Discussing the Waterloo Region
Why has she continued to pay? This is very confusing. That money would have been better spent on a team of inspectors, photographs, and legal fees.
Probably because if you don't pay rent you can end up evicted and then functionally barred from living anywhere.
Thats when you start putting your rent into escrow and tell the landlord he can have it when the place is fixed. The courts will probably support you in this as long as you’re actually paying to an escrow account.
... You think a single mom, with a family of 3, all of which have been seriously negatively affected health wise by the mould, who is paying probably paying two different rents simultaneously, has the time and money to afford a lawyer and accountant?
Even if its settled in small claims court without lawyers, bare minimum you're probably going to want to consult with one.
If you aren't paying your rent, you're going to end up in court. If you put that money in escrow the courts will see that you are operating in good faith while the landlord isn't. They're going to side with you. No need to get lawyers or accountants involved.
Is this different in Canada than in America?
Is there some way to even set up a rent escrow account that is not a complex legal process where you have to petition a court and wade through a ton of legalese and paperwork to be able to legally set up a rent escrow account?
Should be equally as easy anywhere.
Escrow.com.
Nothing special needed. Trivial to set up, and you control the release of funds. Doesn’t seem to have any ability to schedule deposits, but most rent payments are done manually anyhow. And since the money is clearly being held in reserve for the landlord, there is clear evidence of intent to pay.
This website requires that the 'buyer' and 'seller' agree to mediate their one time financial transaction arrangement via this website.
It isn't a savings account with some kind of legally notarized purpose that a court will give a damn about. At least in the US, and only in some states is there even a legally valid option to petition the court to supercede the rental agreement with a court controlled rental escrow program.
This site is for buying and selling domain names and cars and jewelry between two parties that are on good terms, but just want a bit of extra security.
This website does not make sense in a situation where a contract already exists and one party to it feels the other is in violation of it.
Do you think the landlord is going to willingly agree to this, in this situation? Why would they? They'd arguably be legally incriminating themselves, if not nullifying their own original rental contract.
When the renter has already determined the landlord is acting in bad faith and likely violating laws, why would they trust the landlord in another contract?
While the landlord is still demanding rent whilst (falsely) claiming they have not done anything that constitutes a breach of the rental agreement, why would they ameliorate their existing contract or means of payment?
Or you dont be your own lawyer and follow legal advice, which is probably to fulfill the contract you signed when you rented the place and sue for what you are due after the fact.
These types of claims are handled in small claims where neither party has a lawyer. As long as you actually have the money in escrow you should be fine.
If the landlord is breaking the lease first by not fixing things you aren’t in the wrong for withholding payment until the issues have been fixed.
Don't do this.
You cannot withhold rent unless the landlord's been told to fix the problem, and generally you'll want the LTB to issue that order, rather than withholding it of your own accord. Other jurisdictions will let you do this and/or use escrow, but Ontario isn't one of them.
tl;dr consult a lawyer or paralegal before withholding rent.
I know this post is old, but in case anyone is reading this in the future:
There are many people who will pay large sums of money to "win", no matter what the "prize" is.
People in small claims in Canada, often have lawyers. Even just search "small claims lawyer" online, you'll find people who specialize in it.
I live in oil-country, people here will spend $25k to make sure they don't need to pay $700 for something they don't want to.
That probably is the logic. This shit is pretty fucked up.
The Landlord Tenant Board will look into her case but that won’t happen, she said, until October.
This appears to be the real problem. Can't really stop paying until there's some sort of ruling.
^^^ This.
The problem is that the LTB is completely sandbagged. This is, of course, by design because the Ford government would much prefer to further dismantle the state and set up a system that gives more power to landlords.