Everyone has heard of the countless bad tenant stories: squatters, garbage left behind, damage to units, unpaid rent, of which we do not need to elaborate.

It is clear that there was a huge oversight in creating the Standard Ontario Residential Lease Agreement which came into effect in April 2018 (thanks Kathleen Wynne).

By forcing landlords to use their last months’ rent on a departing tenants final rent payment – landlords are left with no funds to cover damage left to units once it is vacated.

This forces landlords to sue in civil court for funds that will likely never be seen again. This causes a huge ripple effect in the way landlords conduct their business, the amount of rent they charge, etc.

By adding even a limited ($500-1000) damage deposit clause to the Ontario Residential Lease Agreement, you are:

1. Encouraging landlords & tenants to work together to resolve issues and ensure cordial tenant turnovers
2. Providing some recourse to the increasing number of problem tenants who are squatting, damaging units, and generally taking advantage of a system that is extremely tilted in their favor.
3. Helping alleviate small claims court backlogs
4. Relying less on the LTB to resolve issues
5. Encouraging landlords to take better care of units because they are no longer out of pocket for all repairs/cleaning to vacant units
6. Incentivizing tenants to fulfill their contractual obligations
7. Helping to re-balance the agreement and getting back to landlords & tenants working together.

Thank you for your consideration,

Joel