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Ontario mother still paying rent, despite not being able to live in mouldy home
(kitchener.ctvnews.ca)
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this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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Why has she continued to pay? This is very confusing. That money would have been better spent on a team of inspectors, photographs, and legal fees.
Probably because if you don't pay rent you can end up evicted and then functionally barred from living anywhere.
Thats when you start putting your rent into escrow and tell the landlord he can have it when the place is fixed. The courts will probably support you in this as long as you’re actually paying to an escrow account.
Or you dont be your own lawyer and follow legal advice, which is probably to fulfill the contract you signed when you rented the place and sue for what you are due after the fact.
These types of claims are handled in small claims where neither party has a lawyer. As long as you actually have the money in escrow you should be fine.
If the landlord is breaking the lease first by not fixing things you aren’t in the wrong for withholding payment until the issues have been fixed.
Don't do this.
You cannot withhold rent unless the landlord's been told to fix the problem, and generally you'll want the LTB to issue that order, rather than withholding it of your own accord. Other jurisdictions will let you do this and/or use escrow, but Ontario isn't one of them.
tl;dr consult a lawyer or paralegal before withholding rent.
I know this post is old, but in case anyone is reading this in the future:
There are many people who will pay large sums of money to "win", no matter what the "prize" is.
People in small claims in Canada, often have lawyers. Even just search "small claims lawyer" online, you'll find people who specialize in it.
I live in oil-country, people here will spend $25k to make sure they don't need to pay $700 for something they don't want to.