SOLO Inc. has retained Will Davidson LLP to provide strategic assistance and to deliver a notice letter to The Province of Ontario pertaining to compensation for the financial losses of small residential landlords and to make immediate changes to the RTA failing which legal action will be contemplated to provide fairness to landlords. Fundraising for the legal costs begins now.
SOLO Landlords have suffered immense and unpublicized losses due to the Government’s unilateral decision to close the LTB and clog the redress process by banning evictions. All this unilaterally decided by the Government without any compensation to Landlords.
The Government has repeatedly said “We remain committed to providing fair, effective and timely access to justice”. For Small Landlords, it hasn’t been fair, it hasn’t been effective and there certainly hasn’t been timely access to justice.
SOLO Members are seeking restitution and compensation for millions in rental losses due to no fault of their own retroactive to March 1, 2020. Unlike big Corporate Landlords, Small Landlords often get into the housing rental market to supplement their income by renting out space in their own home, or purchase a first home that provides rental accommodation for tenants to live in for a period of time, that they plan to eventually live in or build a future for themselves that will provide an income in their senior years. Some Small Landlords provide housing to multiple residents. According to REIN, CMHC and the Oliferous Group, small landlords provide 49% of the rental stock.
Contract law is not being adhered to and this reflects a direct bias to us. Additionally, we are not afforded the same legal rights as other contract holders, access to justice or access to the criminal laws. No other category is denied these rights. No person can enter a grocery store, steal thousands of dollars in food and avoid being arrested on the spot.
Once COVID hit and the Provincial Government placed a moratorium on evictions, Small Landlords faced extreme financial hardship as tenants stopped paying rent. The Government released a financial package for every group impacted by the pandemic: commercial landlords, students, big corporations, airlines, NGOs, unemployed, farmers, non profits, artists, civil servants etc.