HomeMy WebLinkAboutADMIN-28-95 REPORT #3
THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE
REPORT
Meeting: COUNCIL File# L_ > I C—/l_..
Date: Res. #LL(c>��_���. L".
SEPTEMBER 25 1995
_
Report#:----ADM--2-8_y§#: Ry-Law#
Subject:
150 PORT DARLINGTON ROAD, BOWMANVILLE
Recommendations:
It is respectfully recommended that Council :
1 . Receive Report ADMIN.. 28-95 for information.
BACKGROUND:
On September 14, 1995, the Municipality of Clarington' s legal
counsel attended at the Ontario Court (General Division) in Whitby
in respect to a Landlord and Tenant Act application for an order
for payment of arrears, termination of tenancy agreement and for a
writ of possession in connection with the property at 150 Port
Darlington Road, Bowmanville, owned by the Municipality.
Council will recall the deputation by the tenant of 150 Port
Darlington Road, Mrs . Andrea Witzke, who claimed that the
Municipality was not carrying out its duties as a landlord in
regards to her tenancy of the property.
Although some of the local media ran articles on Mrs . Witzke' s
claims, the Municipality did not respond to the accusations as the
matter was scheduled before the courts .
On the morning of the court hearing, our legal counsel attempted to
negotiate a settlement with Mrs . Witzke, whereby she would agree to
vacate the premises in six months and in return would have the
rental arrears of approximately $5, 000 reduced to $2 , 500 .
This offer of settlement was turned down by Mrs . Witzke who
responded by stating that she would vacate the premises in June of
1996 if all the outstanding unpaid rent was waived by the
Municipality. This offer of settlement was not accepted by the
Municipality.
Once it was found that an out of court settlement would not be
obtained, on the advice of our solicitors we dropped the
PAPEEF° ECYICLE
THIS IS PR:tMD C+1 RECYCLED PAPER
termination of tenancy agreement and writ of possession part of our
claim in order to secure the application for an order of payment of
arrears .
Once the matter was heard by the court, Mrs . Witzke gave evidence
along the lines that she gave to the media prior to the hearing,
claiming that the Municipality had refused to take her rental
cheques, and that she had done some work on the premises that was
really the responsibility of the landlord.
After hearing evidence by Mr. Caruana, Mr. Horvath, Mr. Anyan and
Mrs . Taylor of the Municipality, the Honourable Mr. Justice Lane
ruled in favour of the Municipality, ordering payment of arrears
based on the outstanding rent less a reasonable amount of expenses
that the tenant could verify. The final settlement in favour of
the Municipality was in the amount of $3 , 500 .
Staff has instructed our legal counsel to proceed with the
collection of this amount from Mrs . Witzke . In regards to the
tenancy, staff is reviewing the future use of the property and will
be reporting back to Council with recommendations in the near
future.
We recommend that this report be received by Council for
information purposes.
Respectfully submitted,
W. H. Stockwell,
Chief Administrative Officer
WHS :not
i
I