A property management company in Sault Ste. Marie has taken to social media to alert fellow landlords to a “professional tenant” who has been living in one of the rental properties it manages — without actually paying rent — for the past eight months and counting.
Last week, Superior Property Management used its social media account to share an excerpt from an Aug. 25 Landlord and Tenant Board order evicting the tenant from 415 Wellington Street East for non-payment of rent, effective Sept. 5.
"Sault landlords, beware of this professional tenant," proclaimed the social media post. "This is the second order against her!"
The tenant was ordered by the board to pay more than $11,000 in rental arrears in addition to nearly $50 per day for use of the unit.
“This is just blatant fraud,” said Superior Property Management owner Jean Morrison, in a telephone interview with SooToday. “She’s stealing from this [landlord] and I don’t understand how the law won’t charge her legally for stealing all this money and living there for free.”
A message to the tenant from SooToday requesting an interview has not been returned.
Sara Marshall, an office manager with the Sault-based property management company, said the tenant began renting the three-bedroom property for $1,500 per month beginning in November 2022.
Three months of rent were paid by the tenant in all before the monthly rent stopped coming in. Marshall said she began messaging the tenant in January and February 2023 to inquire about the non-payment of rent.
The tenant insisted she had made rent payments, said Marshall, but claimed they were lost by the bank.
“She was sending us screenshots that made it look like the rent was being paid,” Marshall said.
The tenant eventually stopped replying to phone calls, emails, text messages and home visits from the property manager. Subsequent sleuthing by Superior Property Management led the company to openroom.ca, a website designed to help "responsible tenants and landlords have a productive rental experience."
That’s where Superior Property Management learned of another incident involving the same tenant: a November 2022 order from the Landlord Tenant Board to terminate tenancy and evict the tenant for non-payment of rent at a Woodward Avenue property.
The tenant’s most recent order stemming from non-payment of rent has also been shared to openroom.ca in order to warn landlords of the tenant, who did not show up for Landlord and Tenant Board hearings in both instances, according to tribunal documents.
“We’re just fed up seeing this happen to good landlords,” Marshall said.
The property manager’s social media post was recently shared in a public Facebook group, leading to some criticism from its members for outing the tenant by name.
“There were people who were actually surprised by us posting it," Morrison said. "Why would they think that type of person needs protection?”
On Tuesday, the owner of 415 Wellington Street East received some less-than-favourable news: the order to terminate tenancy and evict the tenant has been stayed by the Landlord and Tenant Board because the tenant claimed she was unable to attend the hearing.
The next hearing date has yet to be determined, which means the tenant can continue to live in the property rent free until another Landlord and Tenant Board hearing is scheduled.
“It’s so skewed towards protecting the tenants," Morrison said of the board. "The landlord is just at this person’s mercy right now."