Ombudsman Paul Dubé paints a grim picture of the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) in his latest investigation report, released May 4th. Long plagued by severe backlogs, staff shortages, and antiquated technology, LTB operations have only gotten worse thanks to the added pressures of COVID-19 lockdowns, remote work, eviction moratoriums and virtual hearings.
“As an administrative tribunal, the Board is fundamentally failing in its role of providing swift justice to those seeking resolution of residential landlord and tenant issues. In doing so, it is denying justice to a significant segment of Ontarians,” Dubé said. “Where once it took the Board a matter of days to schedule hearings, it now takes an average of seven to eight months – and scheduling of some tenant applications can take up to two years.”
Delays also plagued other stages of the LTB’s process. Even after decisions were made, many found they had to wait months for the adjudicators orders to be issued, while others had to have their cases reheard because Board members had retired.
“Over the past few years, the Board has proven itself unequipped for the task of reducing its extraordinary backlog of applications,” Dubé wrote. “More importantly, those applications represent tens of thousands of Ontarians suffering hardship caused by the Board’s inability to provide timely service.”
The Ombudsman received more than 4,000 complaints from people on both sides of the landlord-tenant relationship. Many described the financial and mental harm they suffered while “trapped in the queue” waiting for their applications to be heard – from tenants enduring harassment and unsafe living conditions, to landlords coping with criminal conduct and facing financial ruin.
The investigation conducted by the Special Ombudsman Response Team reviewed the Board’s existing systemic problems, as well as its struggles with COVID-related challenges. Inefficiencies identified in the investigation include:
- A shortage of qualified adjudicators (members), compounded by a lengthy, cumbersome appointment and training process
- A complex application process that sometimes forces applicants to start over for errors
- Antiquated systems that are not equipped to triage or expedite urgent cases, track orders and member caseloads, or identify members near the end of their terms
- A lack of available bilingual adjudicators, and issues with application forms that only identify if applicants require services in French, not respondents
The bulk of the Ombudsman’s 61 recommendations are directed at the Board and/or Tribunals Ontario and set out detailed proposals for reforms. Three recommendations call for the government to change legislation to remove impediments to appointing members, while others urge the Ministry, Board and Tribunals Ontario to work together to ensure the Board’s backlog is reduced.
Tribunals Ontario, on behalf of the Board, has accepted the recommendations, as has the Ministry, and both have pledged to report back to the Ombudsman on their progress in implementing them.
“I urge the Government of Ontario to act quickly to increase the Board’s adjudicative capacity and fund the additional staff required to support the new members. Otherwise, given the timelines involved in recruitment and training, the positive impacts of this initiative could be significantly delayed,” the Ombudsman says in the report. “The sooner this initiative moves forward, the sooner the Board will be in a position to improve its service levels.”
Find out more at: Home – Ontario Ombudsman
