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Advocacy
Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
Page
Contents:
Media
Release: Ombudsman Asked To Investigate Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal
Background
& Quick Facts - Media Conference June 20, 2002
Table
of Contents of SUBMISSION TO THE OMBUDSMAN ONTARIO Concerning
the Failure of the Tenant Protection Act and the Rules and Procedures
of the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal to meet Ombudsman Fairness
Standards
Download
the SUBMISSION
TO THE OMBUDSMAN ONTARIO
MEDIA
ADVISORY
- for immediate release -
OMBUDSMAN
ASKED TO INVESTIGATE ONTARIO RENTAL HOUSING TRIBUNAL
TORONTO - On
Thursday June 20th at 1:00 p.m. in the Queen's Park Media Studio,
a detailed submission to the Ontario Ombudsman will be released
to the media. The Ombudsman is being asked to undertake an investigation
of the practices of the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal pursuant
to the Tenant Protection Act.
"In its
drive for efficiency, the government has removed a key principle
of our justice system - the right to be heard. Granting eviction
applications without a hearing may be efficient, but it is costing
tenants their homes unnecessarily," says Kathy Laird, Legal
Director at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO). "At
every turn, the Tenant Protection Act and the procedures of the
Housing Tribunal do not meet the Fairness Standards of the Ombudsman."
Ms Laird is
an experienced housing and human rights lawyer, mediator and adjudicator.
She was for many years a Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Board of
Inquiry and has served as Counsel to the Chair of the Human Rights
Board. She has played a leading role in the tribunal sector and
has trained provincial adjudicators at various Ontario tribunals.
"Government
agencies are mandated to perform within a standard of fairness.
In this legislation, the government has traded fairness for expediency,"
says Ms Laird.
The Ombudsman
is empowered to investigate the practices of provincial government
organizations and to make recommendations where an "act or
omission… appears to have been … unreasonable, unjust,
oppressive or improperly discriminatory."
Ms Laird will
be joined by ACTO Staff Lawyer Toby Young and Margaret Hefferon,
a retired Public Health nurse with the Caring Alliance.
-30-
For more information:
Jennifer Ramsay, Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
416-597-5855 x5168
MEDIA
CONFERENCE JUNE 20, 2002
BACKGROUND
QUICK
FACTS
| Tenant
Protection Act proclaimed in effect |
June
17, 1998 |
| Number
of days by which a tenant must file a written response to an
eviction application |
5
or
a "default order" will be issued |
| Percentage
of tenant households in Ontario |
40%
1 |
| Number
of applications filed under Landlord and Tenant Act (primarily
for eviction) in Ontario in 1997 |
49,679
2 |
| Number
of all landlord and tenant applications filed at ORHT in 2001
|
72,196
3 |
| Eviction
applications filed at the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal in
2001 |
60,853
4 |
| Number
of calendar days by which a tenant must file a written response
to an eviction application or a "default order" will
be issued |
5
days
5 |
Percentage
of eviction applications that are granted with no hearing
(June 17, 1998 to December 31, 2001) |
57%
6 |
| Number
of landlord applications resolved by default order (2001) |
34,798
7 |
| Number
of tenant applications resolved by default order (2001) i.e.
there is no hearing |
58
8 |
| Percentage
of eviction orders for arrears of less than $652 (Ontario, excluding
GTA, in 2001) |
50%
9 |
Footnotes:
1.
December 2001 FACT SHEET - Income and Wealth of Owners and Renters
in Ontario - supplement to Hulchanski, David. A Tale of Two Canadas:
Homeowners Getting Richer, Renters Getting Poorer. Research Bulletin
#2, Centre for Urban and Community Studies. August, 2001
2. Lapointe, Linda. Options for Eviction
Prevention, November 1998. Background report for the City of Toronto
Mayor's Homelessness Action Task Force.
3. Ibid.
4. Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal Workload
Report - Province - Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2001
5. Subsection 177 (2)(a) of Tenant Protection
Act
6. Calculated from Ontario Rental Housing
Tribunal Workload Report - Province - from Jun. 17, 1998 to Dec.
31, 2001
7. Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal Workload
Report - Province - Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2001
8. Ibid.
9. See 2001 Toronto Report Card on Homelessness,
page 15, where the figure of $800 is given as the median for arrears
for the City of Toronto for 2000. The City of Toronto, through its
Social Policy and Research Unit, has done extensive analysis of
ORHT orders, both default and hearing orders. For 2001, this analysis
demonstrates that the median amount of arrears in eviction orders
is $813 in Toronto; $745 in Greater Toronto Area, excluding Toronto;
and $652 for the rest of the province.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS OF SUBMISSION TO THE OMBUDSMAN ONTARIO
INTRODUCTION
page 1
WHO WE ARE
page 1
KEY ISSUES
Failure to Meet Fairness Standards
in Eviction Proceedings page 2
Failure to Meet
Fairness Standards in Procedure
for Restoring Wrongfully Evicted Tenant to Possession page 3
Rent Increases
Based on One-Time Increases
in Utility Costs page 3
BACKGROUND
The Legislation
and the Tribunal page 4
The Context:
The Affordable Housing Market
and the Tenant Population page 5
AREAS FOR
INVESTIGATION BY OMBUDSMAN
I First
Area for Investigation: The Eviction Process page 9
How Many Eviction
Applications are Taken to ORHT? Page 9
How Eviction Applications are Resolved: Default Orders page 9
Setting Aside
a Default Eviction Order page 10
What Happens
When a Tenant Files a Written Dispute? Page 11
How Many Applications
are Resolved through Mediation? Page 12
What are the Outcomes in Eviction Applications? Page 12
What are the
Fairness Issues Behind the Eviction Application Statistics? Page
13
i) Disproportional
Impact on Tenants page 14
ii) Efficiency Valued over Accessibility and Fairness page 16
iii) No Opportunity to Present Tenant Side of Dispute page 18
iv) Notice of Hearing Not Clear and Understandable page 20
v) Tribunal Not Required to Deliver Notice of Hearing page 21
vi) Five Day Dispute Period is Inadequate page 23
vii) No Opportunity for Mediation in Default Process page 24
viii) Mediation Process Not Designed to Facilitate Fair Settlements
page 26
ix) No Public Information Materials to Assist Tenants page 28
x) Tribunal Decisions Not Available page 31
xi) Failure to Appropriately Exercise Discretion page 34
xii)Tribunal Application Fees Create Barriers to Justice page 36
II
Second Issue for Investigation: The Process for Restoring a
Wrongfully Evicted Tenant to Possession page 38
III Third
Issue for Investigation: Rent Increases Based on One-Time Increases
in Utility Costs page 41
i) Guideline Rent Increases page 42
ii) Above-Guideline Rent Increases page 42
iii) The 50 Panorama Court Example page 44
iv) Addressing the Unreasonable Result page 46
WHAT CHANGES
CAN BE MADE WITHOUT LEGISLATION
1. New Notice
of Eviction Application page 47
2. Notice of Eviction Application Mailed
to Tenant Respondents page 48
3. New Informational Materials for Tenant Parties page 48
4. Reduction in Application Fees page 48
5. Better Training for Adjudicators in Discretionary Relief page
48
6. Establish a Full Database of ORHT Decisions page 49
7. Establish a Transparent and Accessible Process
for Tenants Wrongfully Locked Out of Housing page 49
8. Offer Mediation in Advance of Hearing Date
in Disputed Eviction Applications page 49
WHAT CHANGES
REQUIRE LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS?
9. Removal of
Default Eviction Process page 50
10. No Requirement to File a Written Dispute page 50
11. Amend Provision for Discretionary Refusal to Evict
to Make Consideration Mandatory page 50
12. Delineate Factors to be Considered
in Exercising Discretion page 50
13. Repeal Provision Allowing Above-Guideline Rent Increases
for the Cost of Utilities page 51
14. Introduce a Mechanism to Roll Back Rents
When Costs are No Longer Borne page 51
WHAT WE ARE
LOOKING FOR FROM THE OMBUDSMAN page 51
CONCLUSION
page 52
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TO THE OMBUDSMAN ONTARIO Concerning the Failure of the Tenant Protection
Act and the Rules and Procedures of the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal
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