Forget Being a Residential Landlord in Ontario

Many years ago, we bought property in Ontario. Initially, it was to be able to afford three children attending University and needing housing. Eventually, we started buying more property to support our growing family. At one point, we had more than 50 beds in Waterloo, Ontario.

Things started to change quickly. When working with one incompetent property manager, she felt sorry for someone living on the street and placed them in one of the three units where students lived.

The tenant quickly threatened all student tenants until they had to move out because they feared harm. The “special” tenant also stopped paying us rent.

It took us a year to get to the landlord-tenant board for a hearing. All the while, the individual was living rent-free in a now-empty building. We were small landlords losing money every month. No one seemed to care.

When we finally got to court, we were told it could be delayed unless we provided the tenant with some money. He accepted $1,000 to leave the building.

When he finally did, he returned to squat and collect his mail until we involved the police.

It is getting worse now in Ontario. This CBC story is very accurate. 

Our experience was over ten years ago. Ontario is now a wasteland when it comes to being able to enforce rental payments by a tenant. 

There are some things that landlords are doing to try to recover the common sense needed to provide new housing in Ontario.

This group advocates for change in the government. Without it, the number of rental units in Ontario will only drop. Another strategy is to start a list of tenants who fail to pay rent, where tenants who are professional in not paying rent can be identified.

Services like SingleKey are designed to help landlords obtain comprehensive background checks on prospective tenants. I was so impressed with this service that we invested in the company some time ago. For $25 (and tenants should pay for this), a full report includes criminal background, credit, and social media checks.

In the end, the problems in Waterloo were helpful as they encouraged us to invest in Nova Scotia, where some balance does exist for tenant and landlord rights to be respected.

Until we achieve that in Ontario, I would never invest in rental property. Until we see changes, the housing crisis will only escalate, and you can blame this one solely on the shoulders of our provincial legislators. I don’t see things changing for a very long time.