A Toronto landlord is suing her former tenant, the tenant’s boyfriend, the City of Toronto and Airbnb, after her downtown condominium was rented out on the short-term rental platform for months without her knowledge or consent.
The statement of claim, filed on behalf of Allison Rasquinha in Ontario Superior Court of Justice on June 22, says Michele Nicole Carter and Jose Cornejo Kelly registered Rasquinha’s studio condo on Adelaide Street West with the city for short-term rental without authorization and rented it out dozens of times on Airbnb in violation of the condo corporation’s rules.
It accuses Airbnb and the city of facilitating the registration and rental of the unit, claiming both neglected their responsibilities to verify whether Carter and Cornejo Kelly had the legal right to rent out the property on a short-term basis.
“[My condo] is my most valuable possession. It’s near and dear to my heart,” Rasquinha said in an interview with CBC.
“It’s a terrible feeling to see something that you love be weaponized for profit and gain that you weren’t even aware of.”
The lawsuit seeks $1.6 million in damages from the four defendants for financial losses and mental anguish, among other harms. The allegations haven’t been proven in court and none of the defendants has filed a statement of defence yet.
Multiple attempts to contact Carter and Cornejo Kelly by phone, email and at a Hamilton, Ont., home registered to owners with the same names were unsuccessful.
Rasquinha’s condo is in a building on Adelaide Street West. (Ryan Patrick Jones/CBC)
According to the statement of claim, Rasquinha entered into a one-year lease agreement with Carter that began on July 1, 2022.
The agreement, viewed by CBC Toronto, prohibits tenants from subleasing the property without written permission from the landlord and compels them to abide by the condo corporation’s declaration. The declaration, also viewed by CBC, forbids renting out residential units for less than a year.
Two weeks after the lease took effect, the city issued a short-term rental registration for the unit to Jose Cornejo Kelly, according to the claim and a document obtained by Rasquinha through a freedom of information request.
CBC Toronto previously reported that Carter said Cornejo Kelly lived in the unit with her, although his name wasn’t on the lease. Rasquinha said she had never met him and she was never informed that he’d moved in.
Property rented ‘at least 30 times,’ lawsuit says
The claim alleges Carter and Cornejo Kelly listed the unit on Airbnb between July 14, 2022, and April 2, 2023.
“The property listing has over 30 reviews and as such, it is evident that it has been rented at least 30 times during the duration of the listing,” the lawsuit says.
Rasquinha confronted Carter in February after learning from the building’s security team that she may have been running an unauthorized Airbnb business, but Carter denied knowing anything about it, according to the suit and emails viewed by CBC Toronto.
In March, Rasquinha located a listing for her unit on Airbnb, according to screenshots of the listing, and she contacted the tenants, the city and Airbnb in an attempt to bring the situation to an end.
Suit alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment
Rasquinha’s lawsuit alleges Carter and Cornejo Kelly breached the terms of the lease by registering and listing the unit for short-term rental. It also accuses them of unjustly enriching themselves by receiving payments from short-term rental customers.
When Carter and Cornejo Kelly spoke to CBC Toronto in May, Carter said she rented out the condo on Airbnb on occasion when she was out of town.
At that time, Carter said she and Cornejo Kelly were unaware that short-term rentals weren’t allowed at the building because even though the condo rules were referenced in the lease agreement, Rasquinha had not provided her with a copy of the declaration.
Both Carter and Cornejo Kelly said they took down the listing when Rasquina told them it wasn’t allowed.
A screenshot shows one of the Airbnb listings for Rasquinha’s condo. (Submitted by Allison Rasquinha)
‘Everyone had a financial gain’ except property owner, lawyer says
Mirielle Dahab, Rasquinha’s lawyer, said the crux of the claim is that all of the defendants benefited financially through the wrongful renting out of the unit.
Airbnb collects service fees from both guests and hosts for all accommodations booked through its platform, according to its website. Meanwhile, the city collects a $53 fee from those who register their units for short-term rental and charges a six per cent municipal accommodation tax on all short-term rental revenues.
“Everyone had a financial gain” except Rasquinha, said Dahab. “Whether it’s the city with their rental taxes, whether it’s Airbnb with their profit margins … and then obviously the two individuals.”
Dahab argued that Carter and Kelly had an obligation to abide by the condo corporation’s rules, whether they received a physical copy of the condo’s declaration or not.
“When you’re agreeing to the terms of a contract or rules … the onus is on you to make sure that you’re complying with them,” she said. “If you don’t know what they are, ask for them.”
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Airbnb, city accused of negligence
The lawsuit accuses Airbnb of negligence for facilitating through its online platform the advertisement, rental and payment for short-term rental of the unit, arguing the company has a responsibility to ensure that all listings posted on its platform are valid and authorized by the property owners.
It also accuses Airbnb of failing to promptly remove the listing for Rasquinha’s unit from its platform after she informed the company of its “fraudulent nature” in March.
Airbnb took down the listing on April 16 after its customer service team followed up with the host about ownership of the condo.
The company said in a statement the host is no longer hosting on the platform, but didn’t specifically address the claims in Rasquinha’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit also accuses the city of negligence, arguing it did not conduct any background checks to confirm whether Carter and Cornejo Kelly were authorized to rent it out or whether the condo corporation allowed short-term rentals.
A spokesperson for the City of Toronto said in an email it wouldn’t comment on the allegations in Rasquinha’s lawsuit because the matter is before the courts.
Generally, the city said to register a unit for short-term rental on Airbnb, hosts only have to prove it’s their “principal residence” using an Ontario driver’s licence or Ontario photo card. The city said some applications are approved automatically, while others require additional review or a property inspection.
Rasquinha said the city should be doing more to vet people who apply for short-term rental registration.
In an email viewed by CBC Toronto, a city employee told Rasquinha the city doesn’t have the resources to verify that those who apply for short-term rental registration are authorized to do so or whether short-term rentals are authorized at the building before they approve registrations.
“If they are going to launch a regulation service and take fees and take taxes from short-term rentals, they have a duty of care to the citizens of Toronto to be doing a good job on handing out these licenses like they’re not candy,” Rasquinha said.
The city said in its statement it’s the responsibility of building property managers to inform the city of any condo corporation rules around short-term rentals, and that it’s the responsibility of the owner or tenant to follow them.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
