Hamilton landlords claim they’re owed $11,000 by tenant who refuses to move out

Chelsea and Ernest Kolenda thought it was a no-brainer to rent out their upscale Stoney Creek townhouse last summer after having a baby and moving into a bigger home.

Now they wish they just sold it altogether.

The first-time landlords are at their wits' end after being unable to evict a tenant who they claim owes them more than $11,000 in unpaid rent and refuses to move out, a nightmare" situation that's left them mentally and financially strapped.

What was supposed to be one of the greatest times of our lives, with a new baby and a new house, has been ruined by this nightmare situation," Chelsea said in an interview with The Spectator, adding the tenant's rent arrears forced her to cut her maternity leave short and head back to work.

If we didn't have a little savings and help from family, we'd have already lost the home we're living in now. We can't keep paying two mortgages like this."

The couple had high hopes when the tenant moved into their modern, five-year-old home on Westbank Trail in upper Stoney Creek last June.

A young professional with kids, the tenant stood out among a field of about a dozen candidates, said Chelsea. She seemed responsible and clean, was eager to pay first and last month's rent and even offered to put a guarantor on the agreed one-year lease.

The perfect choice," Chelsea recalled thinking.

But the red flags started popping up almost instantly.

The day the tenant moved in, she complained to the couple about a leak in the dishwasher and the carpets not being steam cleaned. Those complaints then quickly spiralled into almost a dozen repair requests, from bathroom doors not closing and nails in the walls to the living room not being freshly painted and window handles not functioning properly. By July, the couple said the tenant stopped talking to them and ceased paying rent.

She wouldn't let us inside the home and said she only wanted to deal with a property manager who knew what they were doing," said Ernest. And we hired one because that's how much we really didn't want problems and just wanted this to work."

The property manager, however, also ran into roadblocks.

We tried to negotiate the amount owed with the tenant, we tried to push back rent payment dates - we tried everything because we know sometimes life and finances can be difficult. But the tenant refused to pay rent or communicate a reason to us," said property manager Natalie Morgan, who the couple hired in July.

Morgan said the couple has paid for and completed all but one of the repair demands made by the tenant. The tenant's only withstanding complaint is the leaking dishwasher, which, instead of allowing her landlords to repair, she replaced with a new one and asked them to pay for it, Morgan said.

And this was already a house in great condition," said Morgan, who has 14 years of experience as a property manager. But this is a tenant who's trying to use the system. She's looking for reasons to not pay rent."

Reached by phone Tuesday, the tenant declined to comment.

Morgan said issues with the tenant extent beyond unpaid rent and the litany of repair requests. She said the tenant has filed harassment claims against her with Hamilton police and repeatedly denied her and contractors access into the home without a police officer being present. Hamilton police confirmed officers responded to the home twice since July for landlord and tenant matters.

At the core of this frustrating ordeal is that the tenant - for now - is acting within her legal rights.

While the Kolendas filed N4 and N5 eviction notices with the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) in July, tenants in Ontario can legally stay in units without paying rent until the LTB hears a dispute and issues an eviction order.

That adjudicative process once took roughly one to three months from start to finish. Now, thanks to a massive backlog formed during the pandemic, it takes between eight months and a year for the LTB to even schedule a hearing date.

We're nowhere near where we need to be in terms of reasonable access to justice," said Tony Irwin, president of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario.

Irwin said the Kolendas' situation is part of a broader trend happening across the province. Delinquent tenants are signing leases and living scot-free for months until the LTB gets to their case. Landlords, meanwhile, have no recourse to get them out.

Many of these landlords are people with families, who made an investment but still have to pay bills and mortgages, and they're left without the means to do so," he said. I hear about these heart-wrenching stories from smaller landlords almost every day, and it's really not fair."

Granted, Irwin added, there are situations that require compassion from landlords. Sometimes a tenant can't pay rent because they lost their job. Sometimes there's another bill that's more pressing. But the problem here is this trend is something very different, where tenants are taking advantage of the issues with the LTB and are getting away with it for long periods of time."

In a statement, Tribunals Ontario attributed the backlog to a five-month moratorium it placed on proceedings in early 2020, resulting in the cancellation of more than 25,000 eviction hearings. Since then, they said the LTB has modernized its operations and hired more staff and adjudicators. But clearing the backlog will take time.

On average it takes about six months from the time an adjudicator is appointed for them to go through their training period before they are able to take on a full schedule of hearings and other adjudicative matters," said spokesperson Janet Deline, adding the LTB understands the impact that delays have on those who access our services."

For the Kolendas, securing a hearing date is just the tip of the iceberg. They're confident their tenant will be evicted - but an eviction order doesn't guarantee the repayment of rent owed, which often comes from small-claims suits.

We're going to be down tens of thousands of dollars because of this in the end," said Ernest. If I could give any advice to small landlords in Ontario it's to save yourself the trouble and don't do it."

Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com