A backlog of cases at Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board has grown to 38,000 and it is taking an average of seven or eight months—sometimes up to two years—for a hearing to be scheduled, the province’s ombudsman said Thursday.
When the pandemic hit, the backlog was already at 20,000 applications, and the subsequent move to virtual hearings and a moratorium on evictions impeded the board’s efforts to chip away at the backlog, he said.
“The result was not just a litany of bureaucratic failures, like adjudicator shortages, scheduling nightmares and dysfunctional technology,” Dubé said at a press conference presenting his report.
Tenants were stuck waiting while they endured harassment, unsafe living conditions, and improper attempts to force them from their homes and small landlords had to cope with tenants’ abuse and face financial ruin, Dubé said.
Part of the problem is a shortage of adjudicators compounded by a cumbersome appointment and training process, he said. The ombudsman noted that the government has pledged to appoint 40 more adjudicators and he urged it to act quickly.
“With the new resources we’ve been allocated by the government of Ontario and plans we have underway, many of the report’s recommendations are being addressed,” Sean Weir and Harry Gousopoulos wrote.
“We are confident that significant inroads into the backlog will be made this fiscal year.”
A statement from a spokesperson for the attorney general noted $6.5 million to hire more adjudicators and $28.5 million for a new case management system for Tribunals Ontario, but suggested the ombudsman’s report did not tell the full story.
Dubé said both the board and the government have accepted his recommendations and have pledged to report back to his office on their progress in implementing them.
