First off: it’s not what you think.

It’s not your home, as in you’re the owner.  But that doesn’t make the following story any less loathsome nor does it make the offending participants any less detestable.

Back in 2023, we started to hear a lot about fraudsters selling homes that didn’t belong to them.

To be honest, I had never heard of this before last year, and yet it seemed like this was a real estate epidemic…

“It’s Happened Again.  Second Toronto Home Listed For Sale Without Homeowner’s Knowledge”
CBC News
January 12th, 2023

Just when you think fraudsters have thought of everything, they come up with a new and improved scheme.

And we’re not talking-small scale here either.  Whoever thought of selling a house that doesn’t belong to them?

Today’s story isn’t about that.  Sorry to disappoint.

But today’s story will encompass some of the same themes and it’s one that, for some reason, has really struck a nerve with me.

On Monday, I wrote about the lack of professionalism displayed with a particular house that’s been listed for sale eleven times at thirty-nine different prices by four different real estate agents.  Any seller is free to set “offer dates” and employ different pricing strategies, even if these strategies have zero chance of success.  But Monday’s story outlined a blatant manipulation of the MLS system and undeniable false advertising, which rubs me the wrong way, as a real estate professional.

Today’s story rubs me the wrong way as a real estate agent, a landlord, an investor, a business owner, and I guess just as a human being.

Slight tangent here: did you see the two New York Yankee fans try to rip the ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove on Tuesday night?  Not only did they interfere with the play and try to take the ball out of a player’s glove – a player in the field of play, but the second fan reached out and grabbed Mookie’s wrist and tried to twist it.

Absolutely appalling, right?

But Twitter and the online peanut gallery are applauding this.

“It’s what any true Yankees fan would do,” one comment read.

Whatever happened to civility?

If that is what being a fan is, I want no part in fandom.  What the hell is wrong with people?  What makes them think they have this right?

I think I’m just getting old.

But I believe in “The Golden Rule.”  It’s simple.  Treat others the way you would want to be treated by them.

I have a tenant taking possession of my condo in November.  I went to the unit last week and left a bottle of red wine on the counter with a handwritten note that said, “Welcome to your new home!  If there’s anything I can do please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

That should be common sense, and yet it’s not.

Today’s story is about the lack of common sense that seems to exist in our society today, but maybe it’s about more.

Maybe it’s simply about how we treat one-another in 2024, because I have absolutely, positively no idea why the protagonist or “offender” in today’s story took the path that he did.

Three things were lacking on his part:

-Common Sense
-Civility
-Respect

And away we go…

In the spring of 2023, Celia and Darby were referred to us by long-time clients who thought we’d be a good fit since Celia and Darby had been out of Canada for over a decade and really had no idea how the rental market in Toronto worked.

Tara and I took the initial call and found out what they were looking for, and although they had very specific criteria, it wasn’t unreasonable.

They were looking for a single-family home, upscale, well-located, and in a great neighbourhood.

Their budget was quite reasonable and our search got underway.

It took about two months, but we eventually secured them a beautiful Victorian townhouse in The Annex for $7,000 per month.

They had initially made an offer for a one-year lease, but the landlord was insistent that they sign for two years.

Celia and Darby took possession in October of 2023 and have been living there happily ever since!

Well, up until last week, when all hell broke loose…

Celia received a text message from a friend one day that read:

“Your house is for sale!  So cool!”

That didn’t make any sense, of course, since Celia and Darby’s house wasn’t for sale.  Clearly, her friend had the wrong address.

Celia wrote her friend back and said, “Not mine!  Still here!  Darby and I might just stay forever!”

But then the friend sent a link on Realtor.ca, and guess what?

Celia and Darby’s house was for sale.

Yes, that Realtor.ca link was for their home, their address, and showed photos of their front porch.

This made no sense.

Celia and Darby were renting the house for $7,000 per month.  They were one year into a two-year lease.

They had never heard from the landlord.  In fact, they had been emailing the landlord for months, asking about a few items in the home that required attention, but the landlord never responded.

Of course, they thought nothing of this at the time.  Maybe the landlord is just…..busy?

Celia called Darby and he came home to investigate.

They sat and looked at the MLS listing and wondered, “What the hell is going on here?”

A phone call to their landlord went unanswered, as did a subsequent email.

So then they called Tara and told her what was happening, and Tara came into my office and told me.

“I want to assume this is a mistake,” I told Tara.  “But unfortunately, twenty years in this industry has led me to put my guard up,” I told her.

Truth be told: I’ve learned to assume the worst.

Tara and I went over the listing and marveled at what was going on.

In no particular order, we couldn’t believe that:

The listing mentioned “vacant possession available.” 

Nobody had spoken to Celia and Darby about their lease, let alone informed them that the gosh-darn house was put up for sale!

How could the listing refer to vacant possession when Celia and Darby had a year left on their lease?

The possession date was set as December 25th.

This must have been a joke, right?  Christmas Day?  Possession is Christmas Day?

Celia and Darby’s lease ran through September 30th, 2025, so how in the world could somebody take possession on December 25th, 2024?

There was no mention of the existing lease.

This is really poor form.  Almost every time we see a tenanted property for sale, the Brokerage Remarks will explain the tenancy situation, ie. “Tenant in lease until November 30th, 2024,” or “Tenant is month-to-month,” or “Triple-A tenant can stay or be provided with legal N12.”  But in this case, there was zero mention of the fact that a lease was in place for another twelve months.

The showing instructions said “go direct.”  

This is real estate code for “The owner will let you in,” except in this case, the owner didn’t even know the property was for sale!

The listing said, “Incredible income potential: $8,000 – $10,000 per month!”

Really?  How would this be possible?

Celia and Darby were in a lease for $7,000 per month.

Not only could a buyer not kick them out but that buyer could also not raise their rent to $10,000 per month, thank you very much.

There was an “offer date” set for 24 days after the property was listed.

This was very odd.

Offer dates are typically reserved for under-priced homes with a lot of demand.

This was a house listed for sale without telling the tenants, without letting the buyer pool know that the house was tenanted, and under the assumption, it would seem that the house could be purchased by an end-user with vacant possession on closing.

None of this made any sense.

Celia and Darby were distraught, and rightfully so.

This had caught them by complete surprise and they were scrambling to understand what would happen next.

“Are we going to get kicked out?”  Celia asked.

“Is there going be, like, and open house or something?” Darby asked.

At this point, I was exceptionally frustrated by the situation, specifically by the lack of common decency on the part of the landlord.

Not only that, a “FOR SALE” sign had been installed on the lawn, so at this point I wasn’t being pessimistic; I was being realistic.

I didn’t need to investigate; I knew this wasn’t an honest mistake.

The landlord was just a shitty person who was doing a shitty thing.

So I went on the offensive.

I outlined a few essential points for Celia and Darby to consider:

1. There is no way for anybody to unilaterally break your existing lease, whether that’s the landlord or a future buyer.
2. A future buyer may only provide you with legal notice to vacate for September 30th, 2025, and only if that future buyer intends to occupy the property according to the allowable reasons per the N12.
3. A future buyer may not alter the terms and conditions of your existing lease; the future landlord must honour the lease as-is.
4. Any access to your home must be communicated to you with at least 24 hours’ notice and be in writing – if you so choose.

And this was just the basics.

Celia and Darby immediately felt better, but I decided to go a step further: I called the listing agent for the property.

I took three phone calls and eight hours to get in touch with her, but I eventually did.

I was very cordial and forthcoming.  I told her that Tara and I had placed the tenants in the property back in 2023 and that we were surprised to see the property listed for sale, just as our clients were.

She listened, but eventually, she said, “Sorry, who are you?  And how do you fit into all this?  You have a buyer for this?”

I said that I did not have a buyer and once again I explained that the tenants in her new listing were clients of ours, and that they were in a two-year lease, with one-year remaining.

She said, “Oh, yeah, okay, well nobody’s kicking anybody out yet, so don’t worry.”

I didn’t love that answer.

The word “yet” didn’t sit well with me, nor did the idea that we were supposed to be relieved or grateful that somebody wasn’t going to do something they’re not allowed to do.

I said, “Well that’s good to know, since the landlord can’t break the existing lease, nor can a future buyer.”

She replied, “Well, we don’t know what a future buyer may or may not do, but that’s not our concern.  Or my concern.  My job is to sell the house.”

I switched gears and asked, “Are you aware that the tenants were not notified by their landlord that the house was going up for sale?”

She said, “What?  The landlord told me that he okayed it with them.  He said he talked to the tenants and we were all good.”

I explained that this was categorically incorrect and that through twenty years in this industry, I had never seen a landlord list a tenanted property for sale without notifying the tenants, let alone receiving permission to access the property for showings.”

I asked, “Why do you think it is that the landlord wouldn’t reach out to his tenants to let them know that he intended to sell the house?”

She said, “I really don’t know.”

I then added, “The tenants have informed me that the landlord has not responded to their emails and phone calls for months on end.”

Amazingly, she said, “This piece of business is a referral from another client.  I’ve never actually met the landlord.”

Again, it’s not what you think.  I sincerely don’t believe this is a fraudulent situation, but I don’t remember the last time I listed a property for a client I had never met!

I asked, “So how do you know this is actually the landlord?”

She said, “It’s fine, I got all her FINTRAC and stuff, all the paperwork.  My office has all that, it’s fine.”

But then she said, “Actually, I’ve been trying for three days to get the landlord to send me the tenants’ contact info so I can get in there for showings, so I’m glad you called me.  This worked out well.”

Oh, did it?

“Can you give me their phone number?  I have a ton of agents who want to show the house and I need to get access.”

I explained to her, “I can’t give you their contact info because it’s a privacy issue, but even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t hand that information over.”

She said, “What do you mean?  Sure you can!  This solves all our problems.  I’ll get in touch with them, I’ll sort this out, I’ll explain the situation, and I just need like three or four weeks to showcase the house and I’ll sell it, and nobody is kicking them out until next year.”

It was an interesting take.  An incorrect one, but creative.

I explained, “The only way the tenants are going to allow access is if and when the landlord calls them.  That’s it.”

She tried to interject, but I continued, “The landlord, for some reason, decided to list his house for sale without having the common courtesy, no, the common decency to call his tenants and let them know.  I can’t fathom why this is, but the only reasonable course of action from here is for the landlord to call Celia and Darby, apologize for the confusion, and then ask them permission to show the house.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

Then came the kicker.

She said, “If I can sell this house, I can get your clients a better landlord.  One that will answer the phone when they call.  So let’s show the house, let’s get it sold, and let’s get them happy.”

Maybe it was my fault for expecting better?

I was just so astounded by the various courses of action here.

The landlord put his tenanted house up for sale without notifying the tenants.

It was incredulous.

And for the tenants to find out the way that they did?  And to come home to see a “FOR SALE” sign on the lawn?

How could the landlord lack such common sense?

How could the landlord lack such common decency?

The landlord was attempting to sell the house with “vacant possession” even though he couldn’t remove sitting tenants with one-year left on their lease.

This is really just “kicking the can down the road.”

This was going to end badly, no matter what.

The listing agent not only signed the listing without speaking to the tenants, arranging showing times, or securing access to the property, but she went ahead and listed it on MLS!

Shoot first, ask questions later?

The listing offered vacant possession, a Christmas closing date, and made no mention of the lease in place, nor the tenants, and the instructions said to “go direct.”

Sure, go direct, trespass, and see what happens.

In a subsequent email, I told Darby, “If anybody comes to the door, you are under no obligation to let them inside, nor should you.”

Darby said that he agreed.

At this point, the situation is still fluid.

The tenants have not heard from the landlord.

The property remains listed on MLS.

There have not been any showings.

And I have absolutely, positively, no idea where this is going.

I also don’t have a morale for this story, unfortunately.  The story is far from over, but so far, the overarching theme seems to be “People suck.”

Not all people, but many people.

A little civility, some common sense, and just a hint of decency were all that was needed from this landlord, but it seemed he wasn’t capable of any of it.

I’ll update you as soon as I have more…