# Landlord gets property seized.



## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-c...property-if-you-cant-make-your-tenants-behave


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## Charlie (May 20, 2011)

with almost 400 police incidents at a 12 unit place, I'm guessing there's a lot more to this story than what's implied. I'm doubtful the landlord is a victim here -- more than likely an accomplice, or at best negligently complacent. Imagine the policing costs there. What warnings were ignored? What action did the landlord take to clean things up?

Possibly I'm wrong on this case, but I'd like to see some stronger action against our slumlord owners who create problems in town -- including potential forfeitures.


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## Davis (Nov 11, 2014)

I lived in a part of Ottawa that had a bunch of rooming houses. Investors thought they'd get rich subdividing old houses and filling then up with people paying by-the-room. They didn't take into account that overstuffing old houses with people living on the margin could create problems within the houses and for the neighbours. One guy allegedly walked away from title on ahouse when things got out of hand. I, on the other, dealt with probelm tenants in my duplex. Not just because I was living there, but also because the neighbours expected me to. Being a landlord and getting paid rent brings obligations. 

The article vividly portrays one side of the story, but it was written by someone with the "Canadian Constitution Foundation", which is a pretty strident organization. It is easy to tell from reading the article that the writer was aiming to present an uncompromising viewpoint, rather than a balanced review of the case. I bet there is more to the story.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Charlie said:


> *with almost 400 police incidents at a 12 unit place*, I'm guessing there's a lot more to this story than what's implied.* I'm doubtful the landlord is a victim here *-- more than likely an accomplice, or at best negligently complacent. Imagine the policing costs there. What warnings were ignored? What action did the landlord take to clean things up?
> 
> Possibly I'm wrong on this case, but I'd like to see some stronger action against our *slumlord owners who create problems in town *-- including potential forfeitures.


 ... seems like the landlord and his/her tenants were made for each other in this case.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

An area in our city near a community college had a whole street of nice new homes built.

Non resident landlords bought them up and rented rooms out to the students.

The area turned into a student ghetto, with wild parties every weekend involving riots and the police.

I used to deliver to the area and was appalled at what I saw. The whole street littered with garbage and the insides of the homes totally devastated.

I wondered how many parents knew their "great kids" were acting this way when away from home.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

I read the comments section for the article, and the discussion went from landlords and tenants to the justice system to health care to the CRA........with some other things mixed in.

CMF gets off topic often..........but nothing close to that rambling narrative.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

The law expects landlords to police their tenants but does not give them the means to do so. Just the opposite. Try to evict a bad tenant and see how the courts bend over backwards to favor the poor downtrodden tenant over the mean landlord.

The biggest joke is this forfiture solves NOTHING. The building is still there, the bum tenants are still there, the police still aren't doing their job, and what do they expect the new owner to do? Who would buy a building like that anyway?


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/d...UGF0cmljaWEgVmFuIER1c2VuAAAAAAE&resultIndex=2


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

Highlights for those too lazy to click...

[68] Simply put, Marlowe failed to evict the tenants committing criminal acts within the premises of 51 Taylor in a timely way. The evidence suggests he did not ever take steps in this regard under the Residential Tenancies Act and predecessor legislation. He has produced photographs of some boarded up apartment doors on a few of the offending apartments but the lateness of that step and his lack of real commitment to “cleaning up” the premises is apparent when assessing what real steps he took.

[69] He did not at any time seek the assistance of the police to evict the tenants. There is no evidence that he ever called the police to attend on the property.

[70] Despite his evidence I find that it is impossible that Marlowe was not at all times aware that criminal activity was taking place at 51 Taylor.

[71] There were over 390 police occurrences between 1995 and 1997 and between 2002 and 2007, when Chatham Police executed 21 CDSA search warrants at 51 Taylor, with 49 arrests and 119 charges. It is the evidence of Keith Myers, a police sergeant that Police spoke with Marlowe after every warrant.

[72] On a February 6, 2002 police occurrence Marlowe told attending police officers he would be seeking an order to have the tenants in apartment 10 (the Hutchings apartment) evicted from his building due to the amount of problems he had been having with them.

[73] On May 4, 2006, the Police interviewed Marlowe at Chatham headquarters regarding 51 Taylor Avenue regarding the illegal activities in this building. At that time, he stated, “I never participate in that”.

[74] From June, 2006 onward, Police attended at the premises of 51 Taylor and made drug seizures on the following dates:

(1) June 9, 2006

(2) June 14, 2006

(3) June 15, 2006

(4) July 9, 2006

(5) November 30, 2006

(6) December 9, 2006

(7) December 13, 2006

(8) December 22, 2006

(9) January 7, 2007

(10) July 2, 2007

(11) August 5, 2007

(12) August 7, 2007

[75] On a January 24, 2007 police occurrence, Marlowe stated to attending police officers that he had told the drug dealing tenants that they had one month to get out, and that they told him they would be out in 90 days.

[76] On an April 29, 2007 police occurrence he stated to police officers that he was going to get 51 Taylor “cleaned up” in the “next month or so”.

[77] Marlowe, in his cross-examination, admitted to the police conversations of 2002, 2006 and 2007, but beyond that claimed he was unaware of criminal activity. As well, it is not disputed that Police met with Patricia in 2007 to acquaint her with their concerns about 51 Taylor.

[78] With all of the above, and remembering that Marlowe was actively involved in the maintenance of his building, collected all rents, and attended there a number of times each month, it is impossible to believe his evidence that he was not aware of the scope of illegal activities at 51 Taylor.

[79] There is also some evidence that Marlowe had more than just knowledge of the illegal activity.

[80] Photographs were produced in evidence in which Marlowe was captured associating with known drug dealers at 51 Taylor and attending at a window at 51 Taylor through which individuals have been observed to attend and undertake hand to hand exchanges. The photographs show Marlowe associating with Kent Butler, Marcus Hutchings and with unidentified persons.

[81] On the afternoon of October 2, 2006, Mr. Y, who was allowed to protect his identity for his safety, photographed Marlowe interacting with Gerry List Sr., a known drug user and dealer. The photographs show a pill bottle in the hands of each of them and a wallet in Marlowe’s hands. Mr. Y overheard Marlowe say, “I need a perc a day”. The photographs leave very little to the imagination and allow for the conclusion that this was a drug transaction.

[82] Marlowe has attested to the fact that he was involved in a motor vehicle accident 20 years ago and has been taking prescription medication, namely 4 oxycocets, 2 diazepams and 6 or 7 Tylenol 3 tablets every day since.

[83] In assessing the conduct of Marlowe and whether he was a responsible owner it is important to recognize the efforts of the other property owners who provided affidavits which speak to their obvious successes in determining illegal activity on their properties even in the face of the criminal activity spilling from 51 Taylor. In addition, it is significant that since August, 2007, with the presence of the preservation order, police calls to Taylor Avenue have dried up. The affidavits attest to the return to a healthy neighbourhood, and a lack of the former property crimes so obviously related to drug use.

[84] I find that Marlowe has failed to provide evidence that he has done all that could reasonably be done to prevent the property from being used to engage in unlawful activity.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> The law expects landlords to police their tenants but does not give them the means to do so. Just the opposite. Try to evict a bad tenant and see how the courts bend over backwards to favor the poor downtrodden tenant over the mean landlord.
> 
> The biggest joke is this forfiture solves NOTHING. The building is still there, the bum tenants are still there, the police still aren't doing their job, and what do they expect the new owner to do? Who would buy a building like that anyway?


While I agree with you statements that it is really difficult to force tenants to do anything, it is unlikely that you would over the period of years, go buy pills from and then mow the lawn of a property like this. I managed a building at Jane & Wilson and another in South Oshawa, we had bad apples, but we didn't say "[email protected]$k it" We did what we had to do that didn't involve the inmates running the asylum. 

I had a tenant at Weston & 401 move in and get busted for weapons possession the day he moved in. They were taking Uzi's out of our lobby for crying out loud. I had that guy scared by the time I was done with him and he moved out 12 days later. Actually I was nice to him, told him we had a lot of cameras & a lot of families we were going to protect and that he had to move. 

We had another guy, I evicted him from his apartment, he punched our accountant in the head, so it was for impaired safety, then he moved into another apartment a few floors down and I evicted the tenant of that apartment and the evicted guy from apartment #1 again, then he moved to an apartment and the place caught fire and people died. As soon as we found out where he was we called the police and let him know. 

I know all about how shitty the system is, that doesn't mean you give up. You continue. You work with the police to fix these situations and get these assholes out. Start aiding and abetting and buying your drugs from them and you lose your building.


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