A new registry of delinquent Ontario tenants — and some unscrupulous landlords — is gaining traction among landlords and legal experts.
Weiting Bollu founded the platform Openroom a little over a year ago after she had trouble ousting a tenant from the home she owned in Vaughan — even after the tenant stopped paying rent.
“I thought I was the only one until I met other landlords. And I said, ‘Why isn’t anyone doing more about this?” she said.
“That’s when I said ‘You know what? I build software for a living. Why don’t I go build something myself?'”
She says the online database now contains more than 10,000 documents. The vast majority are related to delinquent tenants, although Bollu says there are also some problematic landlords listed too.
Landlord Narinder Lobana in front of his Brampton townhouse. He learned through Openroom that his tenant, who he says has stopped paying rent, has done the same to three previous landlords in the past three years. (Mike Smee/CBC)
The tool is taking off as some landlords flee the rental market, contributing to the province’s housing shortage, according to Boubah Bah, chair of the Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario.
“The number of landlords leaving in the GTA, we estimate, is 50 to 75 a month and climbing,” he said.
Anyone can access database
Anyone can access the Openroom and search a potential tenant or landlord’s name to find out whether Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has issued any orders against that person. Orders include the names of both the landlord and the tenant, the alleged infractions and how the tribunal ruled — whether in favour of the landlord or the tenant.
While Bullo started the database, it’s now being expanded by members of the public who’ve learned about it through word of mouth. She says lawyers, paralegals, landlords and tenants submit the names of people who have been found at fault by the LTB, along with legal documents to support their submissions.
Before listing an order against a particular tenant or landlord, Bollu says she checks to make sure it’s accurate.
Bollu estimates more than 120,000 people accessed the database in the past year, with Openroom fielding 1.7 million searches during that time that time.
Pickering paralegal Leon Presner says he recommends the tool to landlords as way of avoiding tenants with a bad track record. (Mike Smee/CBC)
“You’ll hear from landlords that it’s mental distress, emotional, financial, legally, physical distress that they’re under,” she said.
“This pain? It’s real. And I felt it and that’s why I’m so passionate about making a change.”
‘A serious tool’
Bah says Openroom is providing landlords with a bit of hope.
“It’s a serious tool and it’s becoming viral,” he said. “We’re using it and we’re advising our landlords to use it.”
It’s a tool that Narinder Lobana wishes he’d known about sooner.
He says he’s trying to evict a tenant who owes him about $7,800. Lobana says he’s been trying to get her to leave since she missed a month’s rent last summer, then admitted she couldn’t afford the town home. He says she’s paid no rent since he applied to the LTB for an eviction order last fall.
After hearing about Openroom from a work friend, Lobana says he discovered his tenant was evicted from three previous units in the last three years for non-payment of rent.
Now, he says, he won’t rent to anyone until he’s checked the prospective tenant on the site.
“Openroom has taught me how to be careful,” he said. “Check your tenant’s history before you do anything. It’s very, very helpful.”
Platform has its critics
But even after renting a unit to a bad tenant, Pickering paralegal Leon Presner says it’s not too late for landlords to make use of the database.
“It’s evidence,” he said, because the data on Openroom includes court documents and official LTB decisions.
“You can use that information at your proceeding,” Presner said. “It’s their order, and it originated from the Landlord and Tenant Board.”
The platform does have critics though.
Geordie Dent, with the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations, says the service can unfairly stigmatize delinquent renters.
“You’re creating a system where people are blacklisted for reasons that might be frivolous,” he said. “You’re basically creating a homeless person.”
While Openroom predominately caters to landlords, tenants have other resources at their disposal, including Rate The Landlord — a crowdsourced website — and the city’s RentSafeTO, which allows tenants to check a building owner’s maintenance and security track records.
EDMONTON – The legendary k.d. lang got the band back together at the Canadian Country Music Association awards show.
Lang teamed up with the Reclines for the first time in 35 years to belt out “Big Boned Gal” from their last album together in 1989.
Clad in a blue and green western-style dress, lang strut across the stage in Edmonton to embody the “big boned gal from southern Alberta.”
The awards show saw Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter and Ontario’s Josh Ross take home hardware for being best female and male artists of the year.
Ross also won entertainer of the year and single of the year for “Trouble.”
Ontario artist Jade Eagleson won album of the year for “Do It Anyway.”
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., won fans’ choice and group of the year.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Ross says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year made the hard work worth it.
Porter won for female artist of the year and top video for “Chasing Tornadoes.”
The female artist win ends the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until now.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
EDMONTON – Ontario country artist Jade Eagleson has won album of the year at the 2024 Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Edmonton.
The singer from Bailieboro, Ont., was up for six awards alongside Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter.
Eagleson took home album of the year for “Do It Anyway” and says he’s thankful to his wife and management team for helping him reach the level he’s at.
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., also won fans’ choice and group of the year at the award show, held in Edmonton.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Another Ontario crooner, Josh Ross, has taken home a trio of awards, receiving entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and single of the year.
He says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year makes the hard work worth it.
Porter took home female artist of the year, ending the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until tonight.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
The return of k.d. lang and the Reclines was expected to be a highlight of the show.
The appearance will mark the first time the Alberta songstress has teamed up with the band in 35 years and is tied to lang’s induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
The awards show is back in Alberta’s capital for the first time since 2014. It was held in Hamilton last year and in Calgary in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservatives are promising changes they say will bring more stability to the province’s struggling forest industry.
Leader John Rustad announced his plan for the sector a week before the official launch of the provincial election campaign, saying a Conservative government would do away with stumpage fees paid when timber is harvested and instead put a tax on the final products that are produced.
Rustad said Saturday that under a provincial Conservative government, a small fee may be charged upfront, but the bulk would come at the end of the process, depending on what type of product is created.
He also promised to review how wildfires are managed, as well as streamline the permit process and review what he calls the province’s “uncompetitive cost structure.”
“British Columbia is by far the highest cost producers of any jurisdiction in North America. We need to be able to drive down those costs, so that our forest sector can actually be able to do the reinvestment, to be able to create the jobs and make sure that they’re still there to be able to support our communities,” he said.
The governing New Democrats meanwhile, say eliminating stumpage fees would inflame the softwood lumber dispute with the United States and hurt forestry workers.
In a statement issued by the NDP, Andrew Mercier, the party’s candidate in Langley-Willowbrook, said Rustad failed to support the industry when he was in government under the former BC Liberals.
“Not only will Rustad’s old thinking and recycled ideas fail to deliver, his proposal to eliminate stumpage would inflame the softwood lumber dispute — punishing forestry workers and communities,” Mercier said, accusing Rustad of ignoring the complexity of the challenges facing the industry.
The softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada stretches back decades. In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce nearly doubled duties on softwood lumber.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng has said Canada has taken steps to launch two legal challenges under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Rustad said a provincial Conservative government would push hard to get a deal with the United States over the ongoing dispute “whether it’s with the rest of Canada or by itself.”
He said his party’s proposed changes are in the name of bringing “stability” and “hope” to the industry that has seen multiple closures of mills in rural communities over the last several years.
Most recently, Canfor Corp. decided to shutter two northern British Columbia sawmills earlier this month, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed by the end of the year.
According to the United Steelworkers union, Canfor has closed 10 mills in the province since November 2011, including nine in northern B.C.
Jeff Bromley, chair of the United Steelworkers wood council, said Saturday the idea of changes in favour of taxing the final product has been floated in the past.
He said the finer details of the Conservative plan will be important, but that the system needs to be improved and “new ideas are certainly something I’d be willing to entertain.”
“Something needs to happen, or the industry is just going to bleed and wither away and be a shadow of its former self,” Bromley said.
“Politics aside, if (Rustad) can come up with a policy that enables my members to work, then I would be supportive of that. But then I’m supportive of any government that would come up with policies and fibre for our mills to run. Period.”
When Canfor announced its latest closures, Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said the sector was a “foundational part” of the province and the current NDP government would work to support both local jobs and wood manufacturing operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024
