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A Landlords Nightmare Before Christmas
I wrote on another platform early in the pandemic supporting the idea of Eviction Moratoriums, but I also cautioned that the fallout would be substantial.
In the past few weeks I have read multiple stories form many jurisdictions in North America about Landlords not being able to get tenants out. As you may well be aware, the process of removing a tenant called Eviction is a courts-based process, meaning that you must get an order of possession or similar grant from the court in your jurisdiction to legally have the tenant removed.
In the province of Ontario, post Covid lock-downs and eviction moratoriums, the time to get a court date is something like 8-months in the cue right now now. Even in my province it’s about 7 to 8 weeks in the larger cities. The result in Ontario is that you can have a tenant occupying your property, not paying rent, with no legal way of removal for up to a year. Now the courts are going to award you the rent that you are due, but we all know collecting it is another storey. My question is how long can most small landlords carry this,,, the simple truth is most can’t. Landlords will lose there properties if they don’t have the cash-flow to cover the costs and mortgage payments, and foreclosure on the landlords property is a…
