I wrote a devilishly satirical essay that explains how Canadians can save up to 100% of their income taxes over at Money Smarts Blog. It is by the way 100% legal and anyone can do it. It requires no special skills. You can go check it out it’s called How To Reduce Your Income Tax.
Update to REIN situation
I also want to point out that after my post I Was Wrong About REIN after going out of my way to clarify the error I had made, I did not so much as receive a thank you. I have now been thanked as of April 26th 8:06 pm.My signature on the REIN forum did not get put up again. I was offered help with my victim and even though I emailed back what could be done no response was forthcoming.
I feel like the lady who holds out for a while then gives in and never hears from her suitor again. I’ll be editing the post again to reflect the new realities revealed by current inaction. I have crossed out all references to nice stuff REIN offered or said until they actually appear. I’d hate to have people be mislead into thinking REIN is some kind of altruistic organization when I have no idea how they actually are except for their online forum.
Furthermore I took the emailer at his word when he said they take care of business and mediate disputes but I have no proof. I have a new idea that what they don’t want is bad press, so now that that’s done. Bye Bye!
I am also re-invited to attend a REIN event so I’ll let you know when that is happening I am supposed to hear back after September 7th.
Landlord News
I found an interesting piece of news a few days ago which led me on a bit of a quest. It’s about an Eviction in Rosemere. Basically a family doesn’t pay the rent and tells the landlord they’re moving. The day they are supposed to move, the landlord comes in packs their stuff in a trailer and changes the locks. I’m not sure if it takes as long as Ontario to evict someone but in Ontario the landlord would have saved himself a couple months of rent at least.
Guerilla Landlords
This story reminded me of several landlords I had known who had taken matters into their own hands with non paying tenants. One removed the front window and threw all the tenant’s stuff out on the front lawn, then put the window back and changed the locks. Another landlord had the habit of bringing his big brother with him to serve notices and advise tenants that should they not pay they should definitely move on by the end of the month. He and his big brother didn’t believe in the Landlord & Tenant board and would take whatever measures were necessary to ensure that they never went there. I know the tenant in question took them very seriously.
Horrible Tenant
This also reminded me of a landlord who contacted me about a tenant who was taking him to Divisional Court. It appears that she also bounced first and last rent check (Never do this… Cash, Money Order, Certified Check) so he changed the lock while she was out. She called the Municipal Affairs and Housing and they convinced him to let her back in. Six month’s later with not a penny of rent and this con artist threatening his wife, he regretted not just taking the fine.
I too locked a tenant out of his unit before after he caused a flood the first day he moved in to our building. I wrote a story about it called a So You Think You Can Landlord – A Tenant From Hell Story. He wasn’t officially a tenant – legally speaking, so I knew I was not going to get sued.
Ontario Evictions
Evictions are expensive, Ontario landlords will lose about 4 months rent from start to finish on a standard eviction. If you add a review or a Divisional Court Appeal and you’re looking at 6 to 12 months. If you go to the Municipal Affairs and Housing site you’ll find that the fine is $25,000 for individuals.
So then I went to the Landlord & Tenant Board website and looked at redacted orders for tenant rights to find out how much the fines actually were for locking tenants out. I did not look at all the redacted orders but the biggest fine I found was $1000 for locking a tenant out.
Tenants Have Problems Too
I also found this little gem in case you thought all landlords were blameless angels. I was just picturing the scene of this case at the Landlord & Tenant Board. I won’t spoil the surprise for you but there is a cat and a BB gun. Then look at the fine.
So basically if you’re a good tenant with a crappy landlord that doesn’t take care of his place, you’re out of luck. If you’re a decent landlord with a deadbeat tenant, you’re out of luck too. If justice existed we could match these pairs up for a marriage made in hell. They deserve each other.
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