Syphy

Chlamy

Gonny

Herpy

Crabby

I wrote about how my tenant had to leave behind his 9 cats when he was evicted and I even took a movie of it where I talk about how when people can’t take care of themselves they can’t take care of their animals or do what you want them to do. If your human father is a sasquatch hunter and you’re a cat it’s going to be a hard life. I did everything I could to get the cats new homes and I did find homes for the 2 male 8 month cats that were in the home. I’m lucky as all get out because all the cats were friendly and well socialized.

Time is a problem

I did have a few people who were interested in the kittens, but they were too young to go into a home for four more weeks and I simply couldn’t leave them in the apartment. No one wants a female cat with kittens and no one wants it’s pregnant daughter. So as time went on I realized that the left over cat from the queen’s first batch of kittens was already pregnant hopefully by a neighborhood Tom. I called all the Cat Rescues I could find in Toronto but none of them had room for another cat with kittens and another pregnant cat. The Toronto Humane Society wanted $50 per cat and Toronto Animal Services wanted $22 per cat to surrender them.

Oasis Animal Rescue

Oasis Animal Rescue ended up coming through with a home for the cats and kittens. 2 long weeks after the cats became the landlord’s responsibility I drove them out to Oshawa to their new house. It was kind of funny too because I had only one cat carrier and I brought one cardboard box to carry the other cat. I was thinking the carrier for the mom cat and 5 kittens and the cardboard box for the other cat. Well the other cat did not approve of the box as a cat carrying device. I was promptly clawed into submission. Then I put the kittens in the box and the momma cat just climbed in and I used electrical tape to shut her in.

So that worked long enough to get the cats in the car and about 5 minutes into the drive. That’s when momma cat decided that she should look around and see where she was going. I was not really happy about that and kept trying to shove her head back into the box while driving one handed. That’s about when she started getting tangled in the electrical tape that had been holding the box closed up until that point. Then I decided I should pet/hold her neck to keep her in the box while driving one handed, looking at the cat and her kittens to make sure they didn’t jump out of the box and listen to the other cat in the carrier caterwauling at full volume from the back seat of the car. Fun times. I was congratulating myself on my outstanding intellect and  fine advance planning the entire drive to Oshawa. Fortunately the momma cat is such a really nice and friendly cat that she didn’t claw me or even freak out or even struggle but just let me hold her in the box all the way to Oshawa.

As I write this I actually miss the little suckers, by the time they went to their foster home, every day I went to feed them they would all mew at me and come out to say hi and be cute. I would pat them for a while. In any case the cats are available for adoption and if you ever had a stray thought of adopting a cat then adopt these. I feel really bad for these guys, I’m not sure I can think of a more difficult start in life than being owned by a sasquatch hunter who gets evicted. They deserve the best homes that can be gotten. If you have a great home for cat or kitten >click here<

I’m really glad this is over and that a Oasis Animal Rescue was able to take the cats, they have lots of cats and other animals that need homes and of course if you want to donate to their cause feel free. When they took the cats off my hands I donated $200 but apparently $2000 is going to be needed for vet fees and spays and so on…

Green Room

I took a video of the way an apartment after eviction. In this particular case, the sheriff was not called but the tenant left of his own accord after getting the Order from the Landlord & Tenant Board. I’m no photographer or videographer but I think you can still see the main things you need to see.

There were a lot of factors involved in this situation including some alcoholism and some mental illness.  I’m not a Psychologist but there is evidence of inability to take care of basic life skills, like cleaning or working.

Social Assistance

One of the items I’ve mentioned before in regards to people who collect social assistance is the lack of resources. Unless they are working or have family to help out it’s just impossible to feed yourself. This particular individual also smoked and drank heavily. One of the escalating problems with this eviction is that 9 cats were left behind. Here’s how that happens. You get one cat and can’t afford to get it spayed. The cat using the wisdom of the ages escapes when in heat. The cat had kittens. Our friend couldn’t give the all kittens away so they grew up. There were now 4 cats, momma cat and 3 babies. The babies got older, momma falls in love again and bingo bango, we have 5 more kittens (also cute) So if our tenant can’t spay one cat and give 3 kittens away, how are they going to spay 4 and find homes for 5 more? In any case the cats are healthy and have food and are very friendly. The female kitten from the first litter is also probably pregnant.

No One Wants Your Illegitimate Cats

Through the miracle of landlord tenant law, the tenant’s cats become the landlord’s cats. Of course if you can sell them, you can keep the money to set off your expenses in storing the “property”

No one wants your cats my friends, you’ll have better luck giving away cases of syphillis than cats, especially if they are attached to kittens, or are possibly pregnant. It’s even better if the most likely suspect for your cat’s pregnancy is the cat’s brother. That’s just a whole barrel full of fun for the landlord to enjoy.

In any case I did find a home for the two male cats. The cats are friendly and well socialized and they were clearly very happy to get the hell out of that basement. Usually when a cat is adopted out, it runs under the nearest bed and hides there for a week or two. These cats were exploring and getting patted a few minutes after being in their new home. To reward me for finding their new home, one of them took a very smelly poop in the cat carrying cage on the way over. I had to open the window, it was completely vile. Don’t worry it stuck to the very back/bottom of the crate and had to be scraped out just for giggles. That’s what I like about being a property manager, my cat carer duties.

Wish Me Luck And Feel Free to Comment If You Need a Cat

Need Homes For 9 Cats!

I’ve attended my share of evictions and one of the major things I’ve learned is that they are never fun. You’ll see people who are not coping well with life. One of the fundamental truisms about life is that if you cannot take care of yourself and your basic needs, you won’t be able to take care of anyone or anything else. It makes me feel sad. I didn’t break these people and make them dysfunctional but I sure get to deal with them.

CATS FOR FREE!!! Toronto Area

The story I heard today was that the tenant’s old cat died after 20 years and the same day this other cat just appeared and laid in the same spot his old cat used to. So he took in “miracle” cat.

The cat was not spayed. The cat was naughty (not nice) and had some kittens. Next the kittens grew up and the tenant got them some homes but there was still three left when the miracle cat had another 5 kittens.  Those kittens are 3-4 weeks old.  That means a total of 9 cats. Needless to say, none are spayed or neutered.

The Eviction

So this tenant was supposed to vacate the apartment April 1st according to the order from the board but found it difficult to find a new home that would permit 9 cats. He has not found a home himself. Upon my appearance today, his family members had not come to help him out. The plan was to drop all these belongings in a donation box down the street. A bunch of phone calls had been made to Cat Rescue Organisations but no help had been given.

My Telephone Calls

I began calling as many rescues as I could find and emailing some others and so far I have no response. I am told I can bring the cats to the City of Toronto Shelter. Incidentally I also found out that they have very reasonably priced spay/neuter clinics for residents of Toronto. It costs $20 plus tax to surrender the cats at the city. It costs $50 to surrender the cats to the Toronto Humane Society. In both cases I have to make arrangement to bring the cats to their location.

Cat Homes Required

If you would like a cat/kitten just email me at rachelle@landlordrescue.ca

Hi Rachelle,
 
I’m sorry to be troubling you with a question, but I know you have the expertise.
 
One of my tenants gave me a notice to move out effective last day of February.  But now, she is changing her mind and wants to stay while I’m already processing applications for a new tenant. Do I’ve to accommodate her or can I say no to her and move on to a new applicant?
 
Your response is always helpful and appreciated.
 
Thanks a million.

Happy Friday Everyone!

If you’ve been reading this blog or even been breathing for over 13 years you may have noticed that there are two and sometimes even more sides to any scenario. Lets play out the different ways this particular situation can play out.

Case 1

The landlord tells the tenant “you have to move” and the tenant ends up finding a place and moves. The new tenant moves in. Pretty good ending.

Case 2

The landlord tells the tenant “you have to move” and the tenant ends up not finding a new spot to live. The new tenant can’t move in because your old tenant is still there. There is more drama than you can stand.  The new tenant is very unhappy because they are now parked outside your apartment with their furniture in a moving truck. The old tenant tells the new tenant that they told you two weeks ago they weren’t moving.

Case 3

The landlord tells the tenant “Sure, stay” after doing all the work to find a new tenant. The landlord tells the new applicant what happened and the new applicant goes and finds another place. The tenant stays on for a month or two and then gives notice again. The landlord finds another tenant again.

Case 4

The landlord tells the tenant “Sure, stay” after doing all the work to find a new tenant. The landlord tells the new applicant what happened and the new applicant goes and finds another place. The tenant gets that place they applied for last week and moves out. The landlord loses the new applicant and a month’s rent.

Case 5

The landlord tells the tenant “Sure, stay” after doing all the work to find a new tenant. The landlord tells the new applicant what happened and the new applicant speaks to his landlord and extends their stay until your tenant can find another place.

WWRD – What Would Rachelle Do?

The first step is to speak to the tenant, and determine why they are not moving. Did their circumstances change? Are they unable to find a place? Did their plans fall through?

Your next step is to collect the rent for February toute suite so that they can’t find that apartment and move out. Landlords – this is just a shit sandwich, there’s no good way to deal with this. If you rent out the place you run the risk of having a horrible situation and if you don’t rent out the place you lose a month’s rent.

The lesson here is that you, the landlord, are not in charge of every situation and that you do everything you can to make things go smoothly, but at the end of the day, life happens.

Also… Drinking. lots and lots of Drinking.

One of the problems I have dealt with in regards to tenants is the huge piles of stuff they leave behind especially when they are being evicted. Other times you may find that you go to an apartment and the tenants have skipped. (Skipped means vacating the apartment before the end of the lease.) When people move they often leave stuff behind and in some cases you may in the eviction process so you may not be sure if they are coming back for their left behind stuff.

Obviously you will try to contact the tenant but in many cases the tenant can’t afford the apartment or got a job transfer or broke up with their roommate and that’s why they performed a midnight move in the first place. They don’t want to talk to you and are avoiding you.

If the tenants are not behind in their rent they cannot be deemed to have abandoned the apartment

Gold & Jewels

Tenants can sue you at the Landlord & Tenant Board for up to one year after vacating. When you discover that that their apartment has been abandoned and throw out what is obviously complete junk, they can claim that it was valuable possessions. For that reason you can apply to the board to have them declare the apartment abandoned. I have never once done so because leaving apartments empty while waiting for a court date and the adjudicator is stupid, expensive and would get me fired as a property manager.

However, the tenants may come back and claim that you the landlord stole their gold & jewels which were carefully concealed in those black plastic garbage bags and under the dirty clothes in the closet with the floor dust.

Your job is to prevent from winning. Anyone can sue you…it’s the winning that’s important.

The Landlord  & Tenant Board Guidelines On Abandonment

Direct Form the Landlord & Tenant Board Site with my notes in bold.

INTERPRETATION GUIDELINE # 4

Interpretation Guidelines are intended to assist the parties in understanding the Board’s usual interpretation of the law, to provide guidance to Members and promote consistency in decision-making.  However, a Member is not required to follow a Guideline and may make a different decision depending on the facts of the case.

Section 79 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the “RTA”) states:

If a landlord believes that a tenant has abandoned a rental unit, the landlord may apply to the Board for an order terminating the tenancy.

Although section 79 explains how the landlord may receive an order terminating the tenancy in cases where the tenant has abandoned the unit, it is not mandatory for this type of order to be issued for the landlord to treat the unit as abandoned.  However, there is a substantial risk in re-renting the unit without such an order unless it is clear that the tenant has vacated and does not intend to continue the tenancy. In my opinion the risk is not substantial. In most cases the rent lost waiting around for the Board to issue an order would be greater than any potential losses stemming from the tenant suing me

This Guideline is intended to provide guidance in determining if the unit has been abandoned.

When May the Unit be Considered to be Abandoned?

Abandonment is a unilateral act by the tenant to relinquish their tenancy and give up possession of the rental unit without properly giving notice of the termination to the landlord.  If the landlord is not sure whether or not a rental unit has been abandoned, they may file an application for determination of this issue with the Board; however, it should be noted the Board has no jurisdiction to issue an order for rent or compensation if a tenant is no longer in possession of the rental unit (see section 87).  In this case, the landlord may seek a remedy by applying to Court.

Section 2(3) of the RTA provides that a rental unit is not considered abandoned where the tenant is not in arrears of rent.  Even if there is evidence of abandonment, such as the furniture being removed, the landlord cannot treat the unit as abandoned before the end of the rental period if the rent is fully paid.
Evidence of Abandonment -Read This

If there is rent due, there must still be substantial evidence of abandonment before the landlord can re-rent the unit or deal with the tenant’s property that is remaining in the unit. There are circumstances where the evidence is clear.  For example, the tenant may tell the landlord or the superintendent that they are moving out.  The tenant may be seen in the process of moving out of the building, and later the door of the unit is found open, showing that all furniture and personal effects were removed. Provided there is no evidence to the contrary, this evidence would support a finding that the tenant has abandoned the rental unit.

The evidence may also be cumulative; there may be several indications that the tenant has left the unit.  For example, a neighbour has reported that they saw the tenant moving and the tenant advised the landlord that they intended to leave, or the tenant was known to have accepted a job in another city and the mail has not been collected for a number of weeks.  In such circumstances, the landlord may be justified in considering the unit to be abandoned.

The landlord should make reasonable efforts to contact the tenant to determine if they have left the unit (for example, by writing the tenant or calling them at different times each day).  The landlord should give the tenant a reason to reply to a letter and should keep notes of the times and dates that they telephoned.  The failure of the tenant to respond to the letters and telephone calls should be consistent with the abandonment of a unit and not with a tenant who is on vacation or out of town on business.

If the unit has been abandoned, in accordance with subsection 42(1), the landlord may dispose of any of the tenant’s property found in the unit provided that one of the following conditions is met:

1.    The landlord applied to the Board and obtained an order terminating the tenancy based on the abandonment of the rental unit.

OR

2.    The landlord gave a notice to the tenant and to the Board stating that the landlord intends to dispose of the property if the tenant does not claim the property within 30 days of the notice being given.

If either of these conditions has been met, the landlord may immediately dispose of anything unsafe or unhygienic and, after 30 days following the issuance of the order or the giving of the notice, may dispose of any other tenant belongings.  If a tenant does claim the belongings within the 30 day period, they must pay the landlord any arrears of rent and any reasonable costs of moving, storing and securing the property.

If the landlord sells the property, the tenant has 6 months – from the date of the order or from the date the landlord gave notice of their intention to dispose of the property – to claim the proceeds of the sale.  The landlord is allowed to deduct from the proceeds of the sale any arrears of rent and any reasonable costs incurred in the moving, storing, securing or selling of the property.
Application to Determine if the Tenant has Abandoned the Unit

If the landlord applies to the Board under section 79, the application must be served on the tenant in accordance with section 191. Can someone explain to me how if the tenant has disappeared we can serve him/her with a notice?

In Real Life – How It Works

Usually when tenants are abandoning a unit, you know why they are leaving, usually they owe rent. When in a building, when I deliver N-4′s I check for old pizza flyers and evidence of other handouts, that have not been picked up. This means that people have not opened the door in many days. If I saw that there was no entry I would give 24 hour notice to check what the state of the apartment is and if the tenants are still there.

If it’s a house, you might be able to peek in the windows to see if they still have stuff in there.

I will also put a piece of scotch tape between the door and the frame below eye level to see if the door gets opened. (The tape breaks).

Abandonment

So…you go into the place and most or part of the stuff is gone. It’s hard to tell if they are done or not because sometimes they will leave lots of stuff behind. This is what I do…

1. Try to contact them – feel free to dig up their application and call their references and ask them to get them to call you if they won’t answer their own phone. Send texts and emails as well. KEEP RECORDS
2. Take pictures and videos of the “valuables”
3. Dispose of anything that is stinking up the fridge or the apartment.
4. Dispose of anything that is clearly garbage
5. Anything that would be termed “salable” feel free to sell. Rarely does this ever happen.
6. Depending on the items – keep for 30 days.

I know one of the big indicators for the Landlord & Tenant Board is the bed. If there are no beds in the unit then chances are they are gone.

It will generally take a few days for you to sort out if they have or have not gone depending on the amount of junk they have left you with. Sometimes there are just garbage bags behind, I take pictures with my phone and that’s it I’m finished. Other times there really is a dilemma. I’ve seen apartments that were abandoned with all the person’s possessions. In those cases I’ll certainly make a much greater effort to track them down. Most of the skips I’ve found when I am delivering the Notice Of Hearing for Non Payment Of Rent. In fact in a building it’s good practice to go check to see if the tenants have left before sending the file to the paralegal for a hearing.

Have a Great Day!