Re: No Heat for 5 days and a rent increase to boot!

Posted by Sean in Ottawa on 2/18/2012, 15:02:43, in reply to "Re: No Heat for 5 days and a rent increase to boot!"

"Apply as a group." Landlords such as you Gerry don't realize how difficult it is to "organize a group." Cold in Toronto you should contact the city inspectors, start a paper trail. --Previous Message-- : Apply as a group to the LTB and see what you : can get in regards to a rent rebate. If he : has already agreed to a $200 rebate you may : not be able to get any more. Although he was : slow to start he is attempting to resolve : the issues. The cost of the heaters should : be his not the tenants unless the tenants : should chose to keep them. : The rent increase is a unrelated issue, if : you have not had a increase for 12 months it : is legal and not relevant to the other : matters. : : --Previous Message-- : Hi there. : : Questions: : : 1) Our building has been without heat for 5 : days (since Thursday, February 9th at around : 3pm). The landlord was on vacation until : last night (Sunday) and unreachable. The : superintendent and someone helping the super : determined that the problem (apparently) is : in the piping under the building - a pipe : burst, we have rads. It is my understanding : that it is illegal to not have heat at 21 : degrees celcius in an apartment from the : 15Th day of September in each year to the : 1st day of June. The landlord last night : said that this illegality doesn't apply here : because he did not purposefully turn off the : heat, but rather it was an "Act of : God/force majeure" that the pipe burst : and that he would start looking for the : problem today (so far we still have no heat : and no further news of what is going on). Do : we have any legal recourse should this lack : of heat continue ad nauseum? We had a : situation a year ago where the same thing : happened and we had no heat at all until the : middle of November or so. (I should add that : the tenants in the building that this is : affecting (6 of us) got together in an ad : hoc meeting with the landlord last night to : see what we could do. We have been told that : we can buy space heaters and take the cost : of them out of our rent, as well as they : will pay the difference in the hydro from : the last bill to next, and we have : negotiated a small rent reduction with the : landlord for March - $200- that we have said : we will revisit if this continues beyond : tomorrow). But, I am still wondering if he : is correct about his escaping the illegality : of this and if we could or should fight for : major rent reductions if it is not fixed : soon. One or two small electric heaters do : not heat our apartment. How long is too long : for us to wait, what are our rights in this : scenario, and what is reasonable to ask for? : Should we call the city building inspectors? : : 2) Our building's property value was : recently reassessed by the city. It went : down by a small fraction of a percentage : (0.74%), effective February 1, 2012. The : official letter we received from the city : informing us of this states that we do not : have to ask for permission from the landlord : for the reduction, that we should just go : ahead and deduct that amount from our rent : at the above date. Which we did. A week : after we handed in our February rent the : landlord turned around and hit the : apartments with a 3.1% rent increase : starting May 1, 2012. When the tenants were : talking with him last night and expressing : our frustrations with the building from the : heat issues, to having no water hot water : for 3 days over the xmas holidays, to the : fact that the building is never cleaned, to : his taking up to a year to make repairs, etc : etc, he basically admitted that he wasn't : going to increase your rent but because we : followed through on the reduction on our : rent immediately he basically did it to : spite us. Is it legal for him to raise our : rent so soon after the decrease, even though : he will be paying less taxes on the property : and has so many terrible mechanical and : maintenance issues with the building? Do we : have any recourse to get him to roll back : the increase, or is there any reason based : on the problems that the building has that : would make it illegal for him to raise the : rent period? : : Thanks! : CIT : : :

---

Message Thread No Heat for 5 days and a rent increase to boot! - Cold in Toronto 2/13/2012, 22:15:25 Re: No Heat for 5 days and a rent increase to boot! - Gerry 2/17/2012, 11:49:29 Re: No Heat for 5 days and a rent increase to boot! - Sean in Ottawa 2/18/2012, 15:02:43 « Back to index

---

Post a Response

POLICIES AND TERMS OF AGREEMENT

The purpose of these boards is to provide a non-judgemental, supportive environment for tenants to discuss problems they are having and possible solutions. We welcome all tenants to post messages relevant to their struggles and successes, ideas for change or upcoming events of interest to tenants. However, we require th at all postings be respectful of other opinions and ideas, and be free of condemnation.

We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any messages. The messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email; and we will make every effort to remove it, if deemed necessary.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use these boards to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually explicit, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you. You also agree not to impersonate any person in the Toronto Tenants Unite! Message board. Anyone found in violation of the above will be banned from the board.

The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations reserves the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations, Boardhost and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s). All personnel of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this message board.

The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations also reserves the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message(s) posted by you.

Please note that advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on these boards.

Finally, we encourage you to help build a safe, non-judgemental environment in this tenant message board community by treating each other with courtesy and respect.