Mom, daughter face homelessness after buying home and tenant refuses to leave
CBC
An Ottawa homeowner says she and her daughter could soon be homeless because they can't move into the townhouse she bought in April due to a tenant who refuses to leave — and she blames the Ontario government for failing her family.
Elsie Kalu says the ordeal led to her losing her job, plus she is now at risk of getting kicked out of her rental and faces threats of foreclosure — losing her property to the mortgage lender. She is begging Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to grant her a hearing so she can state her case to evict her tenant and finally move into the home she bought.
"Why would the government allow another person to take everything from one person? It's like robbing the poor to pay the poor," said Kalu, standing outside of the home she hasn't entered since buying it.
"It can't be right. I cannot provide social services for another citizen. I'm not rich enough."
Kalu became a small landlord when she purchased a townhome in the city's eastern suburb of Orléans.
Small landlords — those who typically own just one or two rental units — can become homeless when a tenant refuses to pay rent and leave a space the landlord needs for their own accommodations.
CBC previously spoke to landlords who were homeless due to major delays in getting a hearing and eviction order from the LTB — the body that makes decisions for disputes between landlords and tenants.
Kalu moved across the river from Gatineau, Que., to Ottawa in 2021 to access better health-care services for her daughter, who has autism.
She bought the townhome site unseen during the pandemic real estate boom through a real estate wholesaler, which buys and sells off-market homes at below-market value, and avoids realtor fees — a risky move, she acknowledged in hindsight.
It was only after signing the purchase agreement in January, Kalu said, when she found out she had an unco-operative tenant and a male occupant.
Kalu closed on the home in April but says she's received no rent so far, and has started a file with the LTB about this.
CBC has tried to contact the two occupants.
When a reporter knocked on their door, which was barricaded from inside with plastic boxes, they did not answer and shut their curtain as music blared from inside the home.
A lawyer representing them said Kalu should go through the LTB "if she believes that she is actually owed rent."
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