Rent-free for a year: Nightmare tenant victimizes North Bay couple

System is broken, northern landlords say A husband and wife are sharing their unhappy story about the home they use as an income property in North Bay.

A husband and wife are sharing their unhappy story about the home they use as an income property in North Bay.

While they’ve had the same tenant for over three years now, the couple said she didn’t pay rent for a year and the house has been significantly damaged.

While it doesn’t look bad from the outside, once you enter this home, you quickly see how bad it really is.

"There was a 12- and 14-year-old living there, and I think it’s sad, very sad that they were living in this," said homeowner Louise Warren.

"I don’t even know how anybody could even live in this. You see it on TV and never think that people actually live like this."

Warren said the damage to the home is well more than $3,000 thousand. She told CTV News that when she and husband Denis realized that the rent stopped coming in, there was nothing that could be done for almost a year as they waited for a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board Tribunal.

"She decided to wait for the landlord/tenant board hearing, which takes over a year, and in that year she never paid a penny for rent," Warren said, their tenant.

"She owes us over $20,000 in rent. The government enabled her to do this. We could do nothing even though we had sold the house, which is a legally binding document. It didn’t matter."

Tricia Marshall, of the Near North Landlords Association, said the case is a symptom of how deep the problems run in Ontario.

"In my opinion, the Landlord Tenant Board is dysfunctional, it’s absolutely broken," Marshall said.

"It’s not OK and when someone isn’t paying their rent and it needs to be put into the front of the queue."

Warren said she’s sharing her story so that other landlords are cautious.

"There were all these little things we were oblivious to that you should really know if you’re getting into this," she said.

"Protect your investment. We want people to be aware of reasons landlords are insisting on credit checks -- people with good credit have morals and values and they have something to lose so they would never do this."