Toronto Landlords – Is It Time the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Creates a Registry of Bad Tenants in Ontario?
A lot of Toronto landlords are talking about the latest instalment of the excellent Star investigative series on trouble tenants in Ontario.
It’s truly excellent work by investigative reporter Emily Mathieu and has a lot of residential property owners check out The Star website every day looking for Mathieu’s articles on trouble tenants.
Experienced landlords know that the vast majority of tenants are decent people who follow the rules. We also know they are looking for professional landlords owning safe and well-maintained rentals at affordable rates. Make sure you are this type of landlord and your chances of success rise fast.
Of course, there are also renters out there who know how to manipulate the Residential Tenancies Act and abuse the process at the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board.
These tenants have politicians and many Ontario Landlords it would be helpful if there was a ‘bad tenant list’ as they need a bad tenant registry to counter bad tenants and remain as landlords.
Bad Tenant Gets House Arrest (For Fraud, Forgery, Writing Bad Cheques)
One of the investigative reports was on Adam Buttigieg. He’s a tenant who admitted to manipulating the system and ripping of small landlords (and others). He even stated there should have been a “red flag” warning for landlords not to rent to him.
In July he plead guilty to ten of the sixty-six charges against him and received a twelve month conditional sentence along with twelve months of probation.
Is It Time For the Creation of a Bad Tenant Registry?
The constant stories of bad tenants exploiting the system at the Toronto Star and at the Ontario Landlords Association have led some to call for the creation of a bad tenant registry.
This includes the housing critic of the Progressive Conservative party.
The housing critic is Ernie Hardeman and he called for the provincial government to being looking into a registry of both bad landlords and bad tenants ought to be created to protect the public.
He said this type of registry could make sure the landlord would be able to protect themselves against the worst bad tenant abusers of the system.
Many Ontario landlords agree we need more protection against bad tenants
Many landlords are saying we need a bad tenant registry in Ontario because bad tenants are leading to tremendous financial losses for small landlords and stopping a lot of good people from investing in Ontario rental property.
How Can You Avoid Renting to Bad Tenants?
We believe a bad tenant registry would be very helpful.
The key is to screen tenants carefully. For example check employment, social media, and check references carefully.
It’s also vitally important you run a credit check on your prospective tenants.
A tenant credit check is similar to a ‘bad tenant registry’ because you can get access to their past addresses and contact former landlords.
You also get a credit score which is an evaluation of the tenant’s past level of financial responsibility. Even Alberta landlords are regularly running credit checks to ensure they know who they are renting to.
Toronto Landlords – Is it time for a bad tenant list? Do you want the government to create a bad tenant registry?
It’s likely not coming soon so it’s up to you to screen your tenants carefully. Make sure you include running tenant credit checks as part of it.
Remember you can start running premium credit checks for only $10/check (they include a score and a recommendation) by becoming a member of the Ontario Landlords Association.
Become a member for only a one-time fee (no annual fee, just a one-time fee for getting your account set up).
