Windsor landlord says tenants who haven't paid 16 months of rent have now paused eviction order
CBC
After more than 16 months of his tenants not paying rent, Michael Portman was hoping the problem had been solved when the provincial board that oversees rental issues sided in his favour and served the tenants an eviction notice.
But, the Windsor, Ont., landlord was wrong.
Days before the tenants would have been forced to leave the home, Portman says they successfully filed for a stay of the eviction, which puts the case on hold temporarily.
CBC News first spoke with Portman in March when he had already been waiting several months to have his case heard at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). After the LTB sided in his favour, Portman was cautious, as his lawyer told him that because the tenants weren't at the September hearing, they would likely try to delay the eviction.
When he was notified that this process wasn't over, he says he "couldn't even feel angry."
"I was just numb and it wasn't a matter of shock, because I knew that this could happen, it was just, once again, the system fails to do its job," he said.
A stay is typically granted because a person says they were never notified of a hearing that led to the eviction or that there was an error in the law that led to the eviction decision.
CBC News knocked on the tenants' unit and left a note — one of the tenants responded and did not want to comment.
WATCH:
While Portman understands that everyone deserves the right to a fair process, he says the lack of accountability and timeliness has allowed his situation to drag on for months.
And in doing so, it's left him on the hook for more than $28,000 in rent, plus legal fees.
Portman has been renting out the second unit of his side-by-side duplex for several years, and specifically started renting to his current tenants in 2021.
But shortly into their tenancy, he says they stopped paying rent.
On Oct. 17, the tenants were ordered to either pay Portman the amount of rent owed to date and continue living there or pay the rent owed and move out by the end of the month, according to documents from the LTB that Portman shared with CBC News.
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