A CTV News investigation has found that this isn’t the first time the tenant, Riccardo Gagliardi, has defended himself at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) for failing to pay thousands of dollars in rent — all while he was an officer with the Canadian Border Services Agency. .
“I have friends in law enforcement.  They’re surprised,” owner Mike Adams told CTV News in an interview.  “It’s pretty incredible.”
Gagliardi sat down with CTV News to discuss the allegations, saying he has settled with a landlord but believes his rights were not upheld in the Landlord and Tenant Board process and has appealed the finding against him in Ontario Divisional Court.
“As time went on I knew this was unfair and I fought it and I continued to fight it and I will continue to fight it,” Gagliardi said in an interview.
Adams wasn’t the only person in a rental dispute with Gaglardi.  Bernhard Mattern also accused him at LTB of not paying $18,000 in a rental agreement and kicked him out before the pandemic started.
“We got one payment and that’s it,” Mattern told CTV News in an interview.  That dispute was settled for $10,000, both parties said.
Both Mattern and Adams turned to the authorities to remove Gaglardi, and both were surprised to discover that he was also in law enforcement, as a CBSA officer.
The CBSA confirmed to us that Gagliardi is an officer, although he is on medical leave.  Gagliardi has denied facing any discipline and the CBSA will not comment, citing confidentiality.

LONG DELAYS ARE ADDING

Adams said he rented out his lakefront home on Beachview Drive in St. Louis.  Catharines for $4,000 a month in August 2020. When she tried to quit three months later, the disputed rent was over $12,000.
By LTB’s first order the following August, it had grown to more than $36,000.  And at a hearing the following February, it was more than $72,000.  In the board’s final decision in April 2022, the LTB denied Gagliardi’s final request for reconsideration.
“It is undisputed that Tenant owes significant arrears, Landlord alleges that the arrears exceed $76,000, or more than twice the Board’s jurisdiction,” member Nancy Morris wrote in her decision.
But making that decision was a circuitous process.  The tenants appealed the first decision against them in August 2021, setting up an entirely new hearing.  Then on November 25, 2021, “there was insufficient time to complete the hearing and it was adjourned,” a ruling says.
The landlord did not hold a new hearing on Dec. 15, 2021, and it ended on Jan. 25, 2022. That day Gagliardi said he was sick and couldn’t wake up, the documents say.  The LTB issued a new order in February, and the tenant requested a review of it on the grounds that he had suffered a stroke and was unable to participate, the documents said.
The board member refused, saying: “It is undisputed that the tenant has not disclosed any documentary evidence of the illness suffered on January 25, 2022.”
Gagliardi appealed to the Divisional Court, which stayed the LTB’s order — but by May that stay had been lifted and the eviction order was allowed to go ahead.
Video of an eviction in St.  Catharines provided by owner Mike Adams.
This eviction was captured on video by Adams.  The whole process took about 21 months.

GAGLIARDI’S ANSWER

Gagliardi said he was trying to defend his rights in the process and had the right to defend himself when he felt he was not being treated fairly.
As for the Beachview Avenue property, Gagliardi said he agreed to a lower rent thanks to COVID-19 and stayed there with a sick relative.
“I negotiated a good deal,” Gagliardi said.
He claimed Adams raised the rent and due to illness, Gagliardi says he and his family were unable to leave.  He said by going to the Divisional Court, he raises the stakes: the maximum he can be ordered to pay to the LTB is $35,000, but there is no such maximum in the Divisional Court.
Adams worries he may never see the money.  Adams, who managed the property through his company Smart Stays, acknowledged the role the COVID-19 pandemic played in the lengthy process.
“The maximum compensation will be $35,000.  This is a hard and fast rule that has never changed under the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19, which caused the LTB portion of the delays.”
He said he wishes there was a way to easily look up tenants and their histories on LTB so landlords know what they’re getting into.
Regarding CBSA discipline, the federal government is considering Bill C-20, which would make public any discipline its border guards face, similar to Toronto’s police system.

“SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES” SAYS LTB

Tribunals Ontario, which administers the LTB, told CTV News they are working to modernize their organization and adapt in the wake of the pandemic.
“Over the past two years, the LTB has faced significant challenges affecting its caseload, including the five-month moratorium on eviction hearings from March to August 2020, resulting in the loss of 25,000 hearing slots,” a spokesman said.
New applications are currently scheduled, on average, within six to eight months, the spokesman said.