Ottawa landlord stuck with huge bill after tenant vandalizes rental home

An Ottawa landlord has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars in repairs after his tenant left his only rental property damaged and messy.

The three-bedroom house in the city’s Elmvale Acres neighborhood has been empty for about a month, but piles of clothes, trash and toys still remain. Windows, walls, floors and doors are also damaged.

“I don’t think this is my thing anymore,” said Mike, the homeowner who asked us not to give his last name.

“I am stressed and my property is being neglected before my eyes. I think I want to get out of the rental business.”

Mike is a private landlord who has been in the industry for about six years.

He says his last tenant, a single mother of five at the time, received a portion of her rent subsidized by the municipal and provincial governments.

Mike tells CTV News he was hesitant to rent his home to her, but given her situation, he didn’t think the alternative of her living in a motel was reasonable.

“I asked the social worker and said, ‘Is this to keep a family out of a motel?’ And she said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly what it is.’ And I guess I foolishly said, ‘Okay, I’ll give this family a chance.’ I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a motel with five kids,” he said.

“I gave them a chance. Luckily the rent is paid. I guess I’m on the lucky side in that respect.”

Damage to a home left a month after the tenant moved out. (Austin Lee/CTV News Ottawa)Mike first got a sense of the condition of the house when he was called in to fix a broken thermostat.

He had a different outlook shortly after when he was given the task of replacing the washing machine. At that point he asked them to leave. Two months later the family had left, leaving behind a hefty bill and a mountain of work.

“I’m not completely depressed because the rent is paid and she’s gone. But there’s a significant amount of work that needs to be done to get it back to a reasonably livable level,” he said.

John Dickie is president of the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization.

He tells CTV News that this is not an uncommon situation.

“I’ve seen worse things. There are worse situations that happen compared to this,” Dickie said.

“Some people would call it the cost of doing business and it is, but it is significant. When it happens, it is a significant cost and it certainly deters people from renting.”

There are still piles of clothing, trash and toys. Windows, walls, floors and doors are also damaged. (Austin Lee/CTV News Ottawa)In a case like Mike is now experiencing, the landlord does have a number of options.

A landlord can file a claim against the tenant with the Tenants and Landlords Council, but if the tenant has a low income and is dependent on social assistance, this is not an option.

“In some cases, the City of Ottawa has what’s called a landlord compensation fund. Under the right circumstances and with the right evidence, the landlord can claim a significant portion of the cost of the remediation from that compensation fund,” Dickie said.

“I don’t know if that fund would apply in this situation, but it is one of the tools the city is making available to encourage landlords to rent to tenants who might otherwise be a little skeptical about the rental risk.”

To make such a claim, a landlord would have to provide clear evidence of the condition of the property before the tenant moved in.

According to Dickie, ideally this should be in the form of a video or checklist, which is signed by the tenant before he/she moves in.

If a landlord has premium home insurance, there may also be scope to make a claim under that insurance.

Anyway, Mike says the whole situation has really clouded his view of the company and he’s probably done with it.

“I don’t think I’ll be hanging around in the rental business. It’s put me off a little bit,” he said.