# Buying a cottage



## Bucci (Jan 12, 2015)

I am renting a back coach cottage of house in Toronto. Paying 1300$ a month rent. LL does not want to do much renos. What do you think about offering to buy it outright? I would need right of access through backyard. Maybe 100k+ LL is well in 80's+ i think needs cash. Any advice on how to a quick deal?


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

The lot may need a severance which could be a wrinkle, especially if you need a right of access.


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

I think it is a good idea and that you can negotiate a better deal without a RE agent. For example you say the owner is 80 and needs cash. He might prefer to take back a mortgage and collect regular monthly payments to live on. You could at least suggest this. A RE agent would frown on this because it complicates the deal.


In any case, before you lay down any money, consult a lawyer to make sure the coach house can be legally sold.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> In any case, before you lay down any money, consult a lawyer to make sure the coach house can be legally sold.


 and the city on severance/right of way.. right of ways can be very messy and very expensive if there is a legal challenge from the owners of the property.

In my area of Ottawa, the right of ways that were setup by the builder for hydro/telephone were legally challenged in court by some owners claiming that they had full use of the right of way as well...to get to their back yards..very messy! 



> Where a property is registered under the Ontario Registry Act, a registered claim or interest against that property expires after 40 years, subject to certain exceptions. A claim or interest can be preserved by registering a notice in the form set out in the Registry Act (a “Notice of Claim”) before the expiration of the 40 year notice period (and if certain requirements are met, thereafter where the interest is full ownership).


http://lawoftheland.blogs.com/law_of_the_land_canadian_/2005/04/do_you_have_a_r.html


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Given all the title problems, I think your only choice it to buy the whole property and sign him up for a lease on his property. Then you can make any changes that you want for the coach house. You could even establish an extra fund from the proceeds to pay his lease payments for him (like a reverse mortgage).


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## Bucci (Jan 12, 2015)

Sure i wish. Houses around here go for at least 2 million. If i did own it, probably the taxes and utilities would be like rent now. Might as well try and stay on their good side and see if they will let me renovated it. We already had a problem because they are renting it 'furnished' which means filled with old moldy junk that i am allergic too. I tried to talk to the lady about it and she said oh it's a new couch, it's a new mattress...BS. It's full of mold! Then i discover the knee walls are filled with old cushions, moldy and dirty, so i dumped it outside. She says this is her personal stuff and call the cops! Cops came and i think helpful and explain i was decent fellow to her. I suppose i am in for more trouble. I already paid her a $500 deposit. She expects me to replace her old junk too. I had to pay $140 removal fee because i had to take out all the old crap from the house to stop my sinuses for rebelling. It is actually a good little coach house now. Major problem: no kitchen vent. That creates excess humidity. Try explaining building science to a 84 years old holocaust survivor...lol. Her answer was to get out, bit nasty. So i guess i am dreaming to think she sell it to me, hopefully things will mellow out in some months. I don't plan on giving this deal up (would you?) It will undoubtedly end up in LLcourt since i am already out $640. Really they are responsible for new furniture too if they are renting it furnished. But i wasn't holding them to that. In the end they will need to give me $640 + $1000 for replaced furniture or perhaps $100 off per month. Consider the furnished cost is higher than unfurnished. She obviously has no clue what she is doing or about the legality of renting and it's not my intention to take advantage either. I would like to say here for many years in fact.


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## Davis (Nov 11, 2014)

Disposing of her furniture without discussing it with her first was probably the most effective way of setting her against you. You seem to think that you were entitled to do whatever you wanted with her belongings, and she understandably disagrees. I think it will be pretty hard to repair this relationship unless you are willing to admit that you handled it badly. Do you really want to stay and fight with her over everything? You may be better off starting again with a new landlord and a new, more cooperative and respectful attitude. She survived a lot worse than you, and probably won't be willing to give an inch to you.


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## Bucci (Jan 12, 2015)

I did discuss it with her. She seems to be in denial that it is mold and some what of hoarder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding
I thought i was being sympathetic to her. I told her right away that i wanted to change the mattress and some of the furniture, which she agreed. She was very pushy to get rent and sign and agreement. I brought the cash and she snatched it up! She said she wanted a long term tenant. How does that make sense that she expects someone to live in rotten old furniture worth not even $5 ? I can put up with some things but i refuse to pay money and harm my health. You can't image what was stuffed in the knee wall, filthy old carpets and outdoor recliner mattresses. This was the reason she had a hard time renting the place, obviously people came there and could smell rotten mold. Now i have fixed the problem for her, why should i leave then someone else will grab it? Why is what she survived is so much more important what i have survived and my family? What right does she have to be so abusive? If she not willing to give a inch, should i not be the same way and sue her?


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Because it's her property. No one is forcing you to live there. You don't like her rules, leave. She worked hard to pay for it, and the stuff within. 

You did inspect the place before moving in, so you knew what you were getting. 

When you've done the same, you can live your way.


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## Bucci (Jan 12, 2015)

No you are wrong. The LL is required to maintain the property, the LL is required to maintain the furniture if it is included. That is why we have leases and contract agreements. I am forced to lived there, i have made financial obligation, incurred moving expenses etc.. I am not required to do detailed forensic exams of an apartment before i rent it. She is claiming the apartment and furniture are in livable condition by signing the lease. Property standards. The alternative would be to get the health inspector there and she would be fined until removed. During that time she would be required to pay my hotel bill. She also entered my apartment illegal which she can sued for again as well as fined. She is not above the law nor am i.


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## Davis (Nov 11, 2014)

You were still in the wrong if you disposed of a anything or put it outside without her consent, and likely broke both your lease and the Residential Tenancies Act. It also sounds like she may be a lousy landlord. The fact that you are so angry with her and feel you have to resort to legal action tells me that you will never have a healthy landlord-tenant relationship with her. The two of you will end up fighting over everything. Staying is not going to be good for your sanity or hers. While you feel that you shouldn't have to leave, if one of you has to go, the Rental Housing Tribunal will never force a landlord to sell. The best that you can hope for after a long and bitter legal fight is a settlement where she pays you to leave. Given that she already has a valid claim against you, you may not even get that. Either way, the outcome will be that you leave. So your best options are either to cut your losses and leave, or try to resolve things with her amicably - if that is even possible at this point. Going the legal route is the best approach for enriching a couple of lawyers, but usually smart tenants and landlords do their best to avoid that. It doesn't sound like you're likely to be able to come to an agreement with her on a severance and purchase, or would even want the crazy old bat as a neighbour.


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## iherald (Apr 18, 2009)

Bucci said:


> I am renting a back coach cottage of house in Toronto. Paying 1300$ a month rent. LL does not want to do much renos. What do you think about offering to buy it outright? I would need right of access through backyard. Maybe 100k+ LL is well in 80's+ i think needs cash. Any advice on how to a quick deal?


Why would someone who owns a house in an area that sell for $2,000,000 sell a coach cottage for $100,000? Regardless of the quality of it and the repairs needed, I can't imagine selling it for less than $500,000 based simply on the fact that you could immediatly tear it down and build a nicer place and get huge money for it. I'd like to live in Rosedale or Forest Hill, if I can buy a coach house it would still be expensive. 

Remember the value of the homes in that area are as much about location (land) than about the house. So you're buying expensive land.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

If she owns even a 1 million dollar house and paid for I am sure she is not too desperate for cash.Did you put any of your concerns in writing before you threw things out and started fixing it like you already owned the place?


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

First of all Bucci you sound like a complete and total predatory tenant. You and people like you are the reason that landlords all over Ontario are quitting the business. 

You are also an ******* and a scummy human being. The lady is 80 years old and you are fabricating reasons to take her to the Landlord & Tenant Board. Furthermore you're getting a sweet sweet deal, I don't even rent a one bedroom condo for $1300 these days, not even unfurnished and you have an entire coach house furnished in a peach neighborhood. 

You saw the condition of the place and now she needs to buy new furniture for you because it's old? The rent is discounted for the condition of the furniture if she bought new furniture she should charge more. 

In any case thank you, it's people like you that grow my business year after year, I'd love to hear you explain in a proper LTB case how you "knew" there was mold and how dangerous it was. Because there happens to be about 150 million types of mold and only 80 that may be dangerous at all. This danger ranges from possible sniffles to death so your mileage may vary. Plus even if mold is discovered, the landlord still has the opportunity to repair it. I've had it with idiot tenants who don't pay their rent and end up at the landlord & tenant board, with their excuse being "mold issue" You're not the only yahoo to figure this out, there are 10 of these accusations per block of hearings at the LTB. I'm sure the adjudicators must think that landlords have a secondary mold manufacturing job on the side for extra income from all the tenant reports of mold. There should be mold running down the driveways of the houses with deadbeat tenants in them. 

The city inspectors too like to be used as pawns in little tenant games, but here's the deal, if the place is as terrible as you say it is they will condemn the house and put you on the street. I'm not sure what tenants think when they report their illegal apartments... that worked really well, now go find another place to live you brainiac. 

I hope your 80 year old landlord finds my number and calls me, people like you are the reason that evictions can be extremely satisfying. 

But we both know your life is not in danger, if it were you'd move out instead of parking there like a parasite.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

The hell did I walk into here?

Would suggest changing the thread title to "Trying to buy a large shed in Toronto from an old, possibly Jewish, lady who hates me." as to dissuade gullible thread readers who thought this would be a delightful conversation about a cottage on a lake somewhere.


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## Bucci (Jan 12, 2015)

peterk said:


> First of all Bucci you sound like a complete and total predatory tenant. You and people like you are the reason that landlords all over Ontario are quitting the business.
> 
> You are also an ******* and a scummy human being. The lady is 80 years old and you are fabricating reasons to take her to the Landlord & Tenant Board. Furthermore you're getting a sweet sweet deal, I don't even rent a one bedroom condo for $1300 these days, not even unfurnished and you have an entire coach house furnished in a peach neighborhood. (


Oh my god, sound like you have your head firmly stuck up you ar$

I certainly have not fabricated anything. Are you complete crazy? The reality is starting to hit home. When furniture is moldy in a house it is for a reason. There is plenty of dry rot in this house. If anything this lady is the predictor, that why she wants dumb student to live in her rotten old cottage. Buy it? No way. It probably needs to be torn down. She is bully too. Yes $1300 is good deal - if it wasnt's moldy! There is a reason for everything and nothing is for free my dears.

She is responsible to maintain the property and if she rent the it furnish the furnishing too. You can't just trick someone into renting rotten stuff then claim they must live with it. Mold is serious health hazard. It is not a joke. It is not joke that you slum lord rent out propety that you wouldn't let your dog sleep in to sucker on kijij.

I see your sleazy web site. Demanding $500 deposit for mold worthless furniture is too much. I've had to clean out the knee walls that was previously filled with her worthless crazy hoarder junk. Yes i am sympathetic she is in her 80's but then again she has 2 million dollar house! Either her estranged children will inherit or more likely it will end up some banks coffer. There is no such thing as cheap rent if it makes you sick! I specifically mentioned that i have allergies and asked repeatedly if there is mold or water damage problem. Yet she snatch the money up like some kijij swindler. The problems is obvious now, no vents for the kitchen and bathroom for 40 years. Cheapness catches up to you. Now she is trying to scam people into renting this place. I can see i am the latest sucker. I notice her computer lease had the date Oct 2014 was the last person only lasted 3 months.

Anyways i had to clean all the black mold out of the knee walls. Is that my job??? I should call the health inspector and get it all document then move to a hotel and let the lawyers take care it. I would really like this place to work out, just like many tenant - we just want a good place to live. I will try it bit longer. You should see the ridiculous lease she made me sign, no over night guests! If i have an over night guest she gets to keep my $500 deposit. How is she going to prove that in LL court? Actually i think it might a good experience for her down on St. Clair. Being 84 is no excuse to bully people. That's why we have laws. I heard about tenants getting charged for fraud, what about LL's?

I might add too, the reason she already so hostile has nothing to do with me. The reason is that every tenant has lost their friggin mind living in mold rotten coach house with some irate women with a mamma complex who lies and says oh the furniture is new, the mattress is new. BS it is new. This women lies. I am really worried what will happen in the spring when it gets warmer.


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