Monday August 23, 2004
Today's search for the liver test results that had been in a recollectable place in the old apartment and which I was (pretty) certain I'd placed in a sort of "Important Crap You'll Need Pretty Soon" grouping during the chaotic move earlier this month took most of my day due to the distractions presented along the way.
Some amusing and some annoying and some just plain useless. The useless were tossed - a baby step toward more rationalization and organization of papers and memorabilia and at times, paper memorabilia. It'll happen, I remind myself, it's just going to take a while. It took a long time to accumulate all this stuff and it's going to take a little while to eliminate the non-essential parts, too.
A bit of a paraphase of the statement my GYN made a few months after my successful delivery of my bouncing baby boy in regards to exactly when I may fit myself back into my beloved jeans. It took 9 months to put it on, it'll take a few months to get rid of it.
He was right, of course... and jeans rule!
This search and recover mission is in anticipation of an appointment with the Liver Clinic in Kingston tomorrow morning. I am to hear the experts opinion on the state of my damaged organ and I am rather anxious but at the same time hoping for a clean bill that will allow me to go forward with the get-a-job project unfettered by limiting health considerations.
0) { ?>I hope that this move works out well for you...it is unconscionable what you went through that ANYBODY should have to put up with the shit you went through with your "slumlord" in a province as wealthy as Ontario. It is completely and utterly wrong, this kind of marginalization. If that stress isn't the direct cause of many of your ills, I don't know what is. I sure as hell myself wouldn't be able to stand it for five seconds. I commend your bravery and resourcefulness to be able to extricate yourself from the situation. I know about the stress relationship with illness too...Crohn's Disease is a good example of what happens in that regard.
Posted by: Frank at August 29, 2004 02:23 PMUnfortunately, landlords are individuals (or groups of them) who vary in competence and willingness to comply with the law, much like everyone else in the world.
More unfortunately, IMO anyway, the laws governing maintenance of residential rental units are drawn up and supposedly enforced by the municipality in which the unit is located. Thus they vary from location to location.
If my experience in Kingston is any indicator, this "enforcement" is a joke. Landlords are assumed to be in compliance unless and until a tenant finally complains to the Property Standards officials. Even then, after complaining loudly and clearly and repeatedly, the officials were unwilling to enforce their own by-law. After several months of documented violations, I was unable to get them to issue a summons against the owner of the property.
My suspicion is that the property management company (the middle man and possibly the one responsible for the negligence), in the interests of preventing their client (the owner) from finding out what was (not) going on, negotiated some kind of agreement that included only a subset of the violations to be repaired. (I have good reason to believe this is true - when I get the whole story posted to the rental part of my site, it will be a little more clear to everyone.)
The ORHT is set up to oversee all of this on a complaints basis as well. It is slow, and very much concerned with the business interests of the landlords (read: income) than their responsibilities (read: maintenance and compliance with standards).
I don't think I should have had to get as far as the ORHT if the municipal authorities were really doing their jobs in the first place.
While you've got me started on this, I want to say that the landlord wouldn't have gotten away with what he did if the government system(s) and laws concerning the business of residential rentals weren't as lax as they appear to be at the moment.
To paraphrase Mrs Clinton: It takes a village to create a mess like this.
In college towns like Kingston, slumlords have no incentive to change, since most tenants will move out the first chance they get and a new wave of naive students is guaranteed to be looking for apartments the next year.
I think landlords who receive income from the rental of residential units that are not part of their own residence should be licensed just like any other business in town. Random inspections to determine compliance with applicable by-laws should be implemented and those who do not meet them should have their license revoked.
The licensing fees would help fund the inspection services and inspections would no longer depend solely on 1) a tenant complaining 2) that same tenant remaining in the unit until the complaint is remedied. The second point was explained to me as a problem by one of the inspectors in Kingston: they cannot get access to a unit except through a tenant. Hence the landlords' interest in getting a tenant to move out.
Given the state of the organization (at least in Kingston), I find it highly unlikely that a tenant who moved into the apartment I left would find that the file was still open for that unit - even though I'd wager there are still violations (perhaps undocumented at this point) in existence in the unit and within the common areas.
I'll admit the stress of dealing with the slumlord and fighting for my rights while living in substandard housing hasn't helped with my recovery from life and health problems, but I can't really say they have been the cause of them.
I have a hunch I may have prevailed in my application for abatement of rent had I not been as ill as I was. That I have to blame on the liver damage caused by antibiotics, the stress of the health care system's long delays in access to appropriate specialists and information about my condition. All of which was compounded by having to abruptly curtail my medications (mood and pain control) once the hepatitis was recognized.
The move to Ottawa puts me in a better position to access health care, including a new GP - something that cannot be found in Kingston, and a better job market. I am counting on things improving, thanks.