Tenant blog + alleged libel = eviction?
Blog comments net Kingston woman an eviction notice, CBC News, 02 Mar 2006
Two weeks ago, Sarah Dawe received a notice from Homestead Land Holdings Ltd., the company that owns the apartment building, accusing her of libel and asking her to vacate the building because of her online comments...
She first launched a website, and later a personal blog, after becoming frustrated with the company's response to her complaints. The website has since been removed by the service provider. Dawe claims it was because of intervention by the landlord.
Dawe has continued to chronicle her fight with Homestead on her blog, which is still up and running.
Having read her blog and some of the news coverage surrounding this story, it seems the crux of the matter is that the landlord is proceeding with an eviction on the basis of the claim that her on-line comments constitute harassment of their staff.
Given the extensive use of exclamation marks and over-the-top rhetoric on her blog (which also includes potentially libellous accusations about vets who have cared for her pet cats), I have some sympathy for such an interpretation; however, in between the all-caps outbursts and the fanciful suggestion of a conspiracy between the landlord (founded by a "KINGSTON LAWYER" and run by his "KINGSTON LAWYER" son), her MP (Peter Milliken), her MPP (John Gerretsen, coincidentally also Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing), and other "KINGSTON LAWYERS", the blog does also document a decade-long history of maintainence and health concerns over which the tenant has (unsucessfully) taken the landlord to the ORHT.
While the media is covering this as an interesting case raising questions about libel and the internet, a more pertinent question is whether a tenant's decision to publish a record of her landlord issues - including the text of findings in the landlord's favour at the Tribunal - is sufficient grounds for eviction. They're not suing her for libel, after all, but rather attempting to use the alleged libel as a reason to evict her for harassment.
Update: She won!
Additional press: Kingston Whig Standard, London Free Press.
Posted by Greg Smith @ 7:43 p.m.
1 Comments:
I noticed that the Rental Protection Agency has been tracking data on Landlords and provides the public with free landlord reports. I bet if you would've filed a complaint with the Rental Protection Agency they might have been able to provide some type of protection against wrongful termination of her lease. It's important for us renters to voice our opionion about poor renting experiences, I can't believe an apartment complex actually evicted her over her comments. I'd check out the http://www.RentalProtectionAgency.com website to see what they can do to help (plus the Free Landlord Report is extremely helpfull) Hopefully, these types of poor landlords should be held resposible for their poor management; hopefully the RPA can document this Landlords actions...
Post a Comment
<< Home