Toronto Renters Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Christy.Costanian on March 03, 2023, 11:39:07 pm
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My one year fixed term lease started on May 1, 2022 and will end by April 30, 2023. I paid first and last rent as a deposit and have made 10 prepaid cheques and provided them to my landlord, under his wife's (Hatice) name, for this year's rental payments. However, on Feb 17, 2023, my landlord in a confronting manner upon seeing me in the lobby of the condo, verbally asked to increase the rent by a 100 CAD after April 30th, 2023- I provisionally accepted this verbally not knowing at the time what the guidelines were for a yearly increase. Note that my current monthly rent is 2000 CAD. Moreover, he asked me to sign a new lease for one more year (which is against the Ontario RTA);I refused to do as is within my rights. Next, on Sunday Feb 19, he sent an email asking me to vacate the apartment by April 30, 2023 or before then stating no reason. On Tuesday, Feb 21, 2023 he recanted this eviction verbally in communication through the building concierge. In the meantime, I hired a paralegal to communicate with him to explain that should he still want to evict me, he would have to fill out the correct form and provide a valid reason. He recanted this as seen in the attached communications via email. However, I had recently repaired a leaking toilet at my own expense after I previously mentioned this issue to my landlord, who did nothing at the time to solve this recurring issue. My paralegal had asked him to reimburse me for this expense; he only paid back the plumbing fee via cheque, but not the cost of the part to be replaced which I purchased from my pocket; this was ignored by him although we mentioned potential LTB action. Also, there is back and forth on the above guidelines amount of the rent increase and the method of month to month payment. My landlord has now asked to increase the rent using the correct form to 2050 CAD but has not provided the correct start date of the increase (he put May instead of June 2023)- he later sent an email indicating June-not using the proper form again to highlight this increase.
Moreover, the fridge needs to be repaired as there is a leak, and I had previously indicated this to him and he did nothing, and instead of him actually asking maintenance for that and informing me on when the repairs will occur and what to do, he provides me with the number of the company to call to repair the fridge at my convenience (written note through the concierge and via email), providing no indication whether he will be paying for fees for repair!
To add, he is a nuisance and has repeatedly invaded my privacy by asking of my whereabouts to the various concierges throughout my stay in this building, and whether I was a "good" tenant, as well as popping by at any hour and requesting to speak with me at the lobby via messages to the concierges which prevents my work full-time from home. Also, he requests that I directly deposit a cheque into his account for the month to month rent payments after April 30, which is inconvenient for me to say the least, instead of accepting e -transfers or a cheque in a sealed envelope left at the concierge.
In sum, he is a very difficult landlord who does not adhere to the RTA and does not fulfill his duties regarding the proper maintenance and upkeep of the unit he is responsible for, in addition to having lack of clear communication, engaging in bullying behaviour, and preventing my enjoyment of the unit.
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Christy, what you have described sounds terrible!
But I am so glad to hear that you have a paralegal helping you. What did your paralegal say about the harassment? Is it worth filing a complaint at the landlord and tenant board?
Thaks for sharing your story. Let us know how it goes.