These Ottawa landlords say they've fallen victim to the same 'professional' tenants

Edriam Salter covers her nose with her sweater as she takes tentative steps through the Ottawa house she and her sister used to call home.

"I can't believe this was the place I used to live, this was my family home. It just smells like a zoo, even a zoo smells better," Salter said.

The 29-year-old takes in the damage she says was caused by her previous tenants. Salter says they only paid rent for three months of their 13-month tenancy, owing her more than $35,000.

She invited CBC for a tour of the property just minutes after she got the keys back following a lengthy battle at Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).

The tour revealed damaged baseboards, holes in the walls, broken lights and faucets, a clogged toilet, broken banisters and carpets covered in stains.

"I did my traditional wedding right here in this living room, but now looking at it. It's not the happy memories we once shared here," Salter said, fighting back tears.

Salter said the tenants, Megan and Justin, first moved into her home in August 2023 and were evicted this September. CBC is withholding the couple's surnames to prevent the identification of their children, who have had to move from home to home with them.

Salter said Megan and Justin are professional tenants and are intentionally not paying rent.

"I'm not the only one she's done it to. There's another landlord, the landlord before me and the landlord before that and the landlord before that landlord," she said.

Professional tenants 'game the system' 

According to the co-founder of Openroom, a website that makes LTB court orders easily searchable for landlords and tenants, professional tenants are often repeat offenders.

"A professional tenant in my opinion is someone who knows how to game the system and they know what to do to delay situations," said Weiting Bollu.

CBC spoke to Megan but she did not agree to an interview and did not respond to written requests for comment, however she denied any allegations that she and Justin are "professional" tenants.

CBC also spoke to three of Megan and Justin's previous landlords, all of whom own properties in and near Orléans and had similar experiences with the couple.

In total, the landlords say the couple has racked up nearly $100,000 in unpaid rent. That doesn't include thousands more in other costs, they said.

Misghina Kidane said he rented his home to Megan and Justin in July 2020. He had decided to rent out his place to make some extra money while he lived with a friend and awaited the arrival of his family from Sudan.

It's been four years, but Kidane remembers the tenants like it was yesterday.

"Megan and Justin was living here for one year, one month and 15 days," he said. "She paid me first and last month's [rent] and she added me $1,000 … and after that she's done," he explained, adding Megan told him she had lost her job due to COVID-19.

The province paused residential evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic as a lifeline to tenants who were struggling financially. The temporary moratorium was lifted about a month after the couple moved into Kidane's property, but by that time a backlog of cases at the LTB had grown and landlords were left with few other options. 

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Kidane said he negotiated a cash for keys deal and ended up paying Megan and Justin about $3,200 to leave his property, even though he says he received no rent for most of the year.

The couple finally moved out in mid-August 2021.

'Wave of betrayal'

That's when Janie and Taylor Bastien entered the picture. They lived nearby and were renting out their family home in Orléans while working in Coquitlam, B.C.

Janie Bastien said she trusted Megan despite being unable to reach the references she provided on the rental application. Now, she realizes her trust was misplaced.

"It's like a wave of betrayal. I trusted this woman to come into my home, I trusted her with some of the furniture I left…. We seemed to bond a bit even if she's a total stranger," Bastien said.

She smiled at me, this big Cheshire grin, and she said, 'We're not going anywhere.'- Taylor Bastien, landlord

The Bastiens said they first noticed something was wrong when the second instalment of the first month's rent didn't come through.

Taylor Bastien said by October, the couple was already two months behind with their rent payments. Around that time, he returned to Ottawa to deal with a plumbing issue at the home.

Bastien gave the tenants the option of a clean slate if they packed up and left.

"She smiled at me, this big Cheshire grin, and she said, 'We're not going anywhere,'" he recalled. "I'll never forget it because clearly she was a professional and she was well-armed. She knew the system. She knew the name of every form, the number of every form."

The Bastiens said the first eviction order from the LTB was voided when Megan and Justin covered the six months' rent they owed. They said the tenants received funding through Jordan's Principle, a legal provision ensuring Indigenous children have access to the services and supports they need, as well as an emergency assistance fund through the City of Ottawa.

But after that, the Bastiens said, the rent payments stopped again. They say they were able to reinstate the eviction order when the tenants failed to pay a fee to cover the cost of a court enforcement officer, or sheriff, who was supposed to help with the initial eviction.

"So what happened is we waited and waited because if they missed the deadline, then she's in contravention of the order from the LTB and then the eviction is reinstated," Taylor Bastien explained.

In the end, they didn't pay and the eviction stood. The tenants were forced to move out in August 2022.

No recourse for repayment

A court order from an LTB hearing in November 2023 concluded Megan and Justin still owed the Bastiens about $11,000 in back rent. According to documents, the tenants were not present at the hearing despite being served notice, so it proceeded with only the landlord's evidence.

"But there's no way to enforce it, so we haven't seen a penny," Janie Bastien said.

The Bastiens also allege Megan and Justin caused tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to their home, but an LTB decision from a hearing in October 2023 denied their attempt to claim for those damages. Megan and Justin were ordered to pay about $1,200 to cover unpaid utility bills.

The tenants moved into their next home in Orléans in August 2022, according to an LTB court order filed by their landlord at that time. The order said the tenants lived in that property until August 2023 and didn't pay rent for the majority of the time.

"If the unit is not vacated on or before August 31, 2023, then starting September 1, 2023, the Landlord may file this order with the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff) so that the eviction may be enforced," the order read.

The landlord testified in a written statement for Salter's LTB hearing in July that Megan and Justin did not pay rent for nine months and owed arrears of more than $24,000.

"Megan & Justin also claimed they had been approved for a rental funding program to help pay arrears but these funds were never received," the statement said.

Documents from Ontario small claims court show that Justin was ordered to have his wages garnisheed to repay the debt. CBC was unable to confirm how much has been repaid.

No record of evictions

Between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, the LTB received 37,690 L1 applications to terminate and evict for non-payment of rent. That's up slightly from the 31,240 L1 applications received between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

The LTB doesn't track the outcomes of the applications it receives, so it's unclear how many of those led to evictions.

Kathleen Lovett, a licensed paralegal with KLP Paralegal Services and Landlord Solutions, said professional tenants know how to manipulate the system to their advantage.

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Lovett has no knowledge of Megan and Justin or their history, but said professional tenants generally "use every angle and delay that they can to extend their tenancy."

For example, Lovett said a tenant might fail to show up at a hearing even though the board has served them notice, then claim they were ill or didn't receive the notice.

"So then what happens is the order gets stayed and it gets set up for a new hearing which could be another two to three months down the road," she explained.

Salter, who was Megan and Justin's landlord until September 2024, said that's exactly what happened to her. She estimates the total cost of repairing the damage to her home at $40,000, and said her insurance won't cover it. That doesn't include the unpaid rent and other expenses.

Salter said the whole experience has left her emotionally and financially drained.

"I don't feel motivated mentally, I don't feel motivated emotionally, like I've just lost faith in a lot of things, in people in general," she said.