Though most of the alleged squatters are now gone, and the last is reportedly set to leave soon, a first-time homebuyer in Guelph is no longer sure he wants to live in the house he bought with dreams of building a life there.
It’s been nearly a year since Ryan Bedrosian, 30, purchased an Elmira Road home through a bank power-of-sale process and, on his first visit inside, discovered numerous people living there as if it was their own.
He understood the house was unoccupied, with no tenant agreements in place.
Bedrosian’s since been through various processes in an effort to reclaim the west end property he intended to move into with his fiancee. Those efforts recently culminated in cash settlement agreements with the residents, mostly reached days ahead of a scheduled Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) hearing.
Three of them were given $3,000 each and they left within days, Bedrosian explained. A fourth resident held out for $4,000 and is set to leave at the end of this month.
A LTB decision, released on Friday, confirms details regarding the fourth resident but doesn’t include information about the first three, as they were not involved in the June 18 mediation hearing which resulted in the final agreement.
“It’s wild,” he said of the outcome, which increases his out-of-pocket tally to about $65,000.
That figure includes the cost of the settlements, complying with city-issued property standards orders to remove debris and maintain the yard, property taxes for land he had no access to, electricity and water used by the alleged squatters and fees for his lawyer and a paralegal.
What’s not included in that figure is the cost of damage repairs and renovations – Bedrosian’s plan had been to essentially take the interior down to the studs and remake the living space to meet the needs of him and his fiance.
Renovations of some sort will still happen, Bedrosian said, acknowledging the end result may be that he sells the house and buys another to live in.
“That’s TBD,” he said, using the acronym for ‘To Be Determined.’ “I mean, it's a rundown shithole.”
Efforts to clean the property up have already begun.
GuelphToday made numerous efforts to connect with the remaining resident for comment, without success.
A man who answered the door on a previous occasion declined to comment.
This was not the first time ‘cash for keys’ settlement discussions took place between the owner and alleged squatters.
Bedrosian said was contacted back in the spring by one of the residents who offered to move out within 48 hours if he paid them $5,000 each. He countered at $1,300 but said that wasn’t accepted.
He says he has never received a dime in rent from those who occupied the home.
The homeowner believes the LTB process leaves landowners “fatally flawed to fuck up from the beginning” – something he realized as the hearing date neared and inspired him to go the settlement route instead.
“(By filing with the LTB) you're acknowledging them as tenants,” which he said he didn’t want to do, “but the police told me this is the only route to go.”
In addition, Bedrosian lamented what he believes is a lack of assistance through the LTB for small landlords. To illustrate his point, he said he failed to file an affidavit stating he owns the home within a five day deadline of filing, which he did last October.
“Basically, they … string you along until the day (of the hearing), and then they would dismiss it on the spot,” he said, noting that would have left him to start the months-long process over again. “It’s bad system design.”
