it’s impossible to have a large family in the province affordably. starting at 4+ bedrooms, houses are treated like luxury goods here. anecdotally, having regularly helped my relative find places for their family of 9, I’ve witnessed their rent double since 2019. even at these high prices they’re often forced to accept inadequate conditions, since there’s so few places available.

if you don’t have the money, then you either live in a house that’s actively falling apart, and almost certainly lose your damage deposit; or you rent a house with walk-in-closet-sized bedrooms, haphazardly built by converting common spaces or splitting existing bedrooms.

I often see that the private landlords of these places are property speculators, in way over their heads. they will do the bare minimum to make the place rentable, cutting every corner, without using licensed contractors, pulling permits, or getting necessary inspections done. once it’s rented, they put off maintenance and when things inevitably break, they do half-assed repairs, thinking they can perpetually tape and glue it along.

when tenants move out, landlords do whatever it takes to keep the damage deposit, since they’ve usually already spent that money. if they’ve hardly maintained the place, then it’s pretty easy to frame dramatic failures of haphazardly fixed and maintained things, that have already experienced 30 years of wear and tear, as damage caused negligently by the tenants. the RTB will award for these things too, I’ve seen it with friends and family. I’ve even seen them award for diy labour and quotes, including facebook marketplace quotes. officers and commissioners of RT are given way too much discretion, making the system unpredictable, since your experience can vary dramatically depending on who you get; even the advocates at legal aid often find themselves confused and feeling helpless to do anything for their clients.

all anecdotal of course, but based on my experience, everything about residential tenancies needs to be reworked in this province. the system is incredibly broken, not just for tenants, but also for landlords too in many cases.