Imagine if Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board decided to evict you and write your landlord a blank cheque you then had to pay. It’s not a nightmare. In fact, it happens every day. Allow me to explain.

When the Board issues an eviction order, as a matter of standard practice, it orders tenants to pay all rent arrears owing and a pro-rated daily occupation rate for each day tenants remain following the written order’s eviction date.

For example, the Board might say that the tenants owe $4,000 in arrears and an additional $50 for each day they remain beyond their eviction date.

Including this daily occupation rate in eviction orders incentivizes tenants to vacate a property earlier, rather than wait to be forcibly removed by law enforcement (should that be necessary).

For landlords, it provides compensation for the time during which their property may be illegally occupied by a tenant, without requiring them to obtain a subsequent legal order.

So, as a practice, it makes sense for the Board to establish a post-eviction daily occupation rate in its eviction orders. But the arrangement rests on a problematic premise: that landlords can be trusted to not falsely claim a tenant occupied their property after an eviction date.

In the event a landlord does lie though, they can claim thousands of dollars from tenants without having to prove they are owed a penny of it, notify the credit bureaus of the ostensive debt, and file to garnish it from tenants’ employers.

Tenants are then put in the position of proving – or paying legal counsel thousands of dollars to prove – that they didn’t occupy the unit beyond the eviction date in Small Claims Court.

And what consequence will the landlord face for all this unlawful carnage? None.

Though it’s a criminal offence to file a false Affidavit of Enforcement Request, that’s an issue beyond the scope of what’s covered at the civil hearings held for garnishments and similar disputes, where landlords risk only minor consequences for falsely claiming thousands of dollars from struggling renters.

It’s the same story in the event of a false filing with credit bureaus. The bureaus do not require proof of daily occupation rate debt to list it on a tenant’s credit report.

Then they make removal astonishingly difficult for tenants, even after a court has invalidated the claim.

For the landlord, making a blatantly false filing with credit bureaus is also illegal. But again, there do not appear to be any real repercussions. I know because I’ve seen everything described above transpire with my own clients.

But this is not an impossible problem. On the contrary, the province could implement several simple solutions to prevent these situations and impose appropriate penalties.

Firstly, Queens Park can and should amend the Residential Tenancies Act to explicitly establish high punitive fines for landlords who attempt to falsely claim post-eviction daily occupation rate payments.

The province could allow these claims to be brought by tenants through the Board instead of the courts, which have more complex procedural requirements. This would make it easier and more affordable for tenants to seek justice.

But the legislation would, as a practical matter, have to establish minimum fines and other penalties, which the Board itself would be responsible for extracting. Otherwise, the Board will only issue the paltry, slap-on-the-wrist fines it typically awards – which are then rarely even paid.

Another option could be setting a deadline for the daily occupancy rate’s application, which would apply where landlords fail to file an eviction order with the sheriff’s office in a timely manner.

For example, two weeks following an eviction date. Since in some cases, landlords neglect to file an order with the sheriff’s office for months or years, then claim payment owing for the applicable time period, even if the tenant has been long gone.

Lastly, both the federal and provincial government must clamp down on credit bureaus’ mismanagement. We need appropriate regulations making it as easier for tenants to remove false debt claims, and harder for landlords to file them without substantiating evidence.

And bureaus must be mandated to ensure customer service personnel answer phones, respond to emails, and address issues like human beings rather than Kafkaesque robots.

One way or another, the province must fix this ridiculous situation to protect Ontario renters from these nightmare scenarios – because it’s hard enough for renters to afford costs of living without our tribunals writing effective blank cheques in their name.

Marc Z. Goldgrub is a lawyer at Green Economy Law Professional Corporation, a boutique Toronto law firm with a focus on green business, psychedelics, and housing.

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With 2,847 residential units sold last month, Edmonton’s real estate market had an 11.4 per cent slowdown from May.

In its monthly report released Thursday, the Realtors Association of Edmonton (RAE) reported a cooling of the Edmonton real estate market from May.

While the market showed a more than 11 per cent slowdown, RAE said in its report that it’s still not all bad news because even with the decrease, it’s still 10 per cent higher than June 2023.

Although sales declined last month, a local realtor said July has already been busy.“The market as a whole is at its plateau for the season,” said Melanie Boles, RAE board chair.

The number of new listings also declined, according to the report. At 3,712 in June, new residential listings are down 12.2 per cent from the month before, but year-to-date listings are up 2.3 per cent.

Home prices down, condo prices up

In tandem with sales, the prices of Edmonton single detached homes fell slightly in June. In May, the average price of a detached Edmonton home was $539,000, but the average decreased by one per cent to $495,000 in June.

As the prices for homes came down slightly, apartments and condos increased.

“Apartment condominium average prices hit $211,583, increasing 2.3 per cent over last month and coming in 8.5 per cent higher than the previous year,” the report said.

The report also indicated that rents are on the rise, too. RAE said in May the average price in Edmonton for a one-bedroom rental was $1,357, which rose nine per cent to $1,480. Two-bedroom rents increased by 14 per cent — from an average of $1,480 in May to $1,688 in June.

Boles expected the sales trend to hold.“We’re likely going to see the number of sales continue to decline as we approach the end of summer,” Boles said.

It wouldn’t be uncommon for the market to slow down in the summer months. As the summer sets in, the market often cools off. A June 2023 RAE report said the market activity was down 2.1 per cent compared to 2022, and 4.6 per cent from May 2023.

Busy summer ahead

Wendy Theberge, a RE/MAX Elite realtor, said she’s noticed a different trend on the front lines of Edmonton’s market that RAE’s numbers indicate.

“Typically, I would have planned a holiday in August, three weeks, and I am not going anywhere because things are just rocking and rolling yet again,” Theberge said.

The “fits and starts” were fairly common for this time of year, but Theberge said there is no “typical” ever since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past two weeks, Theberge said she’s noticed a ramp-up in the market, though it’s not to the extent that it was a month ago when she said it was common to have multiple offers. She even had one property sell for more than $20,000 over the listing price.

“It’s always like you’ve got four great offers. They all look pretty good, and then bam! You’ve got one from Ontario that goes, ‘I’m going to offer you like this much more, I don’t care.’ So, money talks,” she said.Theberge said buyers have been travelling up the highway from Calgary to Edmonton, looking to jump in on better affordability.

“It looks like we are still in a very intense seller’s market.”

Theberge’s research indicated Edmonton had 1.8 months of inventory for single-family homes.

She explained what the inventory meant: “If we don’t get any more listings tomorrow, it’ll take 1.8 months to clear out the inventory in Edmonton.”

Theberge said a balanced market usually has four to six months of inventory, putting Edmonton in a squeeze.

“At the end of the day, what’s happening right now is I am very busy.”

Thankfully, the market will get more listings, but the decreased stock could push prices higher as the tighter supply competes with higher demand.

 

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Like many of today’s homebuyers, Jim Wright knew that if he wanted to get his foot in the door of affordable homeownership, he’d have to look outside of the GTA where he worked to make it a reality.

That was more than three decades ago, and Wright, now a local real estate agent, believes that even though the cost of a home in Barrie has increased in recent years — as well as historically high interest rates — Barrie can still offer that same choice to homebuyers today.

“It’s still affordable in relative terms,” said Wright, noting a townhouse in Barrie may start in the $600,000 range and can go up to around $800,000 depending on the unit.

“You’re not seeing anything in Toronto for $600,000, but people have to weigh it out,” he added. “You chose your hard. Is it hard to live in Toronto and just keep paying someone else’s mortgage off by paying rent, or is it hard to move to Barrie, own your own place, but commute to work?”

Recent stats showed the average price for a detached home in the city was about $860,000, Wright said.

“It’s still not cheap, but it’s cheaper,” he added. “Your dollar sure buys you more now than it did a year and a bit ago, because the market has corrected somewhat. You’re not getting to the outlying areas so much for that $750,000 and under mark because the lots are bigger and the houses are typically bigger than what you’d get in a standard subdivision home in Barrie. It’s cheaper than the city, but it’s still not cheap.”

As for who is buying, Wright says he’s seeing a mix of people looking to relocate from the Toronto area as well as those simply moving with the city.

Usually, the real estate market is buzzing this time of year, but this spring was unusually sluggish, he said.

‘It’s been very interesting because it was not been a traditional spring market … although it seems nothing has been traditional since COVID. It showed early signs of being a decent spring, but then things just sort of hit the brakes and it’s been very flat,” said Wright. “Everybody is just trying to piece it together and (wondering) why.”

One thing Wright and his colleagues agree on is that there is a pent-up demand, but that people are simply waiting to see what happens with the interest rates.

“They’ve been promised this interest rate reduction since last year essentially … and in all honesty, it will be a very small reduction and isn’t all that meaningful, but signals to buyers that hopefully the worst is behind us,” he said. “I think when that happens, buyers are going to come out and that’s when we are going to see the market pick back up again.. At least that’s the theory at this point, anyway.”

While the housing market is not seeing its usual spring rush, the local condominium market is a bit more balanced, noted local sales representative Ashley Lamb, who also writes a regular column about the local market for BarrieToday.

“There is a huge gap between the housing and the condo market. They are completely different right now,” she said, noting while the housing market was recently more of a sellers’ market with about two months of inventory, the condo market was beginning to move into more of a buyers’ market and had about four months of inventory.

Both Lamb and Wright said open houses have slowed down immensely.

“The real estate market is unpredictable in so many ways,” Lamb said. “You’re having some that are getting multiple offers and then others that are sitting on the market for like three months.”

While home ownership may seem like an unattainable goal to many, Lamb says one way of getting your foot in the door, especially in Barrie, is to consider the condo option.

“Two years ago, prices were much higher. We have such a huge surplus in condos right now that properties are just sitting,” she said. “Sellers are adjusting their price and they’re starting to come back down.”

She recently saw a couple of condos priced under $300,000 for the first time in several years.

“You couldn’t even get anything under $400,000 a couple of years ago. There are definitely opportunities coming up for those first-time buyers in the condo market,” said Lamb. “They’re a good entry-level type property and are the most affordable … and it’s a good way to start, especially if you’re a younger buyer. They are becoming more affordable.”

While Lamb acknowledges she’s not currently seeing a ton of first-time buyers right now — most of her clients have been a mix of people coming up from the GTA, as well as a lot of buyers local to the area considering downsizing and having a lifestyle change — she thinks it’s merely a matter of time before she begins to see an influx of those first-time buyers out looking again.

Lamb believes those buyers are simply on the sidelines, waiting for the interest rates to come down, before they wade into the market completely.

“They’re (already) stretching themselves thin, but if the interest rate comes down even a quarter of a point, then they could hop into the market and be able to afford it that much more,” she said. “That said, I know there’s a lot of pent-up demand and people waiting to see what happens with the market.

“I feel that when the interest rates do come down, there could be a lot more buyers and the market could be that much more active,” Lamb added.

The days of buying a home without an inspection or financing clause — as was often seen during the pandemic — is gone, said Wright, adding currently there’s about a three-month supply of homes in the city.

“They’re just not flying off the shelves like they were … A lot of offers are coming in with the sale of purchaser’s property (SPP) clause. We haven’t seen those conditions for years, but they’re back now,” he said.

The challenge with a slower market, Wright explained, is it means a buyer can often fall in love with a property, but are not able to “firm up” on an offer until they’ve sold their own property.

“There is no guarantee with this market right now,” he said. “In a normal spring market, I can be pretty comfortable in saying yes, we will be able to move your home … but right now you just never know. We are seeing houses get listed and expire.

“That’s the challenge now. Do you sell your house first so you know how much money you have … (because) people can’t afford to carry two homes. That’s a huge stretch for people,” Wright added. “People sometimes think with their heart and it can come back to bite them in the butt later when they realize they have to carry two mortgages.”

Lamb agrees.

“If you haven’t sold yet, you know in the back of your heart you might lose out and have to start again,” she said. “It is quite an emotional roller-coaster for buyers that need to sell at the same time.”

As for what buyers are looking for, everyone’s wish list is different, said Wright, but typically those moving from outside the area are drawn to more than just what is contained between the four walls and a roof. They’re also drawn to what the region has to offer.

“Compared to the city, the traffic is better (here). You’ve got so many things to do in Barrie. You’ve got Kempenfelt Bay, you’ve got the playground down there, you’ve got skiing, snowshoeing. Here, it’s in your backyard,” he said.

“Those are the things that are appealing to those who are looking to have more of a lifestyle as opposed to just living in an apartment in the city.”

 

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