Having multiple strangers constantly coming into your home can be stressful and frustrating for families trying to be safe during a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, but it’s a situation tenants are powerless to prevent.
“I can’t even visit my kids’ grandma, but 18 to 24 people can come through my home,” said Tyler Robinson, whose landlord put up for sale the house in which he, his wife and daughter are living.
Despite the province’s stay at home and emergency order restrictions, real estate sales are allowed to continue.
Robinson, a Barrie resident, reached out to NewmarketToday regarding his concerns because the listing agent is Grace Simon, who is also a Newmarket councillor.
Well aware that he couldn’t deny entry to his landlord or his agents, Robinson expressed his concern and frustration about the high volume of realtors and potential buyers — up to eight a day — trekking through his home throughout the selling process.
Robinson said public health guidelines were not always being followed by the people he was obliged to allow into his home.
“We have had to sit there and get our three-year-old daughter and my wife in a mask and wait for these people to leave so I can disinfect things. People don’t even follow the rules — one woman pulled her mask down to ask my wife if the appliances were working,” he said.
Even when the showings were scheduled when the family was away from home, Robinson said his security system cameras caught the realtors taking things like business cards out of their pockets and putting them on his table.
“Did you disinfect those cards before you put them in your pocket, or are they in a plastic bag? It’s getting a little ridiculous,” he said.
The purchase is now complete, but Robinson said he doesn’t think his family should have been put in such a stressful situation when they are trying to stay safe.
Simon, who is a sales representative with exp realty brokerage, said she and other realtors have found themselves at a nexus of competing pressures — the need to keep tenants safe, the need for people to continue to sell and buy properties, and the need for real estate agents to continue to make a living.
“It’s frustrating when tenants are upset because I have been trying my best to keep them safe. But there are just circumstances when people must sell,” she said.
The province maintains real estate is an essential service, however, open houses are banned and showings, if necessary, must be made by appointment.
Simon said she has been following current guidelines issued by the Real Estate Council of Ontario and had requested other realtors viewing the property to do the same.
The family who owns the house in which Robinson’s apartment is located needed to sell the home following the death of a family member, Simon said. She priced the home aggressively — it has since been purchased — and allowed other realtors to bring their clients for showings, she added.
“I wanted to get a lot of showings in a few days so it would be over quickly. But in the meantime, everyone needs to follow strict guidelines … Had it not been for the landlord’s situation, I would not have listed this property because of the tenants.”
Simon said she instructed the realtors bringing clients to the home to limit the size of groups to two people, sanitize surfaces, and follow all public health guidelines and precautions. But she wasn’t present at the showings and can’t say for certain that they all followed those instructions.
Just like in the rest of society, there are too many people in the real estate industry who are not taking precautions as seriously as they should, and realtors need to be extra vigilant, especially when they are putting tenants in an awkward situation, Simon said.
“This is an issue, and people are not following the rules. If we are going to keep being designated an essential service, we need to make sure we are sticking with all the guidelines. But I did everything I could to make sure they had those guidelines.”
The real estate council is calling for realtors to ideally get the consent of the tenants for showings and “strongly recommends” such showings be kept to a minimum. But they can still go ahead with 24 hours of notice allowed under the Residential Tenancies Act.
“We encourage all parties to approach such situations with a desire to be flexible and understanding, with full consideration of the risk of transmission associated with in-person showings,’ the guidelines state.
Other guidelines from the council include:
Ask buyers or their representatives to screen for COVID-19;
Record the name and contact information of each person;
Consider requiring all clients to book an appointment in advance;
Abide by a schedule to encourage consumers to wait for their turn;
Limit the number of individuals allowed into a home at one time based on the size of the property;
Maintain physical distancing of at least two meters metres from people outside of your household or social circle;
Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces as frequently as is necessary to maintain a sanitary environment;
Ensure all lights are on and all doors (including closets) are open in areas consumers may want to see;
Recommend to client that they disinfect their home after open houses;
Disinfect lockboxes and keys on exiting the home.
The Ontario Real Estate Association published its own guidelines that also call on realtors to do their best to accommodate tenants’ concerns, to limit the people going through a property, and to rely on virtual tours as much as possible. It also recommends that no more than two visitors be allowed at a time, something that Robinson said did not happen with all visits at his home.
According to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, the fact that there is a lockdown or a state of emergency does not give tenants the right to refuse the landlord or their agent reentry into their unit.
“However, the (board) is mindful of the government’s advice for Ontarians to practise self-isolation and physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tenants should discuss the issue with their landlord and explain concerns they may have regarding the situation, and try to work it out in a cooperative way,” said the board in a statement to NewmarketToday.
“If a landlord and tenant are unable to reach an acceptable resolution, we recommend that parties seek legal advice on their options.”
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
