It’s been a while since my last post. Too busy with too many clients. Too many victims. Too many professional tenants who are predators. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that most small landlords are the authors of their own misfortune…no credit or tenancy checks, not checking to see if the employment info they provided is legitimate. I would venture to say that in most small-landlord tenancies, the tenants know the ropes far better than the landlords. My clients say “it’s not fair, they know all the tricks” as if it’s an indictment of the tenant. I say “good for the tenant, and why don’t you know the ropes“?

I’ve never seen a business like this. If a person was considering going into the dry cleaning business, first they would work in a dry cleaning store for a year or two, then if they like it, and had learned the business, they would buy a dry cleaning store. But in the small landlord business, it’s perverse. Small landlords believe themselves to be real estate investors, but not business people. When will they learn that they are in a business, a difficult business, and often a dirty business.

That’s where the title of this blog post comes in. So much dirt, deceit, duplicity, lies, etc. all coming before Members at the LTB. I’ve had a few too many small-landlord clients the last couple of months. Gotta cut back. I’ve told myself that in this business you can’t bleed for the client, but my nature is to want to set things right. And too often at the Landlord and Tenant Board, they get things wrong. Too many tenant-side Members, and leadership that seems to think that everything is OK so long as no stories hit the papers. Too many Members who think that because the legislation is remedial, that fairness should be a 60-40 proposition. And the process at the Toronto South location has pretty much ground to a halt. You can wait two months for a hearing on an impaired safety matter, only to have it adjourned on the tenant’s motion, and then wait another 2 months before it returns.

I feel dirty lately, like I’m working in a cesspool. Where is the Minister of Housing? Where is the media? Where is the Chair of the Board, Dr. Ma?