The Landlord and Tenant Board is primarily a vehicle for evicting tenants. When it comes to collecting money owed as a result of non-payment of rent, for damage to a property or even for utilities, landlords are forced to attend small claims court.
This usually comes as a surprise to folks who seem to believe the Landlord and Tenant Board will award them payment for violations of their rights. It does, in a sense, but the board’s most useful remedy in near all instances is eviction.
Tenants are evicted if they fail to pay an amount the board determines they owe to the landlord — be that amount for damage to a home, non-payment of rent or any other claim. Many tenants have no problem vanishing from the property in the middle of the night, for a “midnight move”, after they have cost a landlord thousands of dollars instead of paying him or her.
When the board issues a judgment determining that the landlord is owed money and the tenant simply leaves instead of paying, it is essential that the landlord have information on hand to find the tenant.
Many landlords fail to collect essential information prior to the commencement of the tenancy, such as the tenant’s work location and bank. Or, if they do collect this information, they may fail to maintain it with accuracy.
If the landlord does not know where their tenants work, they cannot garnish their wages. If they do not know where their tenants bank, they cannot garnish their accounts. These bits of information are critical for either serving them with documents or garnishing their wages. When this information is gathered at the start of a tenancy, it should be updated every six months. And it should be updated and verified immediately at the first hint of trouble. While it is possible to chase tenants with detective agencies, it is usually a waste of money.
If tenants are receiving payments from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) or are on social assistance of any kind, their payments cannot be garnished. This means, in effect, that these folks are “judgment proof.”
There’s a saying in general litigation: “You always go after the biggest pockets.” This is because there is no sense in winning a judgment for thousands of dollars against a defendant who has nothing.
The amount of energy expended to collect money owed to a landlord in small claims court should be directly proportional to the probability of collecting that money through garnishment procedures. If tenants are on ODSP or social assistance, the focus should be on minimizing losses, not maximizing a damage award.
If a landlord does know where their tenants work, the mere threat of garnishment is often enough to convince otherwise recalcitrant tenants to agree to a payment schedule — particularly if their employer is one where reputation is important (like government employees, for example).
Garnishment is enormously embarrassing for tenants. A notice of garnishment is sent to the employer, who must then deposit a percentage of the employee’s pay into a government account. The procedure effectively makes their debt public knowledge. The documents are also frequently faxed into the employer’s office, where other employees (and co-workers) could see them.
Landlords should always begin tenancies with the end in mind. They need to collect information that will protect them if that tenancy ends badly. Employment information and where the tenant banks are sufficient to appear prudent, without appearing overly interested in personal information. Any prospective tenants reluctant to give this information should raise alarms.
A little prudence at the beginning of a relationship can pay off by preventing a drawn out and costly separation.
Ike J. Awgu, B.A., is a lawyer at Landlord Lawyer, a firm that services residential landlords across Ontario. He can be reached at 1-800-737-9571 or info@landlordlawyer.ca.
