SOLO Update to MPPs: Issue #8
Every few weeks, SOLO sends landlord stories to Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to raise awareness of issues in the residential housing system in Ontario, and to advocate for change.
Here’s What’s Happening Now
Every day, your constituents face hardship and injustices within the residential housing system in Ontario. Their stories highlight the urgent need for reform and targeted solutions to protect Ontario tenants and landlords alike. This is a special edition highlighting how some professional tenants are taking advantage of the broken Ontario residential system, including bankruptcy, to avoid eviction for years without paying rent.
Professional tenants didn't pay rent for over two years, costing small landlord in Oshawa over $100,000
(MPP Jennifer K. French)
Abir Hassan rented his property to tenants in April 2023, not knowing they provided false information. They were professional tenants who knew how to play the system, and they never paid rent. After trying to contact them, Abir finally filed at the LTB to evict them for non-payment of rent.
Over the next 2+ years, Abir filed over 11 applications and evidence packages, attended six hearings, witnessed damage to the property, took abuse by his tenants, yet they received an adjournment and four stays of eviction despite never paying rent.
In Feb 2025, when the tenants’ fourth request for a review was denied and an eviction set for 13 Feb 2025, Abir and his family believed their ordeal was finally over. But the tenants filed for bankruptcy on 12 Feb 2025, and the eviction was not enforced—an error in the system.
Abir then had to navigate The Superior Court of Justice and Bankruptcy Court to undo the error, which took over three months, giving more time for the tenants to live rent-free in his property.
They finally got their property back on May 20, 2025, over two years later, and with over $100,000 in missed rent, damages to the property, and legal fees they are unlikely to recover.
Abir says, “The system has broken me and my family mentally, emotionally and financially. We have been let down by the system and by the LTB. There is no justice. Please fix this so no one else will experience this nightmare.”
MPP Jennifer French, can you help?
Guelph Landlord lost $100,000 after professional tenants stopped paying rent and filed for bankruptcy
(MPP Mike Schreiner)
Juan and Yesenia Monterroza are modest Canadian citizens who raised two children and worked hard to purchase their first and only investment property in Guelph. Unfortunately, their tenants decided to stop paying rent in Feb 2023.
Over the next 2.5 years, Juan and his family would lose close to $90,000 in missed rent payments, spend countless hours and over $10,000 in legal fees and proceedings, and watch their property be destroyed by "professional tenants” who knew how to take advantage of the system to avoid eviction while not paying rent. The tenants knew it would take months to schedule hearings at the LTB. Then hearings would be adjourned due to over-scheduling. When hearings took place and orders were issued, the tenants filed requests and managed to stay evictions.
In Feb 2024, one of the three tenants filed for bankruptcy which wiped the $43,646 in arrears clean. They continued to not pay rent. Then another tenant filed for bankruptcy. Then another. Each time, Juan and his family had to re-start proceedings.
In April 2024, Juan's bank initiated the process to repossess the home for non-payment of the mortgage, and another creditor threatened to repossess his primary residence. Numerous issues with the tribunal and court systems, such as admin and other errors, added time and stress to the situation.
After living in a mental and financial nightmare, including health issues manifesting from the stress, Juan and his family finally got their property back on June 16, 2025.
Juan says, “The past few years have been a nightmare. My family and I are honest people, but now we are close to ruin. The system has failed us. There is no justice. The tenants knew how to play the system, and they took full advantage. No one protected us.”
MPP Mike Schreiner, can you help?
Did You Know?
In 2005, the U.S. updated their bankruptcy laws to prevent tenants from avoiding eviction by filing for bankruptcy. This change allowed landlords to evict tenants, regardless of an automatic stay from bankruptcy, so long as the landlord had a court-ordered judgment for possession prior to the tenant filing for bankruptcy.
Canada would benefit from a similar update to our Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Tenants who do not pay rent, and who have been ordered to return a property to their landlord, should not be able to file for bankruptcy to avoid eviction.
These common-sense protections serve to encourage Canadians to continue to invest in Canada, rather than move their investments to the U.S.
The SOLO community has come together to donate their time, expertise and funds over the past few years to support our members, including Abir and Juan, to navigate the LTB as well as The Superior Court of Justice and Bankruptcy courts.
Thank you to Boubacar Bah, Tiffiny Cook-Corradetti, Kevin Costain, Hafeez Hussain, Rose Marie, Pamela O'Hagan, Michele from Catalyst Investigations, and numerous other individuals and small businesses including paralegals and lawyers, private investigators, professional home inspectors, property managers and more, who came together to support our members to get their properties back after the tenants decided to stop paying rent. It would not have been possible without you.
A Call to Action
Over the past five years, Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario (SOLO) has been supporting our more than 8,500 small-scale housing providers—our members—to navigate the residential housing system in Ontario.
Since 2020, we have seen the residential housing system break-down, with long delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) creating the rise of "professional tenants” and related online groups, creating an unfair system for small landlords—all of whom are small business owners—who provide over 30% of rental housing in Ontario.
The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has a backlog of 53,000 cases according to the latest LTB report. 60% of LTB cases are regarding rental arrears.
We are calling for your support to streamline the process for uncontested cases of non-payment of rent. Specifically, we propose handling these cases administratively, without requiring a full hearing—similar to systems already in place in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. This would significantly reduce the backlog at the LTB, and contribute to a fairer residential housing system for tenants and landlords in Ontario.
Please contact us if you would like to continue the conversation, or sign-up for our newsletter at https://news.solo.ca.
Register to become a member at http://solo.ca/register.
Best regards,
SOLO Team
solo@solo.ca
(647) 792-4951
www.solo.ca
