Ontario Landlords Prefer Tenants Without Protections Because “It Just Feels So Much Better”

By Noa Garmaise

Toronto - An overwhelming majority of Ontario landlords report that renting to tenants without protections is “an entirely different experience, like for real, you have no idea.” These comments come in reference to the 1997 Ontario Tenant Protection Act which some landlords claim fails to acknowledge how good unprotected renting can feel.

“You can’t even compare the two,” landlord Stephen Bell told us. “Sure, you learn in school that practicing safe renting is always the best idea. And yeah, it’s like still good. But lease signing without tenant rights... that’s a whole other animal.”

Meanwhile tenants find themselves divided on the issue—many describe knowing the value of renting with protections, but still want to seem cool and chill for their landlords.

“It’s definitely a complicated issue for me,” explained Jesse O’Connor, a tenant in North York. “It’s like every time I’ve rented unprotected I’ve gotten away without anything bad happening. I mean, there was a scare once, but it turned out to be nothing.” He continued, “Anyways, I don’t know. Sometimes you just get caught up in the moment with a rental agreement.”

While experts acknowledge the unique viewpoints of both landlords and tenants, they wish to offer a clarifying warning.

A spokesperson for The Landlord and Tenant Board told us Monday, “There’s a lot of false information going around. We want to clarify that it is always a good idea to practice safe renting, even if you feel you trust the person. And to all the landlords out there—pulling your tenants out early doesn’t do much good either. As long as you’re renting in the first place, both parties are at risk.”

The province of Ontario continues to give out free protections to tenants and urges landlords to actually use them.

Noa Garmaise is a contributing writer at The Toronto Harold and a student at McGill University. Her work has appeared in The Hard Times, The McGill Tribune, and The Milking Cat.