Ontario Land Lease Homeowners’ Action Group (OLLHAG)

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MISSION STATEMENT

released by the Home Owners’ – June 6, 2022

Ontario Land Lease Homeowners’ Action Group (OLLHAG)

MISSION STATEMENT

  • To protect the interests of resident homeowners in land lease communities at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal levels of Government and other nongovernmental entities
  • To represent the special interests of resident homeowners in land lease communities at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal levels of Government
  • To educate, promulgate best practices, and assist other resident homeowners in land lease communities and their Homeowners’ Associations.

Action Plan

  • Identify areas of concern in current legislation
  • To advocate for change at relevant levels of government

Monitor

  • Proposed changes in legislation and lobbing by landlords
  • Prepare and present rebuttal arguments as appropriate
  • Identify common issues with landlord policies and practices
  • Seek to resolve issues – work with landlord to address issues before the need for legal

Internal Collaboration

  • Collected a list of common concerns across 22 out of 27 land lease communities, to focus on priorities
  • Created a document library
  • Reviewed Emergency Preparedness Plans in each community – Sandycove assisted with the supply of our information to OLLHAG
  • Assisted in the establishment of home owners associations in other land lease communities by way of sending our constitution and bylaws to enable quick transition
  • Established importance of HOA Liability Insurance
  • Creating workshop(s) to learn the Above Guideline Rent Increase policies and procedures

Collaboration with Government

  • Currently communicating with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regarding rent and property tax claims on income tax forms for land lease community home owners whose homes are their primary residence, were built for residency before Nov 15/2018 as such falls under the protections of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) and the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB). These homes fall under the Ontario Trillium Benefit guidelines so these homeowners can claim both taxes and rent on their income tax.  If claims were denied previously, they can challenge back 6 years. The basis for denial was partly based of the incorrect assumption that because we were in land lease communities our homes had wheels and were moveable.  Some appeals are in the process to correct that assumption as our homes are not mobile or moveable and were either build on foundations or sit on foundations.

Petition

To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

FROM THE ONTARIO LAND LEASE HOMEOWNERS’ ACTION GROUP

in support of

Amending the Residential Tenancies Act and Related Legislation as it Pertains to

Land Lease Communities

WHEREAS the population of Land Lease Homeowners in Ontario numbers 26,000 plus women and men, mostly seniors, in 12,000 plus homes in 72 communities, with thousands more under development;

AND WHEREAS Land Lease Homeowners live in self-owned homes on rented property;

AND WHEREAS from a Land Lease Homeowners’ perspective, the Residential Tenancies Act has not be revisited since 2006.

AND WHEREAS the Land Lease housing environment has changed dramatically;

AND WHEREAS many Land Lease homeowners’ feel the current practices of certain Landlord’s are contentious and must be addressed.

We, the undersigned petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows;

to direct the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to work in committee with appointed representatives from the Ontario Land Lease Homeowners’ Action Group, to review and revise the Residential Tenancies Act and related legislation to ensure that Land Lease Homeowners’ are treated fairly, justly and equitably under the Tribunals Ontario system, specifically when matters appear before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

From the Board of Directors – Petition Update

The Home Owners’ Association would like to thank everyone who answered our request for Petition signatures with a view to presenting them to the Ontario Legislative Assembly as part of the Ontario Land Lease Home Owners’ Action Group (OLLHAG). The purpose of the petition was to protect the rights of our residents and oppose landlord-paid lobbyists influencing changes to the Residential Tenancies Act benefiting solely landlords to the detriment of renters.

We are happy to report that Andrea Khanjin, MPP Barrie-Innisfil presented, by motion, our Sandycove HOA petitions totalling 1,328 signatures to the Ontario Legislative Assembly of Ontario on November 4, 2021, along with other MPP’s representing the other members of the Ontario Land Lease Homeowners’ Action Group. These signatures represented a 74% based on our Sandycove population. This is a tremendous response and far surpasses the normal rule of thumb with regard to such endeavours.

As a result petitions being sent to the Ontario Legislative Assembly floor, there was a great amount of interest on the part of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. A meeting was held on November 9 th which included members of the OLLHAG-member communities, MPP’s representing other land lease communities in our Group and many Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing representatives who deal with policy making. The purpose of this meeting was to present and discuss our concerns with regards to many issues our communities have with the changes to and the application of the Residential Tenancies Act by Parkbridge. The concerns we are bringing forward do not only apply to land lease communities, but they would apply to every renter in Ontario.

We are happy with outcome of this meeting from the interest shown by the Ministry and the MPP’s and feel they are taking our concerns seriously. A follow-up meeting will be held sometime in the near future for further discussion on area of concerns with the view to assisting the Ministry policy decision process.

We will keep you posted of any future events. Again thank you to you all of those residents who returned signed petitions.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS