All Forum Posts by: Samantha Rye

@Theresa Harris My neighbour has seen him drunk out in the yard a few times, but I've never witnessed that behaviour. It seems to me more like he's trying to get me to pay attention to him. He was waiting for me to get home from the office yesterday and when I pulled into the driveway he checked I was still in the car and then made a big show of being stung. He ran down the stairs and across the lawn yelling "Ow!" and waving his arm arounds. I said that if he had just been stung for the 7th time in two days that I wanted to take him to the hospital to have them looked at. He declined, unsurprisingly. The exterminator is coming to spray for the wasps today at 2 o'clock so hopefully he will calm down after this. 

I asked the bylaw officer to come and inspect the door which she did this morning and said that it is functioning properly. I've been keeping a very detailed record of all of our interactions. When I get a copy of the bylaw report I feel confident that I have enough to evict him on an N7, but the current LTB resolution timeline is up to 8 months (apparently they're still behind from the pandemic backlog). I'm worried that if I served him, he would stop paying his rent and it would be financially difficult to float him for that long. I'm going to take @Bill B.'s advice above and hire a PM to avoid interaction with him in the future. If he is still harrassing me in this manner than I'll evict him regardless of the timeline. I believe that they prioritize cases of this nature above non-payment, so hopefully it won't take as long.  

I think you're right and I will be there while they are installing the door. I would have been around (I work from home) but now I'm going to make sure that if he is home, I'm right there to ensure he's not bothering them. 

Thanks, Bill! I'm looking into PM companies in my area now. 

 He is an army veteran with a pension so no risk of job loss but I have no idea what is going on in his personal life. Nothing has happened at the house that I'm aware of. I went away for a long weekend and when I came back this started. His behaviour gets worse the less I respond to him. I think you're 100% correct that he has some kind of issue that he's suddenly taking out on me. 
I've told him that I will be confining all future communication to text and email. He responded by sending me multiple text messages and an email about "various safety concerns" that I have ignored; he didn't list them. 
Happily, I've kept very detailed records since I bought the place and now I will also have the by-law report in my favour. I do have an emergency contact for him but if it comes to that I would probably contact the police and let them deal with it. I had thought that calling the EC would be more for medical emergencies but I would like to know your opinion on that for sure!

 He's legally obligated to give 60 days notice but if he told me he wanted to move tomorrow, that would be fine with me!

 I'm glad to hear that they backed off a bit when you set the timeline. Unfortunately, it seems to have set my tenant off. He was not on the phone with LTB, but with the town bi-law so I've provided all of the documentation to them. I'm actually happy that now I'll have the report of an official agency to back me up at the LTB. 

Good luck with your tenant! If you do decide to make the suggestion, I'd love to know how it goes. 

Thanks everyone! 

I told this tenant yesterday that I would respond to non-emergency communication within one business day. Since then he was called me three times, knocked on my door this morning to talk to me in person and he just called me and screamed at me on the phone. Then he called the landlord tenant board from our shared driveway to file a complaint. I could hear the conversation from my living room (which I think was the point). I am currently gathering the paperwork to prove harrassment. 

 Thanks, Matt! I will be telling him to contact me via e-mail for anything but emergencies. I'm going to set up an automated response with the answer times and ignore phone calls. 

 Thanks, Scott! You're feedback is much appreciated. I've asked him for a photo of the nest and will see what he says. In Ontario, leases automatically renew M2M (or at the frequency of payment) and the landlord must provide a valid legal reason to end the lease. 

I own an up-down duplex and currently live in the lower unit and rent the top to an inherited tenant. He was a great tenant for the first 8 months or so but that has changed in the last 6 weeks. I am changing the front doors of both units (they are functional but very old and energy inefficient) and I had difficulty finding someone to come and do the work in the summer time as everyone was fully booked. Now that the fall has come I've been able to get it quoted, and the doors have been ordered and will be installed in mid-late Oct. Starting at the end of August, the tenant began to complain that he didn't like the timeline of the install and since then he has been sending me texts every Monday or Tuesday morning between 8:30-9:30 am complaining about something. He told me his front door had come off the hinges but when I went up to inspect (within the hour) the door was working fine and he said he was able to "put them back on". He sent me very dark pictures of what he described as mold around the door frame and then called me 15 min later from Canadian Tire saying he wanted me to pay for a respirator and mold spray. I hadn't observed any mold when I was there the Tuesday before about the hinges and when he got back from Can Tire, I went up to inspect but he said he had already cleaned it all away. This morning he said there was a hornets nest and that he had been stung twice. He has previously complained about a wasps nest which wasn't there when I went up to inspect it. I respond to his texts in a prompt and professional manner (same day during business hours) but if I don't respond within the hour he will call me. Last Tuesday, he sent me a text asking for an update on the door and when I didn't immediately respond he called and ranted at me for 20 minutes saying that I wasn't keeping him updated. I told him that I had kept him abreast of the situation and that "I would provide him with the appropriate notice when the installation was scheduled". After repeating that 3 or 4 times, I said that I wouldn't keep repeating myself in the call and ended the conversation. 

I want to make sure that I am addressing any legitimate issues with the unit in a timely manner but I also don't want to be jerked around. I am considering ignoring his messages this morning about the wasps nest (he said he'd been stung, that he was buying wasps spray and then asked me if I had recommendations on what to do) but I don't want to be negligent. Any advice on how to handle this situation would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!