June 2022
Rentals by private landlords exist as a way to make money. What they provide is a social service, shelter, that can’t just be taken away from tenants. Landlords seeking to maximize returns and tenants seeking shelter at a lower cost is the source of nearly all landlord-tenant disputes.
Condo residents, both owners and tenants, can be collateral damage. Communities struggle to adapt and protect themselves.
Landlords, fed up with loss of control over their properties, may claim a family member is moving in so they can evict current tenants and raise rent. They can hardly be blamed when allowable rent increases fail to cover their rising costs. They feel that current tenant protections are excessive and unreasonable. Some may prefer short-term tenants and Airbnb over having to deal with protections provided to longer-term tenants.
Tenants residing in a property for many years and paying rent below the cost of maintaining a property share the blame when a property is no longer maintained to their satisfaction. No landlord is prepared to lose money while renting their property to a tenant. Pretending this is reasonable and maintainable is the reason some properties decline in value and quality while others disappear from the rental housing market.
Professional tenants, those who fail to pay rent and use current laws to avoid eviction, abuse the system. Delayed evictions, sometimes for many months, can derail the sale of a property or an owner’s ability to pay the mortgage. They make landlords mistrustful of good tenants.
The Landlord and Tenant Board system allows abuses by both landlords and tenants. Rules are slanted in favour of tenants while landlords are generally in a stronger financial position. Neither side has confidence that the system is fair. Rental housing becomes a battle between landlords seeking to maximize profits and tenants seeking to avoid rent increases. Both sides can be greedy and unreasonable.
Increasingly, high-rise condos have been relied on to provide rental housing. A fairer set of rules is needed if this system is to be maintained.
