A Brampton tenant has racked up $30K in unpaid rent and still won't leave, landlord says

A Brampton landlord says he's out at least $30,000 so farbecausethe tenant at one of his propertieshas refusedto pay rentor move out.

Rajan Kanwar says he's been trying to get the tenant out since May and recover some of his losses, but delays at Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) have left him with mounting debtsand emotionally drained.

"It's upsetting, it's saddening, it's a lot of different emotions," Kanwar told CBC Toronto. "I would like my property back."

Since May, the tenant has paid little or no rent, Kanwar says, leaving him to pay the $9,500 monthly mortgage costs on the property. That's on top of a$7,500-per-month mortgage on his own family home.

He says the amount he's owed includesboth unpaid rent and utilities.

The tenant refused to speak with CBC Toronto. His legal representative has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Ordered out

Kanwar, an IT manager,says he's filed two applications with the LTB since last June.

One application, called an N11,asks for an eviction order on the grounds that the tenant has agreed to go. The LTB ruled on thatlast month, setting the tenant's departure date for February 2024. But Kanwar says the tenant has agreed to go in the past, then changed his mind.

The other application, for an eviction order based on non-payment of rent,has yet to be heard, even though he filed it seven months ago. Thatsecond application, called an N4, would order the tenant to repay Kanwar.

Kanwar says he has no reason to believe the LTB order will be respected or that he'll ever see any of the defaulted rent.

The LTB said in a statementthat it ordered the tenant evicted based on the N11 application. But it has not responded to requests for comment on the second application.

The board's most recent numbers show abacklog of 53,000 cases in May 2023up from about 35,000 in March 2021. Last month, the board told CBC Toronto it's madeimprovements to its systems since the province's ombudsman publisheda scathing investigationintoongoing dysfunction at the tribunal.

It's a problem Elaine Page, a paralegal who specializes in landlord-tenant issues, says she's seeing more and more.

"Landlords are getting so frustrated," she said. "It's taking months and months and months to get to the board. It's just, 'I've got to stop the bleeding; I'm going to lose my house, I'm going to lose my own personal property....Just get them out.'"

No full rent payments since May, landlord says

Kanwar's problems began in December2021when he rented out the four-bedroom detached house on Scotchmere Crescentin Bramptonfor $4,500 a month.

At first, he says, all was well.The tenant paid his rent and utilities within a reasonable time frame.

But eventually, the rent payments became intermittent, Kanwar says. The tenant also began missing some utility payments, meaning Kanwar had to cover them.

Finally, in May 2023, the tenant explainedto Kanwar that he just couldn't afford the house anymore. According to Kanwar, that's when he started paying, at best, partial rent.

It was at that point,Kanwar says, that the tenant signedthe N11 application, agreeing to move out voluntarily within a couple of months. At the same time, Kanwar filed the N4 applicationon the grounds thatno rent was being paid.

The tenant later told the LTB he had not signed the N11 formandhis signature had been forged.

The board ruled in favour of Kanwar and ordered the tenant out by the end of next February.

But the N4 hearing was postponed, Kanwar says, when the tenant's legal representative showed up for the hearing with 400 pages of documents too much for the adjudicator to immediately process. No new date has been set.

Until thehearing happens, there's no word on any rent reimbursement.

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'I just want them to pay what's due to me'

Page suggests that landlords who find themselves in situations like Kanwar's sit down with their tenants and level with them. She says tenants will sometimes agree to leave voluntarilyif they understand the financial burden they're putting on the landlord.

Failing that, she suggests landlords get legal advice.

"We've got a lot of landlords that are self-representing who make a lot of mistakes and their cases get tossed," Page said. "I know people don't want to spend money on legal advice, but it's money worth spending."

Meanwhile, Kanwar says he's at his wits'end.

"I just want them to pay what's due to me," he said.

But even if the LTB does eventually order repayment, Page saysthe chances of that actually happening are "slim to none."