, I filed a new application and we went to a hearing in December and it's now $10,800 owing, three months rent. The guy has the nerve to call me in my car on the way down to the hearing, pretending he is in New York and his plane is delayed, and asks for an adjournment. Of course I refused, advised the adjudicator of the call, and got the standard 11 day remedial eviction order.
So on the last day to pay, he drops off a cheque to my client for the full amount, and goes to the Board to file a void motion. At the counter he swears an affidavit, shows them a copy of the cheque, and the Board deems the eviction order void. Except this cheque is also no good, so the next day I filed a motion asking the Board to set aside the void order. That hearing of my motion was March 7th. So he doesn't show up, but sends a lawyer, who assures the Board that the money is in the account, and that the tenant will have no problem paying $14,620 (4 months, costs, NSF fees) by Monday. On consent the Member issues an order requiring payment by Monday. If the money is paid into the Board, the tenant's void motion stands, and the tenancy continues. If the money is not paid by Monday, the stay of enforcement for the eviction is lifted, and my client can get the Sheriff action re-started. By the way, the Toronto Sheriff takes 5 weeks!
It's no surprise that on Monday there is no money paid in, but the tenant did pick up a deposit slip from the Board, no doubt just to muddy the water. But he never paid a dime, so on the 16th of March the Board issued an order granting my motion, lifting the stay and allowing enforcement of the eviction.
But on the same day the stay is lifted, the tenant served my client with a notice of appeal to Divisional Court. The appeal was the most frivolous fairytale I've ever read, but that doesn't matter as a party to an LTB proceeding has an absolute right to file an appeal to Divisional Court. It costs about $280 to file, and is pretty much guaranteed to get you a minimum of 2 more months free rent, perhaps as much as six. If he gets six more, that's $36,000 in arrears, never to be collected.
But that's not all. My client needs to hire a solicitor to represent her on the appeal at Divisional Court as paralegals can't appear in the Superior Court. So that's likely to cost between $5,000 (if they can get the Court to grant a motion to quash) and $15,000 if it needs to go to a trial on the merits of the appeal.
At the end of the day, the tenant will owe upwards of $40,000 in rent and Court costs, but I suppose he doesn't care, as this young woman is just the latest in a string of victims whose lives he has ruined. What's the solution for the small landlord investor? I'm not sure there is one. It's the luck of the draw to some extent. Certainly do a thorough check on the tenant as if you were hiring the person to work in your business. Know the law thoroughly, or hire a good property manager to manage the property. And when rent is one day late, serve an N4 notice.
But the truth is, if the tenant is unscrupulous and is willing to play the system, the system is ripe for playing. One lesson the LTB (actually the Minister) should take away from this true story is that a tenant's void motion can be very dangerous and highly unfair to the landlord unless the rent arrears are paid into the Board in Trust by guaranteed funds, On the issue of the de facto right to file an appeal to the Divisional Court, I don't know what the solution is, but perhaps allowing paralegals to qualify for appeal work would soften the blow somewhat. I also think we need a process for landlord and tenant appeals where the disputed rent has to be paid into the Court as security against the potential judgment within 10 days of the filing of the appeal, or the appeal will be dismissed.
К сожалению для тебя, закон на стороне тенанта. Именно
-----
Regards...,
