Families in Thunder Bay accuse landlord of illegally shutting power, threats amid calls for better protections
Landlord speaks in podcast of non-paying tenants, frustration over long LTB wait times
Laura Petit moved into her current rental in Thunder Bay, Ont., because she wanted to live somewhere quiet and accessible while recovering from open-heart surgery.
However, she said, her County Park rental home has brought a slew of new stresses.
She lives in the home with her brother, who she said sometimes does maintenance work on it at their own cost. But Petit said she still lives in fear of electrical fires, having her utilities shut off and threats from her landlord
"I don't feel safe. We're just kind of living from one day to another," said Petit, 58, a former personal support worker (PSW).
CBC has spoken to multiple Thunder Bay families who say the same landlord has shut off their power, which is illegal under Ontario law, and has failed to make repairs and threatened them.
Petit and other tenants and their advocates say more needs to be done to protect people from landlords who repeatedly violate housing laws.
Petit said that when she first moved in, she noticed some maintenance issues, including a leaky roof, blown fuses, a broken kitchen light and a damaged door. Most of the outlets in the kitchen didn't work or emitted smoke when she plugged items into them, she said.
- Have you had a landlord cut your power or shut off your utilities? Tell us your story in an email to ask@cbc.ca.
Despite multiple requests, her landlord didn't fix the problems, said Petit. She began to worry the electrical problems could lead to a fire. Her landlord, Jesse Mac Dougall, lives in British Columbia and doesn't always reply quickly to her texts, calls or emails, said Petit.
The unpaid bills started coming in the mail, she said. While the utilities and internet were included in her rent, Petit said, Mac Dougall would direct her to open the letters addressed to him — they contained "Outstanding Balance," "arrears notice," and "Service disconnection may take place" notices from hydro, water and internet providers.
"We [Petit and her brother] try to be nice, be patient — we fix a few things that we didn't damage. But yet we still go through this," said Petit.
When power and internet would get cut off, Mac Dougall would request early rent payments or extra money to have the services restored, she said.
"The hydro is disconnected, they can't give me detail," she said in a text to Mac Dougall on Aug. 15 that CBC has seen. "Send me money," Mac Dougall wrote back.
When she paid the bill directly to the utility company to get her power restored, she said Mac Dougall sent her a series of voice memos, which she also shared with CBC. The phone number the voice memos were sent from is the same number Mac Dougall listed as his "preferred phone number" on an eviction application he submitted to Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board.
A male voice can be heard screaming and swearing.
"Bad Laura, bad," said the memo, "Now you're being stupid and I expect an apology from you, you Jackass."
Petit told CBC: "He's trying to scare us. And to me, that's not right. I pay my rent every month."
Other tenants relate similar issues with landlord
Petit and multiple other current and former tenants who had rented from Mac Dougall told CBC they experienced vital services being cut off, harassment and maintenance issues.
Shirley Sutherland said she moved into one of Mac Dougall's properties in 2019, but left last year after her water was cut off for about six months.
Cutting off a utility is not a legal remedy.- Douglas Kwan, lawyer
"The neighbours gave me water. I filled up tubs and whatnot. It was like living back when you had no [running] water," said Sutherland.
She said she eventually got frustrated she couldn't shower or do laundry, so stopped paying rent.
According to Sutherland, Mac Dougall "said there's something wrong that needed to be done with the pipes, but still I don't know if they fixed it."
CBC has seen a lease and eviction application filed by Mac Dougall confirming Sutherland's tenancy, but was not able to independently verify her accounts of vital service interruptions at that address.
Cutting vital services always illegal, lawyer says
Landlords have an obligation to provide vital services and ensure a rental unit is safe and habitable, even during disputes over rent or other issues, said lawyer Douglas Kwan.
Water, fuel, electricity and gas are all considered vital under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), as is heat between Sept. 1 and June 15.
"Cutting off a utility is not a legal remedy," said Kwan, director of advocacy and legal services at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario.
Unpaid rent and other complaints need to be addressed through an application to the LTB, said Kwan.
Landlord previously violated tenants' rights: court docs
Court documents obtained by CBC show the LTB found Mac Dougall withheld vital services and harassed two previous tenants.
Mitchell Kent, a paralegal representing Jeremy Capar and Blair Soloway, said his clients had asked Mac Dougall to fix a leaky toilet and other problems, but no repairs were done. The landlord submitted an application to evict them for non-payment of rent. At a November 2022 LTB hearing, it was determined the landlord withheld electricity for almost two months and threatened the tenants with eviction and violence, according to hearing records.
"GTFO before things get worse. I am planning to take this physical here with both of you... WRATH OF THE LANDLORD," reads an email to the tenants from Mac Dougall, who also goes by the name "Powerhouse."
"Did you know I was a Bouncer at a Hell's Angels bar all through out my 20's? I didn't like drinking too much but I sure do enjoy beating the piss out of Stupid Gentiles like you that are thieves (sic)," he said in the email.
Kent said Capar and Soloway decided to leave the house and move into a trailer because the threats left them afraid for their safety. The LTB determined Mac Dougall owed the tenants $6,579.61. When offset by the $5,882.93 in unpaid rent, Mac Dougall owed just under $700. Kent said his clients never received any money.
'I like evicting people,' says landlord
According to court documents obtained by CBC, Mac Dougall has had other dealings with the law that aren't related to being a landlord. He's awaiting trial after being charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm in West Vancouver in September 2023, the documents say. The allegations have not yet been tested in court.
Mac Dougall was also found guilty of assault after incidents in Surrey, B.C., in 2021 and Sudbury, Ont., in 2011.
CBC reached out to Mac Dougall for comment by email.
"I am a 'UFC fighter' with a 100% knockout rate when I perform. Fearing me is wise," said Mac Dougall in an emailed response to the reporter who contacted him for this story.
Mac Dougall has never been an Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, a UFC spokesperson said via email.
Mac Dougall agreed to an interview but said it would require scheduling an appointment with his office, which would cost $77.77. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices (JSP) prohibits paying for information from a source in a story. After CBC informed Mac Dougall of this policy, he said he was raising the price to $180.
"Eviction is just part of the game, right? And I like evicting people now," Mac Dougall said on his podcast, called "mister mcdoogle," in the April 2022 episode "Ocean A Homes — Eviction."
In the same episode, Mac Dougall said he has faced financial pressures from tenants who didn't pay rent and felt frustrated with long wait times at the LTB.
"I'm forced to take things physical. It is what it is, man. I'll go to jail for 90 days … I still profit in jail."
Tenants say they feel LTB favours landlords
Landlord-tenant conflicts are becoming more inflamed partially due to dysfunction within the LTB, said Kwan, the lawyer.
The LTB was found to be "fundamentally failing" to provide swift justice, according to a May 2023 report by the province's ombudsman. A tribunal backlog ballooned to more than 38,000 applications, as the average time it took the board to schedule hearings went from days to seven to eight months, the report said.
Tenants wait longer than landlords to have their concerns addressed, said the report. Tenant applications took up to two years to be scheduled, compared to the six to nine months it took to schedule landlord applications for a hearing, the report said.
While the LTB now estimates it is scheduling hearings faster this year than in 2023, many tenants are waiting triple the time of the official estimates, the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations told CBC last month.
Sutherland said she didn't try to contact the LTB when her water was cut off for six months because she didn't think they would be able to help her.
"I think the tribunal is with landlords, you know what I mean? … they don't look at the people that rent places. They should do it equally."
Kwan said seeing individual landlords repeatedly violate the law without any visible consequences degrades tenants' trust in the LTB's ability to protect them.
The CBC reached out to Tribunals Ontario for comment and received an email response. It stated it has hired more adjudicators and staff in an effort to reduce wait times
"The LTB has also made tremendous progress in reducing the wait time for tenants by scheduling four times as many tenant application hearings in 2024 than in 2023," said the statement.
"Each application type is scheduled in a queue based on date of receipt. It's important to note that tenant applications tend to be more complex and need more preparation and longer hearings than landlord applications," it said in the email.
As for Petit, she said she's searching for a new rental, but competition for units within her budget is fierce.
"I want to live somewhere where I can be at peace and enjoy my life, whatever time I do have left."
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