""If I'm seeing three or four cases in the last two years, there must be dozens, hundreds of others," Goldgrub said. As for the reasons why landlords are filing bogus claims, Goldgrub said he believes they're doing so in the hope that the tenant simply won't show up at an LTB hearing or will be scared away by the stress and legal fees associated with fighting eviction applications at the board."
"Advocate points to provincial 'loophole' Douglas Kwan, director of legal services for ACTO, said that clause provides landlords with "a loophole." "Landlords who may have fallen into a situation where they may have made a bad investment see that loophole, and are trying to utilise that by serving meritless notices of termination on tenants hoping...the tenants will give up, move out, and then they can rent that unit at whatever rent they desire," he said."
Tenant-rights groups are encountering increasing meritless eviction applications where landlords claim unpaid rent even though tenants paid in full. Such applications create legal fees, stress, and potential thousands of dollars in costs for tenants. Current provincial rules cap annual residential rent increases at 2.5% in most cases, but permit landlords to reset rent to any amount when a tenant leaves voluntarily. Landlords can exploit that reset as a loophole by serving baseless termination notices to induce tenants to vacate, enabling re-rental at higher rates. Calls exist for the Landlord and Tenant Board to impose penalties for frivolous claims.
Read at www.cbc.ca
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]