Eighteen months. That's how long a Guelph landlord anticipates that his tenant will live in his rental home without paying rent. Systemic eviction delays, with or without an eviction moratorium, allow tenants to game the system and choose when -- or if -- to pay rent. Combine that with a landlord who was trying to help out a tenant who appeared to be down on her luck, and you have the perfect storm for sustained income loss. Before renting the unit, the tenant was living in a shelter. But a...
6 Ways to Improve Your Tenancy Agreement
A tenancy agreement is a useful tool -- if it contains the right provisions....
British Columbia Updates Eviction Policies
British Columbia's Residential Tenancy Branch has announced that some eviction...
Toronto Multifamily Landlords Ordered to Supply Hand Sanitizer
Multifamily landlords in Toronto must supply hand sanitizer or hand-washing...
Court Clears the Way for Landlord Licensing Fees, Fines
Landlords Fail to Overturn Controversial Rental Regulation Landlords in London, Ontario were dealt a blow recently when a Superior Court there handed down a ruling upholding a rental licensing bylaw they say was a veiled attempt to limit student rentals, unnecessarily...
Ontario’s New Scheduling Rules Designed to Speed Up Evictions
Landlords Required to Submit New Form The Ontario Landlord Tenant Board has taken steps it says will improve access to justice for both landlords and tenants. The Board has implemented a new scheduling protocol. Effective immediately, the Board will begin...
Manitoba’s New Rental Rules
The Manitoba Rental Board has announced a number of legislative changes that affect landlords: New Penalties In 2009, The Residential Tenancies Act was amended to allow administrative penalties to be imposed against tenants and landlords who breach specific provisions...
7 Things That Should Not Be in Your Lease Agreement
It may seem like a landlord has nothing to lose by tossing every provision imaginable into the lease agreement, or creating a one-sided lease that offers the most benefit possible for the landlord. Yet, when it comes to lease drafting, there is danger in throwing in...
Do You Have What It Takes to Evict a Problem Tenant?
These days, evicting problem tenants can be a bit of a chore. Over the past several years, a number of towns and cities across the country have placed the burden on landlords to police disruptive tenants. For instance South Orange, New Jersey, passed an ordinance...
Man Who Posed as Rental Applicant Pleads Guilty in Landlord’s Death
A young Omaha man has admitted his role in the death of a landlord who believed she was showing him a property to rent. The landlord had just served the current tenant with eviction papers, and then advertised the vacancy. The 20-year-old man who responded is the...
Tenant Used False Identity to Rent Apartment
A man standing trial in Calgary, accused of beating his roommate and then leaving him near death at a Regina hospital, used a fake identity to secure an apartment lease. The landlord, who testified last week at the tenant's trial, said he did not run a background...
Study Shows Bedbugs Gaining Resistance to Common Pesticides
Frequent Exposure to Pesticides Has Increased Immunity Scientists, pitting their intellectual prowess against the voracity of bedbugs, have discovered that these insects have developed a genetic resistance to pyrethroids, one of the very few classes of insecticide...
Warning! Contractor Scams on the Rise
Tenants aren't the only ones who need to be screened. Hiring a contractor to perform work on your rental property also requires care in order to protect your personal safety and avoid fraud. Fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry, and growing. One common scam is...
4 Leasing Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make
Are you starting off on the wrong foot with your tenants? Mistakes in the application process are mistakes a landlord can't afford to make. Yet, a surprising number of landlords accept tenants who have submitted an incomplete or inaccurate rental application. Not as...
Landlord Who Allows Smoking Faces Discrimination Claim
A Florida landlord has been sued for discrimination after refusing to relocate a resident who complained second-hand smoke from a neighboring tenant was making her sick. The landlord could be liable for discrimination for telling the tenant that she would need to pay...
3 Ways to Avoid Move-Out Stresses for Landlord and Tenant
Having a tenant move out at the end of a lease shouldn't cost a landlord their profits--but sometimes it does. At this crucial time, the landlord may have made promises to a new tenant to turn over a clean unit. Everything relies on the existing tenant getting the job...
British Columbia Landlord Ordered to Return Application Fee
A landlord in British Columbia was ordered to return a $650 fee charged to a rental applicant, despite the fact that the landlord called it a damage deposit. While the Residential Tenancy Act in British Columbia does allow for the collection of a security deposit, it...
Toronto Rental Market Gains Strength, Report Shows
Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 6,933 apartment lease transactions through the TorontoMLS® system in the May through August 2011 period. This represented an 11 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2010. The number of units listed during the period was...
Police Launch Blitz Against Grow Ops Across Canada, 13 Calgary Properties Condemned
A major, three-day operation last week targeted and dismantled 18 marihuana grow operations located in the city of Calgary. Police seized over 8,920 marihuana plants in various stages of growth, and a large quantity of specialized equipment typically used by organized...
Québec Landlords Facing One-Year Delays
The Québec Landlords Association (APQ) shares the concerns expressed recently by Québec's Protecteur du Citoyen that it takes too long for landlord tenant disputes to be heard. They also agree that the Rental Board should change the order in which cases are heard....
Tenant Sues Landlord After Failed Eviction
A Texas woman is suing her landlord over a botched eviction. She claims she lost tens of thousands of dollars worth of possessions that her landlord thought he had the right to toss out, according to a news report. The landlord filed an eviction action against the...
Police Say Fake Tenant a Wake Up Call to Landlords
A man who described himself as a career criminal who "kills and robs" landlords has been arrested after a six week long crime spree through Nevada. One terrified victim was afraid to be identified after the man told her he knew where she lived and would kill her...
Landlord Accused of Discrimination Over Visitor’s Dog
A Nevada landlord is facing discrimination charges after telling his tenants that their guest could not bring his emotional support dog along for a visit. The landlord maintains a no-pets policy. HUD claims that by objecting to the friend's dog, the landlord failed...
5 Reasons Landlords Lose Eviction Cases
Having a problem tenant is trouble enough. But what if evicting that tenant isn't an option? A landlord's actions prior to an eviction can jeopardize the case later on, allowing the tenant time to damage the unit or live rent free for months. Avoid these missteps, and...