Lisa Fox called it a learning experience and moved on. But it was an expensive lesson and an emotional one he never wants to repeat. The Orillia woman bought a legal four-plex several years ago. The investment was intended to serve as a way to develop a retirement fund in the absence of a pension. But it did not work that way at all. When the pandemic broke out, two of its four tenants stopped paying rent after the Ontario Supreme Court issued an eviction order and the Ontario Landlords and Tenants Board (LTB) suspended most hearings on eviction applications. It was March 2020. Just the following August, LTB was restarted via a new video conferencing model. But it took Fox 11 months to get a date before the board. By that point, he had lost more than $ 12,000 in rent to tenants still in their unit. And the legal accounts had exceeded $ 4,000. She thought that if she had not enlisted the help of a lawyer to navigate the complex court system, she might still be waiting for her case to be heard. As soon as they made an appointment and just as they were about to appear in court, the tenants left. Fox then discovered damage and spent another $ 18,000 on renovations. But there was no doubt: She was not going to try to go back to court to make up for her losses. Instead, he decided to sell, fortunately seeing an escalation in the value of the property that offsets the losses caused by the rental experience. “While I always understood that there is a risk in investing in real estate … my eyes are now wide open on the failed system and what it takes to gain control of your property, as well as financial hardship and emotional stress,” he said. Fox, adding that LTB “is an expensive and extremely complex system, which is very archaic in the process and in desperate need of repair.” The story on the part of the tenant of the equation is just as frustrating. Many who have applied for problems are waiting for extended periods of time. “There continues to be a significant delay in the planning of tenant applications. Hearings are scheduled within about eight to 10 months of a tenant filing, ”said Micheal Hefferon, Executive Director of Simcoe, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes Legal Clinic. He noted that most of the currently scheduled tenant applications were submitted last June or July. A major concern, Hefferon added, is that hearings often clash and are delayed further if the court is exhausted and unable to reach the case. Of the $ 19 million the province announced earlier this month, which will be spent over three years tackling long-standing backlogs and speeding up decisions in both the Ontario Land Tribunal and LTB, LTB is set to receive $ 4.5 million. millions of dollars. The government says it is increasing resources on the LTB to unprecedented levels to help resolve outstanding issues. The money is expected to go to more judges and staff. Barrie real estate manager Rob Hilton says the investment is a move in the right direction, but he expects it will take some time to make an impact. “With the current backlog, the requirement for hiring, training and post-installation, I would expect that for the next nine months we will not see any measurable change in service,” he said. Hilton reckons the court will have a chance to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Historical delays
The problems of the court are not new. The long delays before LTB, which users say are forcing tenants to live in inadequate facilities or with outstanding complaints, and landlords who are unable to collect outstanding rent or evict troubled tenants, have worsened. The Ontario ombudsman’s office announced in January 2020 that it was launching an investigation into the delays. His exhibition is expected sometime this year. “We have now received more than 1,600 complaints about this investigation. “Where possible, we have resolved these individual complaints,” said Linda Williamson, communications director. Meanwhile, in its annual report, the Ontario Tribunals more than doubled their active LTB cases over a two-year period. By the end of the financial year 2020-21, there were 34,731, which is an increase from 22,803 the previous year. In 2018-19, there were 14,726 active cases by the end of the year. And although there were far fewer applications in 2020-21, the number of those resolved was less than half of the previous two years. The Tribunals Ontario has rejected a request for an interview with its chief executive, Harry Goussopoulos. Interviews are not possible, spokeswoman Janet Deline wrote in an email. In a subsequent email, he said during the first five months of the pandemic, LTB suspended non-emergency eviction hearings. Only situations involving serious and ongoing health or safety issues or a serious illegal act will be dealt with. The result, Deline added, was a “significant impact” on LTB’s case load. At the same time, the modernization of the organization meant that many of its core services had to be adapted. “While LTB recognizes the impact that delays have on those who have access to our services, we are making progress. “Depending on the type of application, new topics are now scheduled on average within three to four months,” Deline said. There is a form that allows applicants to submit a request to shorten the time if they think it is a priority, he added.
Disappointing process
For Hilton, as a real estate manager, the ongoing delays were disappointing. Referring to the annual report 2020-21 of the courts, he points out that the average waiting time for those who called LTB in 2017 was nine minutes. This increased by 75 percent in almost 16 minutes, although call volume had dropped by more than 74,000 calls to 197,927 last year. “It should also be noted that during this period the Landlord (and) Tenant Board also increased service fees for applications,” Hilton said. There was also a big leap in time when a landlord had to wait for a request for a non-payment of rent. In 2020-21, the average time was 131.7 days, up from 31.8 two years earlier. The goal is 25 days. Money lost during this period is rarely recovered, Hilton added. Barrie’s lawyer, Erli Bregu, says LTB could be described as a “train wreck”. “It’s very tragic for both sides,” he said, adding that tenant applications have been in the back since last year as judges focus on landlords’ cases. “Now they will prioritize tenant applications and put landlord applications at the back.” This is good for tenants, but landlords will have to wait. Bregu says new judges have been added and the backlog seems to be declining, but has increased. Attorney Christina De Palma said the delays are not as serious as they used to be, but they are delayed and scheduled cases often clash. “How do we explain this to our customers?” said De Palma, whose company operates throughout Simcoe County – about half of which represents both sides in landlord-tenant disputes. “The parties are stuck waiting for the board to reach the results they need. “Somehow, the board has to be caught or find a better solution.” Many, like Fox, just give up out of frustration, De Palma said, realizing it is unlikely they will be able to make up for lost rent after months of waiting. De Palma points to a client who started the eviction notification process in June, whose case has been challenged twice. In the meantime, they have not received any rent at that time. All De Palma says is to make sure they are prepared and not the cause of any delays. Then he tells them that patience is the key. “The Landlords and Tenants Council has the potential to be a really great boulevard and resource for people,” DePalma said, adding that since it adopted a web flow model, more rivals have appeared at the hearings. “I think you just need some perspective or input from those who use it every day.”
