Cash for keys: Some tenants who face eviction demand thousands from landlords amid tribunal delays

Pema Zela says she considered bankruptcy after her tenant refused to leave the home she owns.

When Zela and her husband needed to move back into the home in Toronto's east end, she says the tenant told them he would not leave even though his lease was up, stopped paying rent and soon tried to "make a deal" with them, asking for $50,000 to vacate the property. 

"It was unimaginable to me when he first said 'No,' he won't leave. I thought: 'This is my house. How can someone do this?'" Zela said. 

"I had a pain in my stomach," she said. 

"When he asked me for money I thought: 'How dare you?"

The situation Zela and her husband found themselves in is called cash for keys and it's legal, with a tenant seeking or a landlord offering money for a tenant to leave peacefully and at an agreed-upon time. 

But paralegals and landlords say some tenants are taking advantage of long delays at the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, which resolves disputes between landlords and tenants, and are asking for higher cash-for-keys demands than ever before. 

In 2020, Zela and her husband decided to rent out the house and live with family members in order to save money while Zela finished a master's program. 

They rented out the three-bedroom house for $2,100 a month on a two-year lease. 

In early 2022, they needed to move back because her program was finished and they could no longer live with family. Zela said they waited until the lease was up and gave the required 60 days' notice for the tenant to vacate.

"It's just so wrong this could happen and it has felt like there is no accountability. We are hard-working people just trying to survive," Zela said.

After the tenant refused to vacate, Zela filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board seeking an order of eviction. That was in June 2022, but Zela soon found out she could be waiting up to a year to get a hearing. 

In the meantime, she says, her tenant stopped paying rent and utilities. While he has since moved out, and she didn't end up paying the amount he requested, she said he now owes her more than $40,000.

The tenant declined to comment.