Narinder Singh of Brampton, Ont., says he and his wife bought their condo apartment in Etobicoke as an investment for retirement.
“We worked for decades to save, penny by penny, for our old age,” said Singh, who runs a drycleaning business inside a Brampton supermarket.
But since 2020, Singh says the female tenant living in the unit has paid rent only intermittently: he produced a ledger showing Deeqa Rafle owes $41,600 in back rent and $5,249.35 in unpaid utilities.
In the meantime, she’s still living in Singh’s 32nd-floor apartment steps from Lake Ontario on the western shoreline.
For the first nine months she lived in the unit, Singh says Rafle punctually paid the $2,600 monthly rent. Then, for seven months, beginning in December 2020, she was in arrears.
She then made payment 19 months in a row, but didn’t pay again for seven more months, according to Singh’s records.
In 2021, Singh asked Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board for permission to evict Rafle.
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“The system is so broken,” Singh told Global News, expressing frustration at how difficult it is to remove a tenant who doesn’t pay rent consistently
In 2023, Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube described “excruciating delay” at the Landlord and Tenant Board. In a report, Dube acknowledged his office had received more than 4,000 complaints — largely from landlords — as part of his investigation. Dube issued 61 recommendations aimed at improving the functioning of the board.
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In May, Global News reported on a Brampton couple owed more than $22,000 by a tenant who refused to make any more payments after he was asked to leave the family’s home when wanted to move back in.
In that case, the tenant and his partner have not made any payments since October 2023.
Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board has not made any decision about eviction, although another hearing is slated for late August.
On Aug. 7, Singh received the news he was hoping for: Landlord and Tenant Board member Tiffany Ticky signed an order compelling Rafle to pay the entire amount she owes for outstanding rent and utilities.
“If the Tenant does not pay the amount required to void this order the Tenant must move out of the rental unit on or before August 18, 2024.”
However, Rafle can still attempt to appeal the decision. Even if she doesn’t, Singh will need to ask the Court Enforcement Office, also known as the Sheriff, to carry out the eviction. That agency is also backlogged.
Singh says the experience with renting has left a lasting impression. He says once his tenant has moved out, he’ll likely sell the apartment because he would never rent again.
“I am aware of the housing crisis in the country but if people are here to abuse the law go find your own, I’m not a babysitter, I can’t help you.”
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