Citation

CITATION: Keegan v. Goa, 2024 ONSC 4576

DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: 318/24

DATE: 2024-08-21

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO

DIVISIONAL COURT

RE: DANIEL KEEGAN, Appellant/ Responding to Motion

AND:

HONG GAO, Respondent/Moving Party

BEFORE: Matheson J.

COUNSEL: Self-represented Appellant/Respondent to Motion not in attendance

Alexander H. Etkin, Counsel to the Respondent/ Moving Party

HEARD at Toronto: August 20, 2024, by video-conference

Endorsement

[1] The landlord/moving party seeks an order lifting the stay of the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) orders that are the subject of this appeal.

[2] On February 21, 2024, the LTB granted an order to terminate the tenancy due to unpaid rent exceeding $35,000. The monthly rent was found to be $1,750. The tenant had not attended the hearing.

[3] By order dated May 1, 2024, the LTB denied the tenant’s review request, finding that the tenant’s testimony that he could not attend the prior hearing for medical reasons was not credible. The LTB further found that the tenant had filed fraudulent documents with the LTB to support his assertion that he was ill and unable to attend.

[4] There were considerable rental arrears when this appeal was commenced. It is well-established that a tenant cannot commence an appeal in this Court, obtain a stay of an eviction order, and then continue to live rent-free pending their appeal. “The obligation to pay rent as it falls due is fundamental. Where a tenant has defaulted in rent obligations for a long time, this court will require the tenant to make rent payments and reasonable payments on account of arrears to maintain a stay of eviction pending appeal. The statutory stay is intended to preserve the court’s ability to do justice at the end of the appeal, not to enable a tenant to abuse the process of the LTB and the court to live rent-free for a long time.”: Maphangoh v. Revera Retirement Homes, 2021 ONSC 7739 (Div. Ct.), at para. 15.

[5] By directions dated July 8, 2024, Justice O’Brien imposed terms requiring that the appellant make certain payments toward the substantial arrears of rent. Those terms required a $5,000 payment toward the arrears of rent by July 15, 2024. That payment was not made. Further, the appellant was required to make the $1,750 monthly rent payment commencing on July 20, 2024. That payment was not made. Lastly, he was required to pay the remaining arrears (then in excess of $40,000) by July 31, 2024. That payment was not made.

[6] As set out in the above directions, if the appellant failed to make any of the required payments, the landlord could seek an order lifting the stay. That is this motion.

[7] The motion record was served on the tenant/appellant, who has had an opportunity to respond. He did not deliver any motion materials, nor was he in attendance at the hearing itself. At the outset of the hearing, I asked counsel to the moving party if he had heard from the tenant, and he had received an email five minutes before Court. That email from the tenant said that he had emailed the Court last week. I looked into that assertion and learned that the tenant had done so without copying the moving party, which is not permitted. He did not properly notify the Court.

[8] The tenant’s email sent minutes before the hearing said that the tenant had moved to Australia a month earlier and left the unit empty and unlocked. I asked counsel to send the following reply email: “I am in the hearing now. The judge is asking me to email you and ask you if you are abandoning your appeal.” The tenant replied, “Yes you may let the honourable judge know I’ve relocated overseas and thus no longer have any interest in ever hearing about [derogatory remark about the moving party] again.”

[9] This motion is therefore unopposed. It is well-supported by the record and is granted. Further, the appeal is dismissed as abandoned. There is no longer any stay of the LTB eviction order or related orders. Counsel to the moving party shall email the Court sending a draft order without requiring any approval of the form of the order from the tenant.

[10] The tenant shall pay costs fixed at $4,537.52 to the moving party.

Matheson J.

Date: August 21, 2024