I was locked out of my house for 300 days while paying mortgage

A HOMEOWNER said he and his family were left distressed after they were locked out of their home for 300 days.

Zahid Mahmood explained how he was left with a bill of over $24,000 at the end of the ordeal.

Mahmood purchased his Oshawa, Canada home, around 40 miles east of Toronto, in 2021 and decided to rent it out to tenants.

He explained that he and his wife decided to do this to build extra income to help pay for their children’s higher education.

The landlord said that he had tenants move into the home in May 2022 but later experienced issues with them.

Mahmood said they stopped paying their rent a year into their stay but a rule meant he was unable to kick them out of the home until 2024, according to CBC News.

He handed the tenants a N4 eviction notice in August 2022 and applied with the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to end their tenancy.

Mahmood however had to wait months for a hearing. 

In the meantime, the tenants were able to stay in the property without paying rent.

The landlord said he was left tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket because of the situation.

An LTB order reportedly showed he was owed over $24,000 in unpaid rent.

“Going through all this [caused] stress and mental torture and financial crisis as we had to pay the mortgage during this whole 10 month period,” he said.

Mahmood also shared images with CBC News of the state that he had discovered his property after the tenants left.

He said he saw trash, bottles of urine, rodents, and animal feces in the home.

A group of Canadian landlords have started a campaign to change the law and process around certain types of evictions.

This petition has called for Ontario to change its rules around evicting tenants for unpaid rent.

These landlords have argued that the process should be faster and the property should return to the landlord as soon as possible.

The U.S. Sun has previously reported on other homeowners who have faced similar problems with their tenants.

One property owner said their tenant has refused to move out of his home years after he believed they had left.

Renna Camel said they had to report the person as a squatter.

Camel had done this as he was attempting to sell his Baton Rouge, Louisiana home that was passed down to him by his dad.