Nova Scotia’s population is booming. The pandemic-driven influx of people moving to the province coupled with the trend of rental properties being sold or converted to short-term rentals is creating a housing crisis. One of the ways that the government is dealing with the housing shortage is by changing the province’s tenancy laws.

People on both sides of the issue may have different views, but feel that there should be more compliance and enforcement of the province’s Residential Tenancies Act. When either landlords or tenants are found to be in violation of the law – and there’s plenty of that – there should be action.

The proposed changes to the bill, introduced last week as part of the government’s housing strategy, provide added protection against renovictions, higher rates of compensation for displaced tenants, and a two-year cap on rent increases. As per the CBC, Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services Minister Colton Leblanc said the rent cap bill, which holds annual increases for tenants staying in the same place to two percent, will mean security for renters while the government works to get more housing stock in place.

“Most landlords have been respectful and understanding to their tenants during these very difficult times and I would like to thank them for that,” Leblanc said during a bill briefing.” – Colton Leblanc

The housing crisis in Nova Scotia is drawing attention to the use of fixed-term leases, which are quickly becoming the new norm in the province and provide a potential loophole for landlords to bypass the province’s rent control cap. In monthly and yearly leases, the lease will automatically renew itself each month or year (depending on the type of lease) unless you give your landlord proper notice that you will not renew the lease. Fixed term leases do not have a notice period. The tenancy period ends on the date stated in the lease.

“While I’m super excited that Nova Scotia’s population is at a historic high, it’s also making those that are marginalized even more so. The ones that can’t afford the average market rents are suffering.” -Krista McNair of the Truro Homeless Outreach Society

The Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission, formed last November to study the province’s affordable housing situation, released recommendations on May 31, including a 61-page report from the province’s Affordable Housing Commission. It urged the government to spend a “quick-start investment” of $25 million to help 600 to 900 Nova Scotians find adequate and affordable housing in the next 18 months. On July 6, the provincial government announced it had committed to all 17 of the commission’s recommendations, including the quick start investment to build affordable units.

Are you a landlord in Nova Scotia? What has your experience been? Share with us!

The post Nova Scotia Needs Better Enforcement Of Their RTA first appeared on Renting Well.

“There will be a wave of hearings and there will be a wave of evictions.” – Doug Ferguson, chair of the OBA’s pro bono work.

Lawyers who volunteer for the program will walk clients through their tenant rights, and help them to negotiate agreements with landlords, such as deferring payments or delaying an eventual move-out date. The bar association says it has enough volunteer lawyers to help up to 100 clients per week. Tenants in special and complicated circumstances can receive more than the allocated 30 minutes of time if the individual lawyer agrees to help them further.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released a survey last month that indicated rent arrears increased nationally due to COVID-19. 58.3 per cent of survey respondents reporting a higher rent arrears rate in 2020 than the previous year. Toronto recorded the highest arrears rate, with 34,858 units, in arrears in 2020. That represents about 10% of Toronto’s market. The estimated amount of unpaid rent reached $55 million in Toronto last year.

The post Ontario Lawyers Help Tenants Pro Bono first appeared on Renting Well.

The legislation, which Gov. Gavin Newsom will likely sign into law, is the state’s strategy to deal with millions of people unable to pay their rent because of government-ordered business closures. No one is sure how much unpaid rent is outstanding. Estimates range from a high of $3.6 billion to a low of $400 million. Last year, Newsom signed a law that banned tenants from being evicted for not paying their rent during the coronavirus, but only if they paid at least 25% of what they owed after Sept. 1.

“COVID-19 continues to devastate communities across our state and too many Californians remain one paycheck away from losing their apartments or homes. These families need protection and relief now,” -Gavin Newsom.

The federal money includes $1.5 billion sent to the state, and another $1.1 billion sent to some cities and counties.

The money could also be used to pay for unpaid utility bills. A survey by the State Water Resources Control Board found 1.6 residential water customers, or 12% of all households, have unpaid bills amounting to $1 billion.

Those eligible for the rental assistance must qualify as low-income residents based on a formula involving area median income, have financial hardships such as unemployment and demonstrate a “risk of homelessness or housing instability,” according to the legislation.

The post California’s State Government Is Helping To Pay Off Unpaid Rent first appeared on Renting Well.

Months long waits for tribunal hearings are leading the Greater Sudbury Landlord Association to take to the streets. CBC and the Sudbury Star both reported irate landlords protesting outside of city hall, where the province’s reduction in provincial adjudicators is making a pandemic backlog worse.

“Our main focus is to get the LTB to listen to us here in Sudbury. When tenants are clearly in arrears, evictions have to be processed. We’ve got landlords who haven’t been paid rent for four, six, 10 months, and these people are stressed to the max. We need to get more adjudicators up here.” – Ray Goulet, President, GSLA.

This association has been vocally critical before. In March of 2019, CBC reported on the closure of Sudbury’s provincial landlord and tenant office. The association expressed concern about delays being introduced as a result of this. When backlogs those delays occurred before the pandemic, they expressed support for an Ombudsman’s investigation in January, which is currently ongoing.

Goulet claims there are about 80,000 cases in Ontario that have yet to be resolved through the Landlord and Tenant Board, with about 400 in Sudbury alone. Tribunal Watch Ontario warned in May that the Landlord and Tenant Board, which makes close to 80,000 decisions a year, had shrunk from 53 members to 40 in April 2018.

Ontario’s tenancy board has received almost 6,000 applications to evict tenants since the start of April, adding to a backlog of cases the understaffed tribunal this week resumed processing amid the COVID-19 public health crisis – National Observer

About 90 percent of cases at the LTB are brought by landlords, primarily seeking to evict tenants for non-payment of rent. The Landlord and Tenant Board are supposed to schedule a first hearing date within 25 days of receipt of an application for the most common rent disputes. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, it met that standard just 35 percent of the time.

From mid-March to mid-September of this year, Sudbury police responses to calls related to tenant and landlord disputes in the city’s downtown — more than doubled in the same period in 2019.

The post Sudbury’s Landlords Have Had Enough first appeared on Renting Well.

In a city where more than 60 percent of households rent, city lawmakers passed a law designed to help renters – namely two local emergency measures to thwart evictions.  While it doesn’t absolve renters from paying their rent, it does allow them to defer their rent for up to 12 months. You read that right – 12 months after May 15th – when the mayor’s emergency measure expires. In a city where the average rent is over $2500 a month, that’s a tall order for landlords to take on.

The ordinance also halts evictions of renters who have “unauthorized occupants,” such as family members or pets, living with them because of COVID-19. (It covers tenants facing eviction for “nuisance” reasons, like a loud child who’s in the apartment more now that schools are closed.)

There are also protections against two more types of evictions, in addition to nonpayment of rent, including:

• Cases where tenants who have contracted COVID-19 are being evicted for reasons that are not their fault. “No-fault” evictions include instances where a landlord might want to tear down the building or take the unit for a family member.
• Evictions under the California Ellis Act, which owners of rent-controlled buildings invoke when they want to demolish their buildings or remove them from the rental market, have also been halted now and are not allowed to resume until two months after the end of the “local emergency period” we’re in now because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the city’s anti-eviction rules, residents just have to notify their landlord within seven days after the rent is due that they’re unable to pay because of economic or health circumstances caused by the virus. The city does not require tenants to provide their landlord with documentation proving they have been impacted by COVID-19. So in other words, all you have to do is claim you’ve been affected by Covid 19 and you can get up to a year deferral on your rent – interest free. On the other side of this, landlords are required to act like banks, and continue paying their mortgages, property taxes, utilities, and any other expenses related to operation.

As per Curbed LA, The California Rental Housing Association, which represents more than 22,000 landlords who lease out more than a half-million units, and the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, are advocating for a relief program where the state would cover the cost of at least some of the rent and pay it directly to landlords.

“Many landlords are so small, they’re mom-and-pops. They depend on that rent to supplement their retirement incomes and put food on their tables,” says Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Los Angeles apartment association. “They’re going to be in severe financial peril today.”

What makes this even tougher and more confusing for landlords is the overlapping and dizzying federal, state, and local tenant protections that have emerged in the last few weeks.

As part of the federal stimulus package approved last month, there is a nationwide eviction moratorium for nonpayment of rent, but only for renters whose landlords have mortgages backed by the federal government — something most tenants don’t know and would have a difficult time figuring out. Gov. Gavin Newsom has agreed to delay eviction proceedings for renters affected by the virus, but only through May. And dozens of mayors and city councils across the state have come up with their own rules like the ones enacted in L.A.

Landlords are struggling to understand which rules they have to follow, said Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles. At the same time, many are also navigating a similarly haphazard patchwork of government protections for late mortgage payments.

“It’s really unfair what’s being done,” Yukelson said. “We did not go in the business to be lenders to tenants. And that’s what we’re being asked to do.”

Who’s looking out for landlords in Los Angeles? While the adaptive laws to help tenants make sense, why isn’t the city balancing out the remedy with a program to help property owners? That’s a question that Mayor Eric Garcetti is ultimately going to have to answer.

The post Is Los Angeles Treating Landlords Fairly? first appeared on Renting Well.

New Rights for Tenants

• Landlords cannot reject tenants because they had been in a court case with a prior landlord. The courts cannot sell eviction court data. Records of evictions that were the result of a foreclosure are sealed.
• Landlords must give tenants the opportunity for a walk-through before they move in and before they move out, and return the security deposit within fourteen days with an itemized list of any deductions.
• Landlords cannot evict or otherwise penalize tenants who complain about conditions.
• Landlords must give receipts (on request for personal checks) within specific time frames and notice by certified mail when rent is not received.
• Landlords cannot charge late fees until rent is five days late and the late fee cannot be more than $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less.
• A landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent an apartment before they can charge a former tenant who left before the end of the lease for the rent for the rest of the lease.
• Starting in October 2019, landlords must give 30, 60, or 90 days’ notice of lease termination or a rent increase of 5% or more, depending on how long the tenant has lived there.
• “Self-help” eviction is a crime.

The post The Definitive Guide To The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 in New York City first appeared on Renting Well.

Cincinnati may do away with security deposits under a proposed bill and replace it with a requirement that landlords accept a security deposit insurance policy instead. The proposal could make Cincinnati the nation’s first locale to mandate a new option for renters to pay security deposits. Landlords and property owners aren’t fond of the proposed measure, but city officials believe the traditional security deposit format is in need of a serious revisiting. A security deposit in Cincinnati is typically the equivalent of single month’s rent. Lawmakers are citing what is a growing affordable housing crisis in the United States and maintain that the necessity to supply that a security deposit is a heavy burden to place on tenants.

The monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment in Cincinnati was $850 in 2017. Two years later it’s risen to $1,300, with a 2-bedroom costing about $1,600 a month.

“This would keep money in the pockets of middle- and working-class Americans to be able to provide for their families,”  – Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley

With security-deposit insurance, a tenant signs a policy with an insurer and pays a monthly premium. The policy guarantees an amount of money would be given to the landlord if there’s damage to an apartment. The premiums cost less than the average security deposit in the city, with the only drawback being that renters don’t receive the money back, with interest, after they leave an apartment.

Although the measure has garnered support from Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, fellow council members and property owners are skeptical about the proposal. According to Inman, some landlords at the first recent public hearing on the law indicated that the plan could possibly remove the incentive to take care of the property. Another point tabled was that tenants’ credit could also be at risk if they fall behind on insurance payments. There were also questions about what would occur if a claim was denied by an insurance company.

A second hearing has been scheduled for December 31. Are you a property manager or landlord in Cincinnati?  What do you think of this new law?

The post Cincinnati Might Ditch Tenant Security Deposits first appeared on Renting Well.

If you’re a landlord in the Windy City, it’s essential you know the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, also known as the RLTO.

The ordinance has been in effect since 1986 and outlines many of the city’s regulations and rules that govern the relationship between a landlord and tenant. Understanding the municipal ordinance can help in avoiding unnecessary conflicts and disputes with your tenants. A summary of the ordinance, by law, must be attached to the lease. If you are a landlord in Chicago and fail to provide a summary of RLTO, your tenant has the right to terminate the lease upon notice.

The RLTO applies to all apartment buildings in Chicago unless:

• the building has 6 or fewer units and the landlord lives there.
• Hotels, motels and rooming houses (private houses where rooms are rented for living or staying temporarily), unless the tenant pays rent on a monthly basis and the unit is occupied for over 32 days.
• School dormitories, shelters, employees’ quarters and non-residential rental properties.
• Co-ops and condominium that the owner occupies.

What Tenants Need To Know:

43 percent of Chicago residents rent according to the most recent data from DePaul’s Institute for Housing Studies, and the RLTO dictates that they have to pull their weight as well.

Some of the basics of what tenants are required to do are:

• Buy and install working batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors within the tenant’s apartment.
• Keep the unit safe and clean.
• Use all equipment and facilities in a reasonable manner.
• Not deliberately or negligently damage the unit.
• Not disturb other residents.

Landlord Remedies:

• If your tenant fails to pay the rent you can terminate the rental agreement after giving a 5 days written notice.
• If the tenant fails to comply with the Code or the rental agreement, the landlord, after giving 10 days written notice to the tenant, may terminate the rental agreement if tenant fails to correct the violation.
• If the tenant fails to comply with the Code or the rental agreement, the landlord may request in writing that the tenant comply as promptly as conditions permit in the case of emergency, or within 14 days. If the breach is not corrected in the time period specified, the landlord may enter the dwelling unit and have the necessary work done. In this case, the tenant shall be responsible for all costs of repairs.

Security Deposits:

As a landlord, you are legally required to provide a receipt to your tenant for a security deposit. A receipt must be provided when the deposit is made and it must be signed by the person receiving the deposit, include the name of the person receiving the deposit and the name of the landlord, if the person receiving the deposit is not the landlord. The amount of the deposit is also a requirement as is the date it was made. The tenant must also be given the name and address of the financial institution where the deposit is maintained. If a receipt meeting these requirements is not given, the tenant is entitled to return of the security deposit and to damages against the landlord of double the amount of the security deposit plus interest at 5% per annum.

Read a summary of the ordinance here or download the whole thing here.

The post The Definitive Guide To The Chicago Landlord Tenant Ordinance first appeared on Renting Well.

This is a doozy of a story that both CBC and the National Post reported on. Jason Selby just wanted to rent his house out to a good tenant. When he met Nadav Even-Har, he thought he found one. He was presented with glowing previous references and an equally impressive credit report after he and his family (including two small children) came to an initial meeting with Selby.

“They rolled up in a BMW and Audi. They presented a credit report with a high score. Their references checked out and they have two young children, so I thought that … it would be wonderful to be able to have the home used for a family.”

Even-Har signed a 12-month, fixed-term lease for the home in Cole Harbour with rent at $2,000 per month, beginning in May of this year. The first rent check post signing of the lease, bounced in June, and he never saw another dime after that. The postdated rent cheques Selby received were written from closed bank accounts.

This is how is it all went down…

He initially gave the family a 45 day grace period in good faith. After that yielded nothing but excuses from Even-Har, Selby applied to Service Nova Scotia for an eviction. Two weeks later, he filed for a hearing before a residential tenancy officer. When Even-Har didn’t appear at the hearing, he was ordered to pay more than $5,000 in rent and to leave by Sept. 1. Selby obtained an eviction order on September 3rd.

Even-Har immediately appealed to Nova Scotia’s Residential Tenancies board and the eviction was stayed until a court hearing on Sept. 23.

When Selby showed up for the hearing, Even-Har again wasn’t present, and Selby was granted a court order to evict him. When Selby removed Even-Har’s belongings from the home on Sept. 29, Even-Har called police. The police arrived and did not accept Selby’s notice of vacant possession. A spokesperson for Nova Scotia’s Justice Department said Even-Har went back to the court before the eviction decision by the Residential Tenancies board was reflected in the computer.

Another stay order was issued – but the court ultimately admitted it was issued in error. Once that was established, Selby moved to proceed with the eviction with a sheriff, only to find out that Even-Har had appealed his eviction to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and delayed the process until another  court date on Oct. 11. Keep in mind, at this point – Even-Har was in arrears more than $8000. Selby vented about his experience on Facebook.

That’s when he heard from Lori Sampson of Cole Harbour. She said she had rented her home at 60 Tamara Dr. to Even-Har in August 2018 and had a similar experience.

Then Jaro Schubert came forth. He owns a café and Airbnb in Fall River, N.S. He said Even-Har owes him nearly $5,000 for rent and food dating back to this spring.

On October 15th, CBC News published a story after having spoken to the eight  (you read that right) landlords who said they’ve failed to collect rent or damage deposits from Even-Har between 2013 and last month. With the cat out of the bag – Even-Har tried to get in front of the growing story with an interview with CBC for that same piece. He defensively admitted to the trend and vowed to make amends to the previous landlords he’d wronged while comparing his situation to someone who is caught up in a payday loan cycle. The intimate knowledge of the provincial appeal process, the granting of stays, the timing of data being entered into Service Nova Scotia databases, and the pattern of not being available for hearing dates for a variety of reasons are also obviously elements to his circumstances that he didn’t intend to play out as they did. The ability to delay and defer on a landlord’s dime in Nova Scotia is problematic.

Patricia Arab, the minister responsible for Service Nova Scotia, said the Even-Har case has led her department to look to other jurisdictions for guidance on how to avoid similar incidents.

“Even if it’s just this one individual … it’s opened up an issue that’s an important one to address so we don’t get to a point where people are using this loophole in the Residential Tenancies Act to avoid rent.”

The story ends on a good note. On October 16th, Selby reclaimed possession of the home, but is still out over $8000. He is advocating for a provincial review of the Residential Tenancies Act. Frankly, it’s needed. Provincial governments need better mechanisms in place to more effectively identify and deal with glaringly obvious cases of professional tenancy like this as early in the process as possible. Otherwise, single instances like this, as has been demonstrated, yield hundreds of thousands of dollars of loss.

The post Nova Scotia Needs To Revisit Their Residential Tenancies Act first appeared on Renting Well.

London, Ontario is a party town, evidently. In a classic case of municipal policy clashing with provincial, this month, London city staff suggested to increase the maximum fines for nuisance parties to $25,000. This was in response to an insane illegal street party that flooded a street near Western University with 20,000 revellers in September. That event completely overwhelmed police, sent 57 people to hospital and prompted warnings from law enforcement that future street parties could easily cost a life.

As per the CBC, social media videos that showed students “brewfing” — literally drinking beer while climbing onto roofs and even jumping off them. Emergency services couldn’t access the street that this was occurring on.

Fines are going up, but more importantly, the municipality also proposed amendments to the public nuisance bylaw that would allow the city to pursue tenants — and landlords — to recover costs from cleanup and damage.

“Where an absentee landlord … takes no action to prevent, end, or clean up after a nuisance party, they may be subject to invoicing,”

This is almost as crazy as the parties themselves, at least according to Joseph Hoffer. He’s a lawyer representing more than 600 members that make up the London Property Management Association. His position is that landlords are prohibited from controlling the conduct of their tenants under the province’s Residential Tenancies Act. Some of the more interesting suggestions that city staff have made is for landlords to hire private security, something Hoffer is adamant is illegal.

“The effect of the bylaw is to compel landlords to do something illegal, and that’s repugnant. There seems to be an assumption built into the bylaw amendment that landlords can control the actions of their tenants, and that assumption is fundamentally flawed.”

The committee voted to ask staff to review the bylaw — taking into consideration the legal concerns raised by Hoffer — and report back on May 28. What do you think?

The post London Mulls Making Landlords Pay For Parties first appeared on Renting Well.