News

Rental market in Canada: Should you fight eviction

Published

1 year ago

April 12, 2023

Arriving home to a notice to vacate on your front door can be devastating, to say the least.

Seven per cent of respondents to a 2021 Canadian housing survey report being evicted at some point in their past, according to Statistics Canada. So you’re not alone.

Once a landlord issues a notice to vacate to a tenant, the tenant may have anywhere from two weeks to three months (depending on the province) to resolve the issue with their landlord or move out.

The good news is that you may be able to fight the eviction if you believe it’s unjust. Below, I’ll share some instances when you should consider fighting an eviction and explain how an eviction could affect your credit rating.

When should you consider fighting an eviction?

Most evictions occur due to the sale of property by a landlord (37 per cent) or the landlord wanting the unit for their own use (26 per cent), based on the same survey by Statistics Canada.

Not all evictions are justified, though.

If the eviction notice is found to have been unjustly issued, then you may even be able to counter-sue for damages.

With that in mind, here are some examples of when you should consider fighting an eviction.

1. Eviction for exercising your legal rights

If you believe that an eviction may have been issued in relation to exercising your legal rights, you may have a good case to fight it.

For example, let’s say that you sue your landlord for failing to maintain the property or violating their end of the lease agreement. Shortly after, you receive an eviction notice stating some obscure or inaccurate violation on your end.

There’s a good chance that you could win an appeal to overturn the eviction.

2. You didn’t receive a proper eviction notice

Each province has rules regarding how much time a landlord must give a tenant to vacate. If your landlord fails to adhere to provincial regulations, you may be able to overturn the eviction.

3. Discrimination-based eviction

If you believe your eviction notice was issued due to discrimination on your landlord’s behalf, you may have a good case to overturn it. There are laws in place to prevent a landlord from discriminating against a tenant over their race, religion, ancestry, gender, or sexual orientation.

For example, in the Smith vs. Mohan case in B.C., the landlord tried to evict a tenant of Indigenous descent for their cultural practice of “smudging” (burning sacred herbs). The tenant also shared several examples of the landlord making several racially insensitive remarks.

The court ruled that the smoke caused by the smudging was not enough of a disturbance or issue to warrant an eviction.

Smith (the tenant) was awarded $23,300 in compensation for lost wages, expenses, and damages to her dignity and self-respect.

4. Poorly maintained property

In some cases, you may be able to fight an eviction notice due to the landlord failing to maintain the residence.

For example, if there is a broken window or plumbing issue that prevents you from safely inhabiting your home and the landlord fails to repair the issue, then they might not be able to evict you if you decide to pay less rent to compensate for this mismanagement.

Can you fight an eviction if you didn’t sign a lease?

Verbal rental agreements can be complicated, which is why you should always make sure that there’s a formal, legally binding lease agreement signed by both you and your landlord.

Verbal agreements can be difficult to enforce. That being said, sometimes courts do respect verbal lease agreements.

For example, in the 2014 case, Johnson vs. Patry, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that verbal tenancy agreements are enforceable and legitimate. This means landlords must give a proper eviction notice to a tenant, even if there’s only a verbal agreement. It also means that tenants living under a verbal lease agreement can fight an eviction notice.

Can an eviction impact your credit rating?

Receiving an eviction notice or being formally evicted from your residence won’t have a direct effect on your credit score, according to Equifax.

However, an eviction can indirectly affect your credit if your landlord reports unpaid fees and rent to the credit bureaus. This could also happen during an eviction dispute before the court makes a final decision.

Even if the court rules in your favour, you’ll need to send letters and evidence to the credit bureaus to get the negative marks removed from your report. This could take several weeks or even months, negatively impacting your credit score in the short-term.

Eviction can make it harder to find future housing

Perhaps the most problematic effect of receiving an eviction is that it could tarnish your rental history. When applying to new housing units, most applicants are asked whether or not they’ve been evicted before. Your response could hurt your approval, or the landlord may require you to pay a larger security deposit.

If you believe you have a good case, it’s worth seeking legal advice and disputing the eviction. If it’s overturned, it won’t hurt your rental history, and you may even be able to sue your landlord for damages.

Source link

News

Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

—

AP MLB:

Source link

News

Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

6 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

AP tennis:

Source link

News

Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

6 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

Source link