Grace's Places and the Bedbug Registry
When I got into the residential rental business in the mid-1990's there was a belief among landlords that Ontario's 20-year-old rent control regime and the accompanying landlord-tenant legislation made it almost impossible for landlords to operate profitably. At the time it could take a year to evict a non-paying tenant, and many landlords lost 20% of their potential rental revenue to defaulted rents and the legal costs associated with evictions. Rents could not be increased by more than the "Guideline Amount" even if the landlord had made extensive and expensive improvements, and as a result much of Toronto's rental housing stock had been lost to demolition or re-purposing, and what remained had been allowed to decay. Tenants who wanted a nice apartment could expect to invest their own time and money in repairs and improvements.
I believed that defaulted rents and evictions could be eliminated where tenants enjoyed exceptional apartments and good value, and that the capital costs needed to improve a property should be recovered not by charging illegally (at the time) high rents, but rather by simply eliminating defaulted rents and evictions.
Now, nearly twenty years later, I am happy to see that my thesis has been validated. There are, alas, some landlords who blame tenants for all of their woes, and continue to demand that the Province eviscerate tenant protection legislation. A few years ago M.P.P. Mike Colles introduced a bill in the legislature which would require landlords to inform prospective tenants of any bedbug infestation.
I believed that defaulted rents and evictions could be eliminated where tenants enjoyed exceptional apartments and good value, and that the capital costs needed to improve a property should be recovered not by charging illegally (at the time) high rents, but rather by simply eliminating defaulted rents and evictions.
Now, nearly twenty years later, I am happy to see that my thesis has been validated. There are, alas, some landlords who blame tenants for all of their woes, and continue to demand that the Province eviscerate tenant protection legislation. A few years ago M.P.P. Mike Colles introduced a bill in the legislature which would require landlords to inform prospective tenants of any bedbug infestation.
