Anyone can sign this petition - landlord, tenant, or home-owner. If you want to see justice and an end to rental fraud on both ends of the landlord-tenant relationship, sign to demand that the government change the residential tenancies landscape for better enforcement.

The public thought it started with Nadav Even-Har, but it didn't.

The Minister of Service Nova Scotia made it sound like it would end with Nadav Even-Har, but it didn't.

Rental fraud is a rampant problem in Nova Scotia that continues in 2022. Tenants will do everything from faking their landlord references, to faking their employment info, to faking paystubs, to creating fake sob stories to prey on the kind nature of unsuspecting landlords.

Then, once they get into a rental, they squat. They either pay rent for the first month and then never again, or they never pay rent in the first place, with no intention of ever paying their rent. Bounced cheques and forever missing payments are common. And they refuse to leave until they are forced to do so.

You would think these things would be nipped in the bud pretty quickly, but enforcement from the Nova Scotia Residential Tenancies Board is lacking. "Professional tenants" can get away with 3-6+ months of free rent based on the way the current system manages the problem. They leave behind significant debt and damages for unsuspecting landlords to deal with. Many landlords subsequently raise their rents to make up for the loss, or they quit being a landlord and sell their rental. That contributes to supply/demand issues that make housing more expensive for everyone - because of rental fraudsters getting away with their crimes. That needs to stop. 

We demand that the government of Nova Scotia stop letting rental fraudsters exploit small-time landlords as free public housing. We demand the following changes:

1. A system (e.g. tenant registry) that allows registered landlords to check whether and how often applicant tenants have been evicted for rental arrears, and allows registered landlords to verify true previous addresses with true contact info for landlord references.
2. Automatic voiding of leases when the terms of the lease are unfulfilled within the first 15 days (e.g. if rent and damage deposit cheques bounce, the lease is null and void).
3. Expedited eviction processes for tenants with a demonstrated history of repeat eviction for rental arrears, without going through the 3+ month Form D, Form K, Director's Order, Court Order, Sheriff Eviction process. Serial rental fraudsters need a quicker process to be evicted within the first month of rental arrears.
4. Requirement of faster turn-around times for residential tenancies officers who must make Form K and Form J decisions, with strict deadlines and a requirement that other tenancy officers take over to meet deadlines when the assigned tenancy officer is away.
5. Public reporting on tenancy hearing wait times, filings, and hearing outcomes. Mandatory recordings of tenancy hearings (hearings are recorded in BC).
6. Lifting of the restrictions on police involvement with regard to the Residential Tenancies Act; requiring police to investigate rental fraud like any other type of fraud, requiring police to investigate and address willful destruction of property by tenants.
7. Requirement of valid grounds for appeal before a tenant is allowed to appeal a Director's Order or Court Order, to be assessed at the time of appeal application.
8. Summary judgment dismissal of appeals where it is clear at the pre-hearing that the appeal has no grounds and would therefore be a waste of an adjudicator's time to pursue in a full hearing.
9. Strict enforcement of the penalty in section 23 of the Residential Tenancies Act, ie. the $1000 fine to individuals who disobey a Director's Order or Court Order to vacate by a certain date or to begin a payment plan for repaying arrears. This fine exists but has never been used.
10. Government subsidies for landlords who can demonstrate that they have been defrauded and used as free public housing by rental fraudsters. Anyone defrauded by rental fraudsters is essentially employed without pay by the government, while providing public housing in lieu of the government doing its duty.