THE BEST of the YEAR (March 11, 2015 / 12:59:47) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015 P02.Pdf .1
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(March 11, 2015 / 12:59:45) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015_p01.pdf .1 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 The Myth of Youth Unemployment Apartment Plumbing: Common Problems Small Landlord, Big Problem: Small Claims Court Leasing Lessons FRPO's San Diego Housing Tour May 6-7 FRPO’S FAIR EXCHANGE OF RENTAL INDUSTRY NEWS FRPO MAC AWARDS 2014 THE BEST OF THE YEAR (March 11, 2015 / 12:59:47) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015_p02.pdf .1 2 FAIR EXCHANGE January-February 2015 CONTENTS January-February 2015 FRPO’S FAIR EXCHANGE OF RENTAL INDUSTRY NEWS Features Departments Leasing Reap the 8 Lessons 28Benefits of President's Report Trained Staff 3 By Scott Andison CFAA Report Landlord Utility Billing 6 By John Dickie, CFAA President 9Tenant Board 30Bottom Line Update Small Landlord, 26 Big Problems Small Claims Court By Mike Chopowick CMHC How to Prevent 10Rental Market 32 Common Outlook Apartment Upcoming Events Plumbing Issues 39 FRPO’s Reaching out to 11San Diego 34Generation Rent Housing Tour FRPO’s Interval House 142014 MAC 35Reflects on 2014 Awards Cover Story Cover photo: Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney at FRPO's 2014 The Kids Awards Gala 24Are Alright (March 11, 2015 / 12:59:48) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015_p03.pdf .1 The Voice of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario 3 President’sPERSPECTIVE by Scott Andison It is indeed my great pleasure to be writing a column for Governments have this edition of FE Magazine as it marks my one year the necessary anniversary of the association’s President & CEO. legislative tools to allocate resources to This past year has been an eventful one that included a ensure that all if its Iprovincial election, working with three different Cabinet citizens have at Ministers in the housing portfolio, and building and minimum their basic enhancing our partnerships with other organizations with needs met, and make common objectives. available the opportunities to With the dust finally settled down at Queen’s Park with a achieve the highest Liberal majority government, during these last several level of success months FRPO has retooled its government relations and possible. When advocacy approach to align with the government’s priorities governments venture primarily in the arena of affordable housing. beyond this core competency, the results are often marred Affordable housing has attracted a wide-range of definitions by inefficiency and lower than desired outcomes. and degrees of use over the years depending on the Our advice to government is quite clear: let the parties objective at hand. FRPO has most recently embraced the focus on what they do well, and avoid those things where same definition of affordable housing as used by CMHC: we cannot deliver the best possible outcome. Professional Affordable housing is housing that people can afford. While it housing providers are best at responding to the demands may appear too simplistic on first review, the definition of the housing market and provide the right style of housing really does not have to be any more complicated than that. in the right place at the right time. Government has its own Housing that is affordable cannot be delivered by just one very important role to play: to provide housing subsidies to party. Housing providers want to provide quality housing those who are economically disadvantaged and cannot solutions that meet the needs of those seeking it. The afford housing without assistance. desire of government is to ensure those who require There is significant academic research that proves that assistance in securing adequate housing needs receive the when an organization specializes in what they are equipped necessary supports to do so. The best solution can be to do well, they achieve better results and outcomes than if achieved when there is alignment between these two they pursue activities they are ill-equipped to deliver. There objectives and they work together. is nothing to suggest this same premise does not apply to Professional housing providers are very good at what they housing. do: building and managing purpose-built rental housing. The Premier has made affordable housing a priority in the In the absence of unnecessary or unhelpful administrative mandate letters of four Cabinet Ministers, so we are setting barriers or economic restrictions, professional housing out how the rental-housing sector can help them to deliver providers are able to deliver high quality, efficiently- on this common mandate. We are continuing to advance managed housing solutions to a broad spectrum of this position with government officials, and we are consumers. encouraged with our initial discussions to date. (March 11, 2015 / 12:59:49) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015_p04.pdf .1 4 FAIR EXCHANGE January-February 2015 03 RENT CONTROL 02 RENT DISPUTE PROCESS 01 04 PROPERTY TAXES MUNICIPAL LICENSING And of course our discussions with various government outcome in our efforts to reduce the administrative burden officials continue to bring attention to the four primary on apartment owners and managers regarding the volume policy matters important to our membership. of information requested each year by MPAC for the Tenant Information Program (TIP) forms. Through our efforts, Property Taxes MPAC agreed to implement new TIPs forms this year that Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada and other reduced the amount of information required by 93%. This commonwealth countries that uses an outdated method of reduction started this year and will continue each year going determining the assessed value of multi-residential forward. properties (apartment buildings). The Gross Income Multiplier (GIM) fails to produce accurate assessment Rent Dispute Process values on rental housing buildings, causing many owners We have made tremendous progress in our engagement and managers to spend significant money on appeals and with the Landlord Tenant Board in presenting our concerns litigation. This past year, FRPO commissioned a research about the unjust treatment of landlords who appear before report produced by the renowned International Property Tax the tribunal. Earlier this year FRPO partnered with the Institute (IPTI) to provide us the necessary evidence to Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) in a approach Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and joint approach to the Landlord Tenant Board to explore the Ontario Government with a better solution. FRPO is changes to the current system that would result in a more currently exploring options with government officials in streamlined resolutions process that is built on fairness. order to realize better quality assessments being returned on multi-residential buildings. This broader representation of the housing sector by FRPO and ONPHA has caused the government to give In September 2014 we also announced a successful consideration to some new approaches that we believe will (March 11, 2015 / 12:59:49) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015_p05.pdf .1 The Voice of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario 5 dramatically improve the process and reduce delays and costs to landlords. We look forward to sharing more news with you in the near future on the results of our efforts on this file. Rent Control The evidence clearly demonstrates that rent control policies have significant economic consequences to the housing market in terms of new supply of rental housing and the ability to respond to the changing needs of tenants. We are encouraged our message is starting to get through and that government is now finally open to considering different options that would actually promote the building of much-needed purpose-built rental housing. There is no stronger voice out there than ours on how changes to current rent control policy could improve the availability of the right homes, in the right places, for those who need them. Municipal licensing FRPO has been quite vocal about its opposition to granting municipalities the power to establish local licensing regimes for rental housing that are simply a duplication of the existing powers they already have, but at an additional cost to tenants. When municipalities charge licensing fees to housing providers, these fees are then passed through to tenants, who are usually the ones least likely to be able to afford to pay them. When governments are advocating they must do more to help those in need, how can they justify increasing the cost of one of the most basic needs, namely housing. 2015 has the potential of being a year where government and industry can work better together to strengthen the rental housing sector and provide even better outcomes than in the past. Your association will continue to advocate on your behalf and ensure the provincial government understands what is possible when our objective are more closely aligned. (March 11, 2015 / 12:59:50) 90352-1 FRPO-Jan2015_p06.pdf .1 6 FAIR EXCHANGE January-February 2015 REPORT FRPO’S FAIR EXCHANGE OF CFAA RENTAL INDUSTRY NEWS The voice of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers CFAA’s Focus Returns of Ontario to Housing Programs A PUBLICATION OF: by John Dickie, CFAA President The recent downturn in oil prices has EDITOR: changed the economic outlook of both Mike Chopowick • FRPO EMAIL: [email protected] oil-producing provinces and non-oil TF: 1 (877) 688-1960 producing provinces. It has also had PHONE: (416) 385-1100 EX 21 an impact on the goals CFAA will be FAX: (416) 385-7112 www.frpo.org Temphasizing over the near term. 20 Upjohn Rd., Suite 105 Toronto, Ontario M3B 2V9 As readers may know, CFAA recently received credible advice that it is ADVERTISING & SALES: Mike Rich • MPH Graphics unrealistic for landlords to seek broad- EMAIL: [email protected] based tax reductions on the rental TF: 1 (800) 668-6037 housing sector. That is due to the PHONE: (905) 470-2265 federal government's view that the FAX: (905) 470-2205 mphgraphics.com housing markets are working 35 Mobile Drive adequately, and the limits on how many Toronto, ON M4A 2P6 issues government can tackle at any SUBSCRIPTIONS & ADDRESS CHANGE: time.