'It's taking a toll': Young Toronto family says condo board is threatening to evict their service dog
CTV News Phil Tsekouras (abridged)
Varun Mutneja has relied on his service dog Nala for years to support his mental health. But now, he and his pregnant wife say the board at their recently purchased condo is threatening to kick the four-year-old golden retriever out.
“We just bought a condo thinking, ‘Great, this is a good step in our life,’ and with the baby coming on board, the thought of losing the dog is just adding to all the anxiety,” Mutneja told CTV News Toronto.
Mutneja and his wife Samantha Periana went out of their way to let the property manager know about Nala and her significance as a service animal.
According to the couple, the board said they had until Feb. 1 to get rid of Nala or the corporation would file a complaint with the Condominium Authority Tribunal (CAT) to evict her.
a $650.00 fee?
The couple added there are other residents in the building with dogs larger than 20lbs that are not service animals. The board has approved those animals and granted an exception to them as they paid a fee of $650 to draft a pet accommodation with their solicitor, the couple said.
Mr. Mutneja says that Nala is a Service dog. Usually condo dog disputes are over Emotional Support dogs. In my opinion, the owners need legal advice from a lawyer experienced in condominium and human rights cases. It may be best to immediate start a Human Rights application.
This GTA condo owner says he's struggling 'to make ends meet' as tenant won't pay $20K in rent
CBC News Michael Smee (abridged)
17 February 2023
A Mississauga landlord says he's fed up with the bureaucratic gridlock that's held up an eviction order for almost six months while his tenant, who owes him about $20,000, lives rent-free in his condo.
Joe Roberto says he was told at his Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearing back in August that he would soon be issued an eviction order, which he could then give to his delinquent tenant. She hasn't paid rent in more than a year, Roberto says, leaving him to pay for the condo's mortgage, maintenance fees and property taxes — on top of his own household expenses.
"I don't sleep at night, I don't eat," said Roberto, who is a home inspector and a married father of two. "And if I do eat, I eat basic stuff just to be able to be able to make ends meet."
This will be the last time I will post a “landlord taken for a ride by a deadbeat tenant” story. There are far too many of them.
What a horror show
If you are looking to buy a condo in Edmonton, think hard before buying a unit at Crescent Place at 13910 Stony Plain RD NW, in Edmonton, Alberta.
Built in 1969, the Crescent Place units sell for under $200,000 and the maintainence fees seem reasonable. However, the roach problems seems to be long standing.
Take a look at this news report at the link above.
CAT Awards Significant Costs to Condominium in Nuisance Application
Shibley Righton LLP
15 February 2023
In Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2804 v. Micoli et al., our office commenced a successful CAT application on behalf of TSCC 2804 (the “Condominium”) to address a tenant's highly disruptive presence in the building. In a promising development in the areas of indemnity damages and costs, the CAT ordered the respondents to pay the Condominium $26,991.10.
The Tribunal member found that the tenant and his guest had engaged in a continuous and escalating pattern of disruptive conduct and concluded that the tenant was causing nuisances that unreasonably interfered with and disturbed the comfort or quiet enjoyment of other residents and the Condominium’s staff. In addition to ordering immediate compliance by the unit owner and tenant, the Tribunal member ordered the following payments to be made to the Condominium:
$18,239.60, payable jointly and severally by the owner and tenant, for indemnity damages arising from the ongoing non-compliance;
$200.00, payable jointly and severally by the owner and tenant, for the Condominium’s Tribunal fees; and
$8,551.50 in costs against the unit owner for failing to take reasonable steps to address the tenant’s long-standing non-compliance.
This decision should be taken as a stern warning to unit owners who ignore their legal responsibility for their tenants and should offer a glimmer of hope to condominium corporations who are left with no option but to bring a CAT application to obtain compliance against a habitual source of nuisance.
Expectant couple told to sell their home after B.C. strata votes to make complex 55-plus
Global News By Amy Judd & Kamil Karamali (abridged)
14 February 2023
Razan Talebian and her husband were overjoyed when they found out last month they were expecting their first child together.
They had finally found a place to live in Maple Ridge, B.C., with their cat and dog in a building that was originally only for people ages 35 and older.
But when the B.C. government amended the Strata Act to remove almost all rental restrictions last November, Talebian and her husband put in an offer right away.
“So we’re on the market in September looking for a house. November is when the restrictions were lifted and we put in the offer and a day after and we were able to live in our house at the end of December,” she said.
Shortly after they received a notice that a special general meeting was being held to vote on whether owners wanted to change the complex to only ages 55 and over.
Only buildings that are 55-plus can implement an age restriction bylaw under the amended Act.
The couple attended the meeting on Feb. 8.
“It was an open floor and everyone was kind of talking about their concerns,” Talebian said. “People don’t want families in this complex. They don’t want children running around. And I spoke and I said, ‘Well, what does this mean for me and my children?'”
She said when she voiced her concerns about having a child and starting a family, many of the owners and council were laughing at her. That’s when she said they told her they would have to put their house up for sale.
“This is a very unique situation because I was pregnant before the vote was passed,” she said.
It is time for both sides to bring in the lawyers. So much wasted money, time and sleepless nights over these condo legal disputes.