THUNDER BAY — A Thunder Bay landlord says property-owners encounter difficulties renting to some students, partly due to 'a number of problems' with the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Derek Schmidt responded Monday to a Tbnewswatch article last week in which a Lakehead University Student Union official decried the 'exploitation' he said international students, in particular, experience at the hands of landlords.
Farhan Yousaf cited cases in which landlords don't provide receipts for rent, demand cash for property damage to avoid going to court, and threaten to call police unless tenants provide copies of their social insurance numbers or passports.
Yousaf also complained that some apartments rented to students are substandard and illegal.
A landlord for the past 10 years, Schmidt owns four buildings with a total of 10 units, and rents to a variety of tenants including students.
He said he agrees that some clients—Canadian citizens as well as visitors— are at risk of being exploited and discriminated against by landlords, but his own interactions with some tenants have been "frustrating."
One of the risks, Schmidt said, is difficulty obtaining compensation for property damage.
He said the kitchen in one of his units was recently left "semi-destroyed," leaving three-quarters of the cabinet drawers missing.
"I generally approach a tenant first...to see if it can be rectified. I would then ask them to repair or for money for myself to repair the damages. The Landlord and Tenant Board is to be avoided at all costs, due to the cost of application, the long timeline to hearings, the cost of my time going there and the unknown outcome as it is based on whatever adjudicator and their biases are present," Schmidt said in a statement.
He said he understands why students would feel threatened by landlords demanding copies of personal documents.
The issue, as Schmidt explained it, is that students sometimes take over an apartment from other students "or randomly other people begin living in the apartment as well. When this happens the landlord has no information on the current tenants as they haven't gone through the application process."
He said he has also had situations in which "tenants" went through the application process, but a totally different group of people ended up occupying the property.
"It's definitely important to get tenant information before renting for potential LTB and then small claims court applications later," otherwise it becomes impossible to issue notices and start court proceedings, Schmidt said.
He added that he feels "quite vulnerable" with some students, as they sometimes leave suddenly without notifying him, giving him no recourse to claim for any damages.
"Many of these issues are found with any type of tenant," Schmidt noted.
He feels landlords need more protection under the law, such as the ability to insist on more collateral.
Schmidt believes, as well, that "LTB hearings need to be expedited and the appeals process reviewed so that it is subject to less abuse."
While there is "definitely" a need for tenant protection, he said, "it has swung too far that way," to the point that LTB hearings can take as long as eight months to complete before an eviction is obtained.
