Our Challenges

It's a simple thing to say that if a landlord can't handle the challenges involved in rental property ownership, they should just get out of the business.

Many do, as they see no point in throwing good money after bad, so it's either sell the property and recoup what they can, or let the property deteriorate and risk becoming a 'slum landlord'.

Still others feel driven to maintain their properties for the sake of providing homes to renters, especially those in the inner city, because that is where their hearts are. Many of these landlords know that they won't make a profit until they sell their properties, but they persevere in spite of it.

Below are some of the issues faced by landlords. Others will be added as they are raised by our members.

Many factors threaten the viability of a landlord's business, including but not limited to the following:

• Frequent, costly property damages: In spite of careful screening of tenants, many landlords suffer repeated, often extensive  damages to their properties by bad tenants, for which they must pay out of pocket. The cost of these repairs is often prohibitive, especially for smaller landlords. Damage deposits are rarely sufficient to cover the cost of repairs. There are no government programs to assist the property owner in maintaining his property to accepted standards.
   
• Abandonment of a property: Tenants will often abandon a property without proper notice, leaving behind unpaid rent and utility bills, resulting in further loss of revenue.
   
• Unfair, punitive and discriminatory billing and collection policies of the City of Winnipeg Water & Waste Department:  
   
  • Unpaid water bills are now the responsibility of the property owner, even if the account is in the tenant's name. If the landlord does not pay the account, the amount owing is added to his tax roll, and can be withdrawn from his bank account without his knowledge or authorization.
     
  • Because water bills are issued for three-month periods as opposed to monthly billing, it is difficult for inner-city tenants to manage a large bill, whereas monthly billing would make this expense more manageable for tenant and landlord alike. To compound the problem, Water & Waste billing policy is to wait anywhere from 40 to 80 days past the due date of the account before they will notify the landlord of the overdue amount, thereby allowing the bill to become even higher and more impossible for the tenant to pay.
     
  • Also due to the quarterly billing for water accounts, it is difficult for landlords to monitor water use/abuse effectively. One landlord had a tenant move in, run up a $1000 water/sewer bill in his first three months, and abandon the property, stealing the washer and dryer in the process. The landlord knew nothing about the water bill, due to policy-dictated delays in notification on the part of the Water & Waste Department, and was subsequently forced to pay the outstanding bill even though the bill was in the tenant's name.
     
  • Landlords are no longer permitted to request that a tenant's water service cut off for lack of payment. This is left to the discretion of Water & Waste, and is not always done when it should be.
     
  • Water & Waste has arbitrarily and without consultation made changes to the legislation that negatively affect the landlord's bottom line, but will not allow the landlord to revise the leases of current tenants to adjust for these changes.
     
  • As tenants become aware of these policies, which are heavily weighted against the landlord, there is even less incentive for the tenants to pay their water bill, as they know that the landlord will be forced to to pay it.
     
  • The Water & Waste Department will rarely make the effort required to collect the debt from its customer, the delinquent tenant. Rather, they expect the landlord, with his limited resources, to collect the debt, often suggesting that the landlord use a collection agency for the purpose. Most collection agencies will not take on these accounts. This, in spite of the fact that Water & Waste indicates that it has recently expanded its collection personnel and resources.
     
  • Individual landlords making enquiries about these policies or seeking assistance with these issues have received conflicting opinions and responses from staff at both customer service and management levels.
     
  • We are told that Manitoba Hydro is considering pursuing the same billing and collections policies as those of the Water & Waste Department. This will further jeopardize the financial viability of rental property ownership.

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• Dealing with unfair Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB) practices and policies, as described below by our members:
   
  • RTB takes months to schedule Order of Possession hearings to get bad tenants out, meanwhile the tenants remain and continue to abuse property and run up bills. We believe these hearings should be scheduled within five days of landlord's request.
  • RTB does not call the tenant to set up mediation, tenant must make the call. If the tenant doesn't make the call, the landlord has few options.
  • forwarding addresses of tenants are protected by privacy laws, so we are unable to get these addresses for the purposes of bill collection, court hearings, etc.
     
  • RTB restricts the amount of security deposits to one-half month's rent, which is not enough to cover the level of damages done
  • RTB has a list of problem tenants who are subject to hearings and currently, the list can be accessed at their office, for a fee of $5 per 30 minute search, which is inconvenient and time consuming, and there is only one computer dedicated to this purpose. The other option is to access the service online, but for a fee of $250 per year, which cost is prohibitive to smaller landlords with fewer properties. We feel the RTB should offer this service freely, online.
  • RTB provides conflicting information to landlords
  • RTB is currently the only option for charging a tenant with willful damage to property, unpaid rent and utility accounts, and if the resolution is not satisfactory to the landlord, there is no option to pursue the matter through another court.
  • Statement of Claim is submitted by the landlord, who pays a $20 fee, and if there are further damages or costs discovered after the initial claim is filed, the landlord is charged another $20 fee, and a new hearing must be set, causing further delay, and often the tenant has disappeared by the time the hearing date comes up.
  • RTB policies do not allow a landlord to attach the proceeds of EIA or WCB by garnishment to collect damages or outstanding accounts, although other provinces allow a landlord to garnish up to 30% of these incomes. In BC, once a claim has been settled, the tenant is summoned to a hearing called the payment hearing, at which the landlord may indicate which information the tenant must bring, e.g. driver's license, pay stubs, bank statements, Autopac information, utility bills. If the tenant fails to provide the requested information or fails to appear for the payment hearing, they are arrested and brought before court, being charged with contempt of court.
  • When filing a certified RTB order at the Court of Queen's Bench Registry at  York Avenue, you must physically walk to 200 Vaughn St to the Statutory Publications Office to purchase the forms which you will file at the QB. The Vaughn St office only accepts cash, which is also inconvenient. Then you must take your package of forms back to the QB office. They will then tell you to sit down and fill them out. The forms are complex and difficult to interpret and there is no assistance offered to the landlord in filling out the form. Once the forms are filled out, the landlord must take a number and wait, and if there are any errors in the documents, the landlord must re-do the documents, take a number again and wait in line. In BC, the forms are simplified and assistance is available to the landlord to have them filled out correctly.
  • When a garnishment order is granted by the RTB and enforced by the QB, the order is only good for that day. If the tenant does not have funds in his account on that day, the landlord has no recourse but to go through the whole process again, including paying to re-file the claim, re-do all the paperwork, and take a chance that there will be money in the tenant's account for the next order. In BC, the garnishment order is open for as long as collection takes.
  • Bad landlords would be fined in BC. Here, the RTB does not fine the landlord, nor do they enforce work orders. They can only withhold rent until repairs are done.
  • In BC, landlords must pay an annual licensing fee and have an initial inspection in order to obtain the license.
  • Landlords are currently required to provide a 'Notice to New Tenant' form to a new tenant, disclosing to the prospective tenant the rent charged to the previous tenant. This is an invasion of the landlord's confidentiality and punitive disclosure of his business practices. 

  RTB rent controls are contributing to the housing crisis:
   

  • landlords cannot bring their rental units up to market level and some are instead converting them to condos
  • If rent controls were abolished, the rental property industry would become more profitable, and thereby more appealing as a business venture, thus increasing the number and quality of available rental properties
  • landlords have to pay a $20 fee per unit (e.g. 10-suite apartment building would be applied per suite, for a fee of $200 for the building) to apply for a rental increase above the RTB annually-adjusted guidelines (and how are these guidelines determined?). A hearing would then be set, which can take 30 days or more, and the increase may or may not be approved.
• The City of Winnipeg's Planning, Property & Development Department lacks the resources and staff necessary to support landlords in their efforts to provide the quality and quantity of rental housing stock required in the city.

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A Strong Voice for Winnipeg Landlords