Latest news with #ResidentialTenanciesAct
Hamilton Spectator
6 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- Hamilton Spectator
A place to live until you die? What you need to know about ‘life leases' in Ontario
It might seem like a dream, a guaranteed place to live for as long as you need without the hassle or exceptionally high cost of a home. So-called 'life leases' — contracts in a community for seniors in which they buy the right to live in a place until they die — made headlines recently when a group of Markham retirees protested what they argue are surprise repair costs. But how exactly do these arrangements work? And are they a good idea? According to the Ontario Life Lease Residents Association (OLLRA), an incorporated non-profit that represents the interests of life lease residents, a life lease is purchased through a lump sum. You don't pay rent. But instead of buying a property, you are buying the right to occupy a home for life, usually about 50 years. They are targeted at seniors with different minimum age cut-offs. A life lease 'sponsor' owns the property. Life leases in Ontario are mostly owned by non-profits and charitable organizations, said Lois Marsh-Duggan, a 77-year-old member on the executive of the OLLRA. It's hard to estimate how many there are in Ontario. But there are almost 700 members of the OLLRA, she said, and most people who sign life leases are older women. 'The purchase is a right to occupy. So we own a right to occupy, ' said Dave Wellock, a fellow member of the OLLRA executive who turns 83 on Thursday. You sign a contract, not a lease, and residents aren't covered under the Condo Act or the Residential Tenancies Act. This can lead to confusion. 'Most people think it's a condo,' Marsh-Duggan said. Lawyers, real estate agents and the insurance industry often don't know about life leases or explain them well, so it's important to know what you are getting into. But the complicating factor is that 'each one of them may have a completely different setup,' said Marsh-Duggan. The life lease lump sums are typically less money than a traditional condo. At one life lease building in Markham, resident Chloe Efthyvoulos recently told the Star she bought her two-bedroom life lease in 2017 for around $400,000. However, many life lease residents pay monthly maintenance fees, just like in a condo, which can be high, especially in older buildings. With housing prices in general so high in the GTA, Marsh-Duggan said she has seen ads for life leases in the region for more than a million dollars. Life leases mean less maintenance. Tasks like shovelling snow or mowing grass are eliminated. There are often social activities such as movie nights or Mahjong. Gerry Meade, another life lease resident and member of OLLRA, said one of the huge benefits of living in a life lease is that it's a community just for seniors, who help each other out, getting groceries or taking each other to doctor's appointments. This really helps with addressing isolation for them, which is a huge mental health issue. 'There's a lot of support,' said the 78-year-old. If you die, whoever inherits your estate would get the life lease interest but not the right to occupy it. That means they could sell it, but not automatically move in; that decision would be up to the 'sponsor,' according to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing guide. For example, the child of a 75-year-old life lease holder who dies may not be old enough to qualify for residency in the building. Many have a minimum age of at least 55. Life leases have been described as 'outside of the law, the wild west or a hot mess,' said Wellock. That's why members of the OLLRA are lobbying for legislation on life leases. This already exists in Manitoba and is something that was recently passed in Saskatchewan, said Marsh-Duggan. Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae introduced a bill called the 'Life Lease Act' in 2023. But when the Ontario's February election was called, it died, he confirmed to the Star in an email. In addition to this lack of legal protection, it's important to note, according to the OLLRA members, that residents don't have the right to have a say in the running of the community or right to information about it. The community may have a reserve fund to cover repairs, or not, and older buildings may require more repairs. At Wyndham Gardens apartments in Unionville, residents told the Star they were shocked to discover that they would be expected to pay hundreds of dollars a month to finance a new roof repair. What the OLLRA members would love to see in any legislation is 'not just the life lease unit holders having access to information, but us having some say in how money is raised and spent,' said Meade. 'We pay the bill, but we have no say of what the bill is going to be or how it's calculated or spent.'
CBC
10 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
A rent cap in N.B. gets one-year extension ahead of fall review
A three per cent rent cap brought in during the winter will continue for the 2025-2026 fiscal year but will be reviewed this fall with the Residential Tenancies Act, Housing Minister David Hickey says.
Global News
a day ago
- Business
- Global News
New Brunswick's 3% rent cap to remain through end of fiscal year: housing minister
New Brunswick's housing minister says the province's three per cent rent cap will remain throughout this fiscal year after going into effect in February. Noting its importance, Minister David Hickey said, 'we're offering that stability for renters, while at the same time committing to review the Residential Tenancies Act.' At an economic policy meeting last December, housing researchers and a tenants' advocate asked for a unit-based cap. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy At the time, Hickey said the province wouldn't have enough time to create unit-based caps before the rent cap took effect. On Wednesday, he clarified that basing the cap on the unit is not a priority at this time. 'It's largely not on the table, and not something we're considering now, as was consistent with what we had said throughout the winter,' he said. Story continues below advertisement It's something Green MLA Megan Mitton wants to see in the future. 'Linking (the rent) to the unit would be a way to again keep rents more affordable,' said Mitton. However, she's praising the continuation of the cap as it is now. 'I'm hoping that it does remain permanent because I think it's still necessary to preserve what affordable housing we do have left,' she said. For more on this story, watch the video above.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Tenancy terminated over assault threats
A man who threw plastic chairs at his frightened neighbours, before letting off a gas bottle in the shared hallway and shouting "boom, boom, you can all die", has lost his Salvation Army flat. Quinton Rihari could not be reached for the Tenancy Tribunal's hearing, where the Salvation Army sought to terminate the tenancy on his central Dunedin flat, saying he had threatened to assault other tenants in the complex. According to the tribunal's recently released decision, Rihari received written warnings about his behaviour at his Thomas Burns St flat on three occasions. The first was on December 27 last year, when he broke a painting in the corridor during a fight. It began at 3.30am and lasted for an hour and a half. Then, in February, he verbally abused tenants when they asked him to turn his music down. Two months later, on April 14, the Salvation Army says Rihari became angry and threw plastic chairs off a shared balcony, frightening other tenants. After returning to his room, Rihari let off a 9kg LPG bottle in the hallway, yelling "boom, boom, you can all die". Police were called and took Rihari away, but he returned and begin yelling at the other tenants, calling them "narks". Later that day, he told another tenant he was going to "punch her head in". Again, police were called and Rihari was taken away. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, the tribunal can terminate a tenancy if it's satisfied a tenant has engaged in antisocial behaviour on three separate occasions during a 90-day period and received written notice on each occasion. The decision found that while Rihari received separate notices for each incident, the three incidents spanned 108 days, outside the 90-day period. Despite this, as the tribunal found Rihari had threatened to harm his neighbours, it agreed to terminate Rihari's tenancy. By Catherine Hutton
RNZ News
3 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Quinton Rihari loses Dunedin flat after threatening neighbours
By Catherine Hutton, Open Justice reporter of Photo: 123rf A man who threw plastic chairs at his frightened neighbours before letting off a gas bottle in the shared hallway and shouting "Boom, boom, you can all die", has lost his Salvation Army flat. Quinton Rihari couldn't be reached for the Tenancy Tribunal's hearing, where the Salvation Army sought to terminate the tenancy on his central Dunedin flat, saying he'd threatened to assault other tenants in the complex. According to the tribunal's recently released decision, Rihari received written warnings about his behaviour at his Thomas Burns Street flat on three occasions. The first was on 27 December last year, when he broke a painting in the corridor during a fight outside his room. It began at 3.30am and lasted for an hour and a half. Then, in February, he verbally abused tenants when they asked him to turn his music down. Two months later, on 14 April, the Salvation Army says Rihari became angry and threw plastic chairs off a shared balcony, frightening other tenants. After returning to his room, Rihari let off a 9kg LPG bottle in the hallway, yelling, "Boom, boom, you can all die". Police were called and took Rihari away, only for him to return and begin yelling at the other tenants, calling them "narks". Later that day, he told another tenant he was going to "punch her head in". Again, police were called and Rihari was taken away. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, the tribunal can terminate a tenancy if it's satisfied a tenant has engaged in antisocial behaviour on three separate occasions during a 90-day period and received written notice on each occasion. Antisocial behaviour includes harassment or any act (whether intentional or not) that reasonably causes significant alarm, distress or nuisance. The decision found that while Rihari received separate notices for each incident, the three incidents spanned 108 days, outside the 90-day period. Despite this, the tribunal found Rihari had threatened to harm his neighbours over the gas cylinder incident and threatened to assault another neighbour. As a result, it agreed to terminate Rihari's tenancy. When the Salvation Army was approached for comment late Tuesday afternoon, its media officer Kai Sanders said no one was available for comment, adding this wasn't something the organisation would usually comment on because of its strict rules around privacy. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
