NPRN Calls for a Moratorium on Rent Obligations
The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network (NPRN) calls on the Province of Ontario to legislate a moratorium on (i.e. a postponement of) the rent obligations of tenants who cannot afford to pay rent on April 1, 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis. The moratorium should endure until emergency funds, which include rent subsidies for eligible tenants, are in place from both the federal and provincial response plans.
NPRN notes with appreciation that Attorney General Doug Downey has implemented a moratorium on enforcement of Landlord and Tenant Board orders, particularly including eviction orders. However, the moratorium on rent obligations called for above is required as well.
In establishing the moratorium, the Province of Ontario would clarify that no landlord can pre-emptively file an application for eviction with the Landlord and Tenant Board, based on non-payment rent on April 1. That is, some landlords will want to file N4 eviction applications, based on late payment of April rent, anticipating enforcement at the end of the moratorium of Landlord and Tenant Board orders. The moratorium would establish that such applications are null.
In order to ensure that landlords are able to pay their mortgages and expenses in the wake of the proposed moratorium, NPRN also calls on the government to legislate postponement of the mortgage obligations of landlords impacted by the moratorium.
