Court File and Parties

CITATION: Rosen v. Wang, 2025 ONSC 391

DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: DC-24-00000741-00ML

DATE: 20250117

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO

DIVISIONAL COURT

RE: David rosen, Appellant

AND:

BEHIZHI WANG, Respondent

BEFORE: SHORE J.

COUNSEL: David Rose, self-represented Appellant

Timothy Duggan, for the Respondent

Morgana Kellythorne, for the Landlord and Tenant Board

HEARD at Toronto:

Endorsement

[1] The Tenant commenced an appeal of the decisions of the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), dated September 26, 2024, terminating the tenancy, and the review decision, dated October 22, 2024. The enforcement of their order was stayed upon the Tenant serving his Notice of Appeal.

[2] The LTB found that the Tenant owed $50,187.17 in arrears and ongoing rent was $5,000 per month. As of November 26, 2024, his arrears were in excess of $57,000. Today, they exceed $67,000.

[3] On November 28, 2024, Justice Matheson directed a case management conference. In the Direction:

(a) The Tenant was advised that the Court regularly requires payments against arrears, pending an appeal;

(b) The Tenant was directed to provide proof of payment if he disputed the arrears owing;

(c) The parties were advised that at the conference the court may make order with respect to the ongoing rent and rental arrears as a condition of obtaining or continuing a stay of the eviction order pending appeal; and

(d) The Tenant was encouraged to seek legal advice and to become familiar with the rules of the Court.

[4] The parties attended the case management conference before me on December 2, 2024. At the conference payment of arrears and ongoing rent was discussed and a Direction was made that as a condition of continuing the automatic stay, the Tenant was to make the following payments:

(a) Ongoing rent on the 15th of each month; and

(b) Payment towards the outstanding arrears as follows:

(i) $15,000 by December 31, 2024; and

(ii) $25,000 by January 30, 2025.

[5] The payment schedule was structured in consultation with the Tenant. The Landlord was permitted to request a further conference before the Court for an order lifting the stay, if the Tenant failed to make the payments. A schedule was set out for the exchange of the appeal material.

[6] On December 16th, the Tenant sent three emails to the Court. The emails were aggressive, the last one demanding "an immediate response" to his emails and expressing his "grave concern" about the "lack of response to [his] repeated urgent emails". A Direction was sent to the parties, reminding the parties of r.1.09 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, and also advising that the Tenant's emails had been reviewed, and there was nothing urgent that demanded an immediate response, nor were the matters or relief requested properly before the court. If there were issues to be addressed, the parties were required to set up a further case management conference.

[7] The Landlord requested a further conference before me, advising that the Tenant failed to make any of the payments sets out in the December 2, 2024 Direction. The Landlord advised that they were seeking an order lifting the stay.

[8] When the parties attended before me, the Tenant acknowledged that he had made no payments towards his rent or arrears. His explanation was that he did not have the banking information on time to transfer the funds to the Landlord's lawyer, and once he was late, he wanted further directions from the Court.

[9] I do not accept this excuse. The Tenant made no effort to make any payments in the interim, even once he was clearly in receipt of the banking information. The Tenant also failed to perfect his appeal, the deadline to do so was January 10, 2025.

[10] In these circumstances, with no rent having been paid for many months, the statutory stay pending appeal must be lifted; the balance of convenience weighing heavily in favour of the Landlord that the eviction should not be delayed for the appeal process to run its course.

[11] Following the conference, the Tenant emailed the Court to advise that he was withdrawing his appeal. He did not file a proper Notice of Withdrawal with the Court. To avoid further complications, I am prepared to dismiss the appeal.

[12] Order to go as follows:

(a) The stay of eviction order of the Landlord and Tenant Board is lifted forthwith, and the Sheriff may enforce the eviction of the Landlord and Tenant Board in accordance with its terms.

(b) The Appeal is dismissed.

Shore J.

Date: January 20, 2025