Tozheg Roshankar of Toronto bought a house as an investment property to help pay the bills as a single mother and caregiver for her mother.
But now the tenant inside his Mississauga rental home is refusing to pay rent or utilities.
“Right now I have no idea how I’m going to be able to maintain this and allow him to just have free hosting,” Roshankar told CTV News Toronto.
Roshankar said he rented the property to someone who had good references and income statements, but after the person paid the first and last month’s rent, it was a problem to get the next month’s rent.
She then became concerned that the income statements and references provided by the tenant were false.
Roshankar believes he is now owed about $13,000 in back rent and utilities.
Roshankar became more concerned when she Googled the name of her tenant, Shasteven Reid, and discovered that Reid and her sister Shi-Ronni Tynes had an eviction hearing at the Landlord-Tenant Board (LTB) earlier this year, the January 4, after failing to pay his previous owner $9,586.
Roshanker said he then researched “professional” renters and found that there are some renters who move into a home, pay their first and last month’s rent, and then pay no more because of LTB arrears.
“I learned about the whole pattern that some people use. They enter into a lease, pay the first and last month’s rent, and stop paying for various reasons,” Roshankar said.
Tozheg Roshankar says he is owed $13,000 after his tenant stopped paying rent.
CTV News Toronto went to Roshankar’s property in Mississauga to ask Reid directly about the allegation.
“Why are you recording me?” Reid asked.
When we said the landlord complained that he hadn’t been paying rent, Reid closed the door, but then left the house, didn’t answer any questions, and demanded that we vacate the property.
According to Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario (SOLO), there is such a backlog in LTB that if a landlord gets a tenant who refuses to pay rent, it could take up to a year to get them out.
“You can’t wait ten months before the hearing date and the tenant doesn’t have to pay rent. Well, they do have to pay rent, but they won’t because they’re using the system to their advantage,” he said. Varun Sriskanda with SOLO.
Sriskanda said so-called “professional” tenants, or those who have faced eviction notices before, should be treated “immediately” at the LTB.
“If you run a person’s name and you see that this is the third time they’ve done it, and you see that they’re taken to the LTB for another application L1 [an application to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent and to collect rent the tenant owes]so let’s bring that person to the front of the line so we don’t have another owner victim,” Sriskanda said.
In a statement, an LTB spokesperson said: “Processing times are longer than we would like. New and deferred matters are currently being scheduled within seven to eight months on average.”
Roshankar said he can’t wait much longer as he has to pay his own house bills, the mortgage on the rental property and utilities there as well.
“Small owners need support. We need action to be taken quickly,” Roshankar said.
The LTB said it is trying to add staff and shorten wait times for hearings, while the landlord group says some landlords are being forced to vacate their properties because they can’t sell and can’t force the tenant to move.