A man who bought a 40-hectare farm in the Toronto area two years ago says he’s still waiting to move in because a tenant is refusing to leave — and he says the body that’s supposed to rule on landlord-tenant disputes has been too slow to act.
Sarbjit Sra, a real estate broker from nearby Brampton, bought the property in April of 2020. He first went to Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) in June of that year seeking an eviction order on the grounds that he and his family want to live on the property, located about 60 kilometres northwest of Toronto. But the board didn’t rule in his favour until June of 2021 and the order can’t be acted upon until the LTB issues it in writing.
Almost 10 months later, Sra is still waiting for that written order.
“I can’t sleep at night right now,” he said. “Right now, we are very frustrated.”
Meanwhile, he says, he’s facing expenses of about $10,000 a month to pay mortgages, taxes and utilities on the farm, which he bought for $1.75 million. He says the tenant refuses to pay rent or allow him onto the property to inspect it for damage. Organizations that represent landlords in Ontario say the situation underscores a growing problem — the LTB’s seeming inability to quickly rule on these disputes and promptly evict problem tenants.
‘A bizarre situation’
Since that first application, an exasperated Sra has tried to speed things up by applying for two more eviction orders. In November of 2020, he filed a request on the grounds that the man hadn’t been paying his rent. That was denied but the board did order the tenant to pay back rent of almost $11,000. Sra says he hasn’t seen a penny of it.
So Sra then filed for a third eviction order, also based on non-payment of rent, in June of 2021. It was heard by the board this past January, and this time, the LTB agreed — in writing — to evict the tenant. But about a month ago, Sra was notified that order had been set aside while it was reviewed at the tenant’s request.
Sra and the paralegal who represents him say it all could have been avoided if the board had only issued a written order on his original application in a timely fashion. An LTB spokesperson declined CBC Toronto’s request for an interview to explain the delay, but in the past, the board has acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a backlog of cases.
Paralegal Ajmer Singh Mandur says he’s never known a client to wait for almost 10 months to receive an eviction order in writing from the LTB. He calls the situation ‘bizarre.’ (Mike Smee/CBC)
“Due to shifting of staff resources, there will be a substantive delay [in] processing and scheduling some types of applications,” a statement on the board’s website reads. “Orders will be issued between 20 to 60 days depending on the application type.”
But Ajmer Singh Mandur, the paralegal representing Sra, told CBC Toronto he’s rarely seen an applicant wait this long for a written order.
“I can say in my practice for the last 11 years that I have never come across such a bizarre situation,” he said.
CBC Toronto has requested an interview with the tenant through his legal representative. So far, there has been no response.
The farm includes a barn, outbuildings and two adjacent rental units — the farmhouse and a connecting apartment. Sra says the lease calls for a monthly rent of $1,140. The LTB has calculated the tenant has racked up back rent of almost $23,000.
“Property owners who purchase a home that they wish to live in should not be made to wait for up to a year or more … and should not be prejudiced if tenants refuse to pay the rent,” said Rose Marie, vice-chair of an organization called the Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario.
“Rental housing providers are starting to wake up the fact that there is something seriously wrong with the system — it is broken. We look forward to changes in the near future. Not next year, now.”
Marie says from 2019 to 2020, there were 41,621 eviction applications aimed at tenants who were refusing to pay their rent — resulting in losses to landlords of about $1.45 billion. The following year, due to the pandemic, the number of applications dropped to just 24,400, which translates to loss of rental income of about $856 million, Marie says.
Her organization is calling on the LTB to hold timelier, more efficient hearings.
“We need changes with the speed of light,” she said.
The 40-hectare farm comes with a barn and outbuildings. Sra says he comes from an agriculural background and would like to farm this property. (Mike Smee/CBC)
“There’s something broken inside that needs to be fixed,” Mandur said. “COVID has had its effect on these cases, but that has to do with scheduling; nothing to do with writing decisions.”
On top of everything else, Sra says he’s also tried to inspect the property, after giving 24 hours notice, “six or seven times,” but has been barred by the tenant.
“It’s a nightmare for me,” Sra says.
“I believe in our judicial system. I believe in the courts, I believe in the LTB and hopefully we will get possession one day.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
