When tenants stopped paying rent, Niagara landlord says she offered them $10K to leave. It didn't work
CBC
When Luz Romero heard about a rental property for sale a few years ago, she jumped at the opportunity to be a landlord.
She and her husband renovated the Niagara Falls, Ont., semi-detached home and attempted to build a good relationship with the tenants they inherited, she said.
The home has two rental units — one on the main floor, where one couple lives, and a basement apartment, home to a single renter.
When the main-floor tenants were late on their $1400-a-month rent payments a few times last year, Romero said she was understanding and gave them extensions.
But since February, those tenants haven't paid rent at all and now owe her around $7,000, said Romero. Lengthy delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) mean she'll likely have to wait months more for a hearing to try to evict them, while her family is at a "breaking point financially," she said.
"I want them to leave and I want to sell and never ever, ever [be a landlord] again," she said told CBC Hamilton. "We are extremely upset and discouraged with the system."
In addition to the financial impact, Romero said she is also experiencing insomnia and a chronic rash from the stress.
The tenants did not respond to requests for comment. Romero said the tenants had told her they were having financial problems.
Romero and her husband bought the house in 2021 by taking out a home equity line of credit on their GTA home, she said. They inherited tenants through the sale of the property.
In March, when the tenants didn't pay rent for the second month in a row, Romero said she first offered them a "cash for keys" deal — a legal tactic some landlords use to bypass a costly and lengthy formal eviction process.
She'd pay them $10,000 and forgive what they owed if they moved out by the end of May, said a letter her lawyer sent them on March 31.
She said the tenants didn't respond and now she's stuck waiting to evict them while they live in the house without paying rent. She applied to evict them through the LTB last month and is still waiting for a hearing date to be set.
Meanwhile, Romero and her husband are taking on extra hours at their respective retail and IT jobs and have burned through their savings to pay their bills, she said. Their three kids are also trying to help. Her teenage son has decided to delay going to university so as to not put further financial strain on the family this fall, she said.
He also paid for his own prom tuxedo this year.
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