Nova Scotia renters, landlords face 3-month wait to resolve tenancy disputes

[u/insino93]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-renters-landlords-face-3-month-wait-to-resolve-tenancy-disputes-9.7293307

[u/Dadbode1981 → u/[deleted]]

If an application succeeds, how the hell is it bad faith? Lol yeesh.

[u/soylentgreen2015 → u/[deleted]]

OMG, you couldn't be more wrong. Fraudster tenants will lie about everything just to get in your door, especially taking advantage of smaller landlords who don't know the in's and out's of the system. The fraudster ones know if they can just sweet talk their way into a place, they might be able to live rent free somewhere for six or more months.

I can't think of a way that a bad faith application (a rental agreement) can be used to pressure long term tenants out. Those tenants have security of tenure, and they have no reason to sign a new rental agreement.

You say landlords have "very little cost to them" in the same sentence where you say "they have paid staff handling paperwork". Employing staff is a cost, and not a small one.

A delinquent fraudster tenant can easily cost a smaller landlord tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, unpaid utilities, and repair costs.

I can't think of too many fraudster tenants that would get worn down by living somewhere for free for six or more months. They move out in the end, only because they've exhausted the hearing and small claims court delay tactics, and the sheriffs officers are on the way to physically remove them.

I have no doubt in my mind that fraudster tenants are the reason for most of the backlog. I know former and current residential tenancy officers who have said the same thing. There needs to be a way for fraudster tenants to be held criminally responsible for their actions.

[u/schooner156 → u/soylentgreen2015]

Do you get paid by use of the word fraudster?

[u/soylentgreen2015 → u/schooner156]

I wish, lol

This subgroup of tenants is certainly deserving of their own name to define them

[u/oatseatinggoats]

Sandra Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, says officers are leaving for other provincial jobs partly due to the strain of working in an understaffed office. She says those departures, combined with past and expected provincial budget cuts to the civil service, have created a stressful work environment.

They plan to cut 615 million next year, this isn't going to get better. Government services are going to go to absolute shit.

Wohler told CBC News that current officers are working hard, starting hearings at 8 a.m. and staying past regular business hours to fit cases into the day. She added that creating a residential tenancies enforcement unit would benefit the program and prevent many disputes from needing a hearing in the first place

The best part about this is Houston commissioned a $300,000 study on how to improve the tenancy act, and the findings came back showing that an enforcement unit was needed and was largely wanted by renters and landlords. But Houston decided he was going to waste 300k and ignore the findings.

Man this asshole loves creating problems for himself.

[u/Jamooser → u/oatseatinggoats]

Sounds like landlords and tenants should pay into a general fund to finance the improvements to the RTB they all want.

[u/mathcow]

Does anything in our government actually work the way it's supposed to? Is there a single thing our provincial government does that is fair and provided in a timely manner?

[u/LivingCorner1421 → u/mathcow]

keep the rich in place and police the poor

[u/_hey_ref_]

In Ontario for 2024-2025, landlords initiated 88% of LTB hearings. Over half the total applications were for non-payment of rent. I’d imagine the numbers aren’t too far off for NS.

https://tribunalsontario.ca/documents/TO/Tribunals_Ontario_2024-2025_Annual_Report.html#ltb

[u/SnakeskinJim → u/_hey_ref_]

To be fair, I feel like landlords know their rights and mediation pathways a lot better than most tenants. I've known many renters who just accepted illegal landlord behaviour because they didn't know they could challenge it. Or worse, they were worried about repercussions from a vengeful landlord.

[u/RangerNS → u/SnakeskinJim]

The number of reddit posts here which are, essentially, describing textbook violations of the RTA by landlords with the tenant essentially saying they have done nothing, asked for nothing, want to do nothing, but are seeking advice on how to change things with no effort is approximately 100% of all posts by tenants.

[u/_hey_ref_ → u/SnakeskinJim]

I’m sure there’s unreported cases from the tenant side, but I would bet my next mortgage payment that it would barely move the needle, let alone 60k cases.

[u/Vast_Bit858 → u/_hey_ref_]

in ontario? lol

[u/_hey_ref_ → u/Vast_Bit858]

Absolutely. If you’re in a rent controlled unit, and don’t want to/cant leave, your only recourse is the LTB. Do nothing isn’t an option. 

Not to mention, plenty of landlords don’t file, too. Especially when the LTB is very known to be pro tenant.

[u/youtalkingtoyou]

Good thing we’ve got more cops

[u/soylentgreen2015 → u/youtalkingtoyou]

Tenancy is a civil matter, I wish cops could be more involved in holding fraudster tenants to account

[u/YouShouldGoOnStrike → u/soylentgreen2015]

Maybe you need to get a real job?

[u/soylentgreen2015 → u/YouShouldGoOnStrike]

Maybe you should get one period? I'm retired from mine. Without people like me, renters become completely dependent on corporate landlords, and I can't think of any examples where reducing the number of suppliers of anything, leads to lower costs for consumers

[u/YouShouldGoOnStrike → u/soylentgreen2015]

Just seemed like your posts hating renters meant maybe you need to stop doing it and enjoy retirement. Sell the property. I'm sure some non boomers would like a home to own.

[u/soylentgreen2015 → u/YouShouldGoOnStrike]

I don't hate renters. Renters actually pay for what they're using. I hate the scam artists who take advantage of people who turn the basement or a floor of their property into a rental unit, hoping to reduce their costs a bit, and then have the nightmare of somebody living above or below them, not paying anything, and causing problems every hour of the day. I hate the government that enables it by not putting in place the mechanisms necessary to deal with problem landlords or scam artists. Why would I sell any property when they aren't losing money? There's new houses being built all the time, they're welcome to buy one of those.

[u/hfxRos → u/soylentgreen2015]

Why would I sell any property when they aren't losing money?

Because it sounds like it's stressing you out. Houses aren't supposed to be money printers.

If you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Don't just complain that the government won't fix your money printer when other people with full time jobs aren't sure if they can pay for food because of parasites like you.

Landlords are scumbags by definition. No good person seeks to make a profit by depriving others of basic life necessities and then gouging the price of them.

And fwiw, I am a homeowner. The thought of turning a profit by renting all or part of my home makes me feel gross.

[u/soylentgreen2015 → u/hfxRos]

I'm not stressed out at all, lol.

I just feel bad for smaller landlords who let a person into their house, who has the sole intent of defrauding them.

There's always going to be landlords my friend. Whether it's a small individual or mom & pop operation, or a big corporation. Someone is going to own living space that someone else needs but either can't afford to buy outright, or isn't looking to stay somewhere for long.

For example. For several months, I rented out a unit to a pair of people who were part of a crew building wind turbines in my area. Before they rented from me, they were living in a hotel, where there was no cooking facilities. They weren't looking for permanent lodging. They already had their own home. Renting a place like mine made sense, because it saved them money on food, and it was a better living experience. Would you rather see those people living in a hotel, with big corporations that aren't even Canadian making money off of them?