High bar for evictions during COVID-19, but orders still occurring
Partial moratorium in place, but tenants have been kicked out over bad behaviour
REGINA Saskatchewan landlords have obtained at least 32 eviction orders against problem tenants since the province declared a partial moratorium on eviction hearings to contain the spread of COVID -19.
All stemmed from emergency applications that covered a wide spectrum of complaints, from serial “acts of indecency” to a gas-canister booby trap and a knife-wielding visitor. Only two such applications have been dismissed. The numbers are current to May 14. Eleven more decisions have been sent for publishing, but are not yet available.
In normal times, the overwhelming majority of eviction orders are granted due to rent arrears. There were hundreds of those applications over the first two months of the year. But all such hearings were suspended on March 26 as the government sought to ensure people retained a safe place to self-isolate during the pandemic.
Landlords are pushing for an end to the moratorium. The Saskatchewan Landlord Association sent a news release Thursday urging the government to allow virtual eviction hearings for tenants who withhold rent. About 10 per cent of rent was in arrears as of early May, according to a survey the association sent its members.
It argued that some tenants are “deliberately” withholding rent.
Since March 26, landlords can only get a hearing under a section covering property damage, health and safety risks and noxious, offensive or illegal activities.
Peter Gilmer, who heads the Regina Anti-poverty Ministry, said he was pleased to hear the Office of Residential Tenancies (ORT) is setting a high bar for evictions.
“It does appear that the ORT, for the most part, is looking at a pretty high threshold for the seriousness of the complaint,” he said.
In the most recent decision the ORT has published, a landlord reportedly learned that a tenant was using a charcoal barbecue inside, causing “extensive smoke damage” that left the ceiling black.
The same tenant left bathroom taps open for 36 hours straight, according to the landlord’s testimony. A neighbour reported that the tenant had set up a “homemade security” system involving multiple car batteries and gas canisters inside the suite, prompting fears of a fire or explosion. The landlord’s request for an eviction order was granted on May 14.
On April 16, a condominium corporation secured an order against an owner’s tenant, following a series of incidents so serious they reportedly prompted a private security company to flee from a building deemed “too unsafe for their employees.”
“On the Landlord’s information, Garda World advised this was the first time in 20 years in Western Canada that they have had to cancel a contract due to safety concerns,” said the decision.
The tenant had previously been homeless and let acquaintances enter the building, apparently to use his bathroom. The landlord detailed the chaos that allegedly ensued, including an assault and injection drug use in hallways.
A number of landlords reported extensive property damage, including from an apparent hoarder who caused an “unbearable odour.” A ceiling collapsed after the bathtub flooded in that unit.
There were multiple landlords who alleged that tenants were hosting gatherings that could spread the novel coronavirus.
One landlord tracked as many as 53 people entering and exiting a rental unit between midnight and 6 a.m., and warned that seniors living in the building were “extremely concerned.”
In that case, and at least six others, the hearing officer explicitly mentioned the “unprecedented times” of the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for the landlord to work with the tenant to find an “agreeable move-out date.” But the decisions were clear: that was only a recommendation, not a requirement.
Two orders of possession were granted to Milton Heights Inc., a Regina assisted living home operated by Eden Care Communities. One was due to “indoor smoking of cigarettes and drugs” as well as frequent visitors.
The second was based on evidence of cigarette and drug smoking, according to the written decision. But that tenant was given until June 30 to vacate through an agreement with the landlord.
Alan Stephen, CEO of Eden Care Communities, said that no one has ended up on the street because of the eviction orders. He said Eden Care worked with the Ministry of Social Services to find a new living arrangement for one tenant, while the other has so far been allowed to stay due to improved behaviour. There are no current plans to enforce the order in that case.
“We did everything humanly possible with the tenants to keep them in,” said Stephen.
The Justice Ministry declined to provide an interview with ORT officials, but said in a statement that emergency orders are granted in cases of “excessive damage” or serious safety concerns, as well as for drugs, gangs, illegal activity and harbouring a fugitive.
Though Gilmer said he was encouraged to hear that landlords do not appear to have shifted to emergency applications to fill the void left by the eviction moratorium, he still worries that a pile of arrears built up during the pandemic will later lead to a flurry of evictions.
“I suspect we’re going to be hearing a lot more about evictions once the moratorium is over,” he warned.