Elsie has a GoFundMe. Please take a look and offer what you can to help in her struggle.
Over the last 24 hours, our reporting on Elsie Kalu’s struggles with an abusive, non-paying tenant and their stonewalling representative has gone viral after a CBC story. With Elsie facing homelessness and her autistic daughter struggling to improve, tenants continue to barricade themselves in the home while illegally withholding rent. This draconian tactic is supported by their lawyer while the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) lumbers along fighting a backlog that has now become multiple times longer than the initial shutdown that caused it.
Lawyer for Elsie’s tenant, Michael Thiele, offered some shocking responses when CBC asked why the tenant blocked access to Kalu’s appraisers. When asked why a legal entry was denied, Thiele responded:
“The rights of entry are stipulated in the Residential Tenancies Act. This is not one of them,” Thiele wrote. “Why should a tenant allow a landlord to enter a property to snoop around? This is the tenant’s home and arguing that the tenant should open her door to the whims of the landlord disregards the fact that a person has the right to privacy in their home. The tenant doesn’t need a reason to refuse. The landlord needs a legal reason to enter — the difference is significant.”
This is incorrect at worst and misinformed at best. A bullying tactic. The Residential Tenancies Act is very clear that a landlord can have an appraiser enter the unit. As a result of this refusal, Kalu faced significant hardship and was forced to buy her home at a much higher interest rate. This lawyer’s approach is laid bare for all to see in the CBC article; something that should concern all tenants and landlords. If professionals can’t be bothered to understand basic facts, are LTB delays just allowing lawyers like this to proliferate?
This is a cruel and toxic cycle that continues with Kalu. Not only do her unseen tenants withhold rent, but she’s forced to rent a unit and then struggles to pay that. With an N4 eviction form filed against her, the LTB’s backlogs mount and good housing is mired in conflict. It’s this preventable, toxic environment that exacerbates the housing crisis, wastes taxpayer money and builds misery on misery. This then means Kalu’s landlord must struggle to make ends meet, and the cycle continues. Thankfully, Elsie has been able to work with her landlord and has caught up on rent for now.
Later yesterday, Mark Towhey at NewsTalk 1010 picked up the story for his “stupid” segment. He made it clear “The government established Landlord Tenant Board is incompetent.” While talking to Towhey, Elsie offered a profound, yet morbid plea to the apathetic and listless LTB: “What would make my case urgent enough? Is it my daughters corpse?”
You can hear the interview here in its entirety:
Word is that NewsTalk radio has the ear of many in political power. We have to keep up this pressure and get these stories out there. They need to know that this broken tribunal needs to be fixed now with real solutions like dual in-person and Zoom hearings. Thus far, they’ve spent too much money on an ill-advised software system upgrade that has only slowed processing. The staff of “36 full-time and 47 part-time adjudicators” as reported by the CBC is shocking as much as it’s dismaying. This is the number of people tasked with preventing a catastrophe for Elsie? This is all we have to adjudicate disputes for the whole of Ontario while no other options exist for landlords?
Reactions to the story online were swift to condemn the LTB’s inaction. Many offered options about the nature of Elsie home purchase. Others, like @LandlordRescue on Twitter offered an assessment of bad the LTB is, saying it’s “The worst in 30 years.”
On social networks, the sentiment from many was of frustration and anger. Anna MacLeod sums up this reaction in a Facebook comment:
On November 11th, the CBC ran a follow-up story that Elsie had secured a December 12th “expedited” hearing after 7 months. The story look at how the LTB rejected her request a number of times only to finally approve it.
As a result of the coverage, Elsie’s GoFundMe has grown steadily – to the tune of $13,810.00 at the time of publication. If you can, please help. We’re fighting for Elsie and all landlords victimized by LTB delays and those that continue to profit off vulnerable landlords. We were with Elsie since day one and do our work at no cost to her.
