Why is the LTB known as the eviction factory?
In Ontario, there is no rent control on vacant units. This is sometimes referred to as vacancy decontrol. Vacancy decontrol creates a financial incentive for landlords to evict sitting tenants living in rent-controlled units whose rents can only be raised once each year and by no more than the government rent guideline which is based on the rate of inflation. Landlords increase their profits with what they call “unit turns”—that is, the removal of sitting tenants from their homes. In recent years skyrocketing rents, record low vacancy rates, and increasing control of the rental housing market by financialized landlords has led to the highest rates of eviction since the Great Recession of 2008.
The LTB’s procedures directly support landlords to displace tenants, even in the midst of a public-health crisis. For starters, it has been reported that some tenants have had their entire hearing conducted in a matter of minutes, and have been reprimanded by adjudicators at the LTB for trying to demand more time to defend their homes—all done under the reasoning of ‘efficiency.’
In 1998, the Ontario government under Mike Harris passed the Tenant Protection Act, which introduced vacancy decontrol, Above Guideline Rent Increases, and created the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal, as the LTB was first called.
Vacancy decontrol gives landlords a financial incentive to evict current tenants. Once a unit becomes vacant, there is no rent control on that unit and landlords can raise the rent by any amount. The Above Guideline Increase (AGI) allow landlords to pass costs of capital expenditures, increased municipal taxes and security costs onto tenants. Landlord applications for AGIs are rubber-stamped by the LTB, unless challenged by organized tenants. AGIs were the reasons for successful rent strikes in Toronto in summer 2017 and early 2018.
Evicted in minutes
Video and teleconference hearings also favour landlords who often have resources to hire outside representation like paralegals and lawyers, and who have ready access to the Internet, phone lines and the equipment needed for both, to properly participate in hearings. For tenants who do not have this access, or who for medical reasons would require an in-person hearing, the LTB has consistently dismissed such concerns as ‘stalling’ and have proceeded to order an eviction nonetheless.
Rules of evidence at the LTB have also changed in such a way to favour landlords. As discussed above, the LTB has also made a new rule requiring parties to send all their evidence electronically to each other and to the LTB five days before the hearing. This places an unnecessary and oftentimes insurmountable burden on tenants who do not have access to such technology, or are unfamiliar with how to use it.
These changes, when coupled with the recent changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, under Bill 184, have resulted in tenants losing their ability to participate fully in their hearings, let alone have an opportunity to defend against eviction. The landlord lobby, LTB adjudicators and politicians, in enacting these changes, have made it clear the LTB was setup to serve the needs of landlords in maximizing their profits and turning homes into commodities.
Standard Orders and Section 78
Most of the orders issued by the LTB are either Standard orders or Section 78 orders. Both of these are considered eviction orders because if tenants fail to meet the conditions of these orders, they can be evicted without another hearing. The landlord simply files another application with the LTB stating the tenant did not meet the conditions of the order, and the LTB will automatically issue an immediate eviction order, allowing the landlord to call the sheriff to remove the tenant from their home.
Standard orders mean tenants have 11 days to pay back all arrears. If the tenant doesn’t pay back every last penny of their arrears (partial payment doesn’t hold any weight), the landlord can immediately file with the sheriff.
Section 78 orders refer to Section 78 of the Residential Tenancies Act which states if a tenant fails to meet the conditions of the repayment plan presented by the LTB, for example if they are a day late or dollar short on rent even once during that year, the landlord can file for eviction without a hearing.