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zt 房东，请紧急呼救省政府！ 相信政府会做出正确决定
作者：于戎伟
Harry Fine，安省律师公会· 法律顾问。房东局前审理官，服务社区几十年，致力于帮助房东走出困境。 为人诚恳，和蔼可亲。是我的恩师之一。
大疫当前，Fine先生撰文如下。我征得同意，尽量如实翻译。不当之处，以Fine先生原文为准。敬请指教。
原文及译文如下：With 10 Days to Go, We Need an April 1st Rent Solution
还有十天，我们需要一个四月租金的解决方案
There is a groundswell of support for a rent strike in Ontario starting with the April 1st rent. It started in Parkdale (hats off to their advocacy work) but has spread everywhere. Take a look at the home page of Parkdale Organize. http://parkdaleorganize.ca/
The posters are all over Toronto. Tenants in every group are talking about it. I've seen landlords in Facebook groups say that despite the law, they are just going to change the locks or shut off utilities where they are paying the bill, when safety or illegal activities are the issue. Can anarchy be far behind.
他们的海报在多伦多到处都是。租客们一群一群地谈论着这个话题。我在Facebook的房东讨论组里，也看到房东们说即使有法律，但只要他们出于安全考虑，一旦非法情形成为问题，他们就要直接换锁，或者停断由他们支付的水电煤气。无政府主义正在蔓延。
But make no mistake, this seductive movement is going to cost tenants in the long run, in a number of ways. 毋庸置疑，这样极具诱惑性的运动，从长远的角度而言，会给租客在各方面造成影响。
“别在付租”，这样的讯息，将毁了租客们的生活。
Groups such as ACTO, Parkdale Organize, OCAP and the FMTA are not the villains here, even though in the long-run they will make renting harder for tenants and result in hundreds of evictions when this crisis is over. Their constituency have lost their jobs, many have no savings, and their lives are in turmoil. I admire the work they are doing. I'm just wondering why YOU as a landlord or a landlord organization aren't doing the same.
类似ACTO, Parkdale Organize, OCAP，以及FMTA，他们在一个相对长的时期里，会使得租客们寻租更难，危机过后，上百的驱逐行动会展开，他们其实并不是恶棍。他们的选区里，失业丛生，许多人没有积蓄，他们生活动荡不安。我对这些机构所做的工作表达“钦佩”。我所疑惑的是，做为房东的你，或者房东的组织，为什么不做同样的事？
Part of the problem is that tenants are being told that landlords are getting mortgage relief, so it's OK to not pay rent. It's a guilt-free rent strike.
问题是租客们现在被告知，他们不付租金也没事，因为房东们的房贷可以减缓，不交租金，也没有过错。
First off, most landlords won't get any mortgage relief. The conditions from banks and especially private lenders are onerous. And remember, it's not forgiveness, it's deferral. Payments will become larger after the pandemic as interest will have accrued as principle payments are postponed.
首先，大部分的房东得不到房贷减缓。银行的条件，尤其是私人信贷机构的条件严苛繁琐。同时要记住，那不是免除，而是延后。疫情之后的利息支付，都会进入延迟支付的本金里。
Generally, banks and private lenders are not allowing deferral for investment properties. Other banks are only allowing it if there has been substantial pre-payment in the past resulting in an acceleration of the pay-down of their mortgage obligation.
通常，银行和私人信贷机构并不允许对投资物业进行贷款延迟缴付。 其他银行仅在过去有大量预付款，而导致加速其贷款债务还清的情况下，才允许这样做。
But there are a lot of other costs for landlords. Mortgage payments are just a part of a landlord's expense. Let's imagine the landlord that has no mortgage...there aren't many. They still have taxes, insurance, maintenance, in condominiums common element fees, and in some cases special assessments. And when a tenancy is "all in", they also have utilities to pay. So if no rent comes in, those expenses continue.
房东同时还面临许许多多的其他费用，房贷仅仅是他们费用的一部分。设若房东没有贷款（其实并没有太多人这样），他们还有税项、保险、维修、公管公寓公共费用，还有一些估价费用。当租金“全包”时，水电煤气也要房东负担。如果没有了租金收入，这些费用也不会停止。
And let's not forget the myth of the rich landlord. It's fair to expect REITs, large apartment building owners, private equity firms and the like to have resources for a rainy day. I don't have a concern about them. But there are hundreds of thousands of working people - yes, the worker class, not the landlord class as tenant groups refer to them, who own one additional property purchased through hard work to scratch up a down-payment, or perhaps rent space in their own home. And hundreds of thousands of them are now unemployed as well.
别忘了，还有个坊间流传着的假说：房东都是富人。这对于REITs、大型住宅楼的业主们、私人投资物业等类似的机构，也许是对的，因为他们对危机时期，有一定的储备。我不担心他们。但是那些千千万万打工阶层，对的，打工阶层，这些房东们，并非像租客们所想象那样富裕，他们只有一个用打工换来的血汗钱，当做一点点预付款，而买来的投资物业，甚至他们仅仅是出租了自己家的一部分，正是这些打工阶层的人，他们也正在面临失业。
These people will lose their homes or properties if there is not some sort of government relief. And the rent strike, for the moment, is about April's rent. But I'm certain it will blossom into a full-fledged long-term strike because there is a class war going on, and tenants see landlords as being fat, greedy and undeserving of relief.
这些人如果没有政府的支持，他们会失去自己的家，失去自己的物业。当前的“罢付租金”就是对着四月份的租金而来的。我敢肯定，这样长久的“罢付”一定会引发阶层之间的矛盾，租客们会视房东如肥肉，视房东为贪婪的人，视房东为不顾别人死活的人。
Fueling the fire, governments both provincial and federal are making crazy proclamations saying "Don't worry about your rent...you won't be evicted", and it's true they won't be evicted as governments have shut down courts and tribunals. But you don't hear government saying "Run to the grocery store, grab food and don't pay!"
无论是省政府，还是联邦政府，他们火上浇油，他们肆无忌惮地宣称“不要付租，你们不会被驱逐”。是的，他们的确不会被驱逐，因为政府把法院和听证局都关了。可是你却从来没听到过政府说，“去食品商店吧，东西随便拿，不用给钱”！
BOTH ARE ESSENTIALS. WHY ARE LANDLORDS BEING TARGETED?
都是基本生活必需品，怎么房东就成了目标？
That's easy. For the same reason they are always targeted. First, nobody sympathizes with landlords, they are an easy target. Ford, Trudeau and Tory are targeting them because it's cheap, easy politics. Second, people generally don't distinguish between large apartment complex owners, and the landlord renting out a second property.
因为那样做很简单啊。他们一直这样把房东当目标的。首先，没人同情房东们，他们易受攻击。福特、杜鲁多和庄德利，他们把房东们当靶子，因为这样做成本低，容易治理。第二，人们往往把大物业公司和出租自己一个小物业的两种房东，混为一谈。
In this country, hundreds of billions of government dollars will be spent at the end of the day dealing with the financial and social problems caused by this pandemic. Every sector will get money. Every industry will have some sort of government benefit in terms of either outright forgiveness or deferral. And that's the way it should be, but landlords shouldn't be the big target. Here's what should happen:
这个国家，在此后的日子里，由于疫情造成的财政和社会问题，政府将有上亿的资金来应对。各个地方都会获得救助资金。每个行业都会获得政府某种程度的福利，或者免除，或者延迟。这件事就应该这样做，房东不能成为垫背的。如下这些事必须有：
Landlords and landlord groups should make it clear that they support the eviction ban, but that they need government help as well.
房东们和房东组织们，要支持不准驱逐的决定，但是你们也需要政府的帮助。
【1】Ontario should set up a rent bank to dole out rents starting with April's rent directly to landlords for those tenants who can prove they have been laid off or had their hours reduced.
安大略省应设置“租金银行”，将那些失业的，或者工时被减的租客们，他们的四月份租金，直接发给房东。 【2】We need to solve the immediate problem for small landlords. Large institutional landlords should just have to wait 3 months for their rent and see how this plays out. Small landlords need help today.
需要立即解决小房东们的问题。大机构房东们可以等上三个月，看看情势在做决定。小房东需要马上的救助。 【3】The messaging from government should advise people to pay their rent to their landlord if they can, but if not, then to access the provincial government rent bank.
政府应该告诫人们，如果可以，他们应该向他们的房东交租。如果交不出，他们应该寻求省政府的“租金银行”救助。 【4】The messaging should let tenants know that like landlords, who may only have expense deferral, that this is a loan for rent...a no interest loan but a loan nonetheless that will have to be paid back over time.
应该向租客们发出讯息，告诉租客们，他们获得的钱（类似房东支付延迟那样）只是借来当租金用的，虽然没有利息，但是始终是要还的。 【5】The messaging should be honest, making tenants aware that at some point the Landlord Tenant Board will be up and running, and people who have rent arrears without hope of re-payment will be at risk of eviction.
讯息必须诚恳真实，要让租客们知道，一段时间后，房东房客管理局会重新开放并运作，欠租的而且没希望能还清的人，仍然有被驱逐之风险。 It would be fantastic if ACTO or FMTA or Parkdale Organize or OCAP could present a common face to government, demanding this type of relief. Unfortunately, the groups are so far apart ideologically, and in some cases so virulently anti-landlord, that this is not going to happen. 如果ACTO、FMTA、Parkdale Organize、OCAP这些组织也能在政府面前大大方方地提出这些要求，那将是最好的事情。遗憾的是，这些机构都是些理想主义者，他们往往恶毒地与房东们为敌，他们才不会这样去说呢。 So if you are a landlord reading this, what can you do? If you sit on your ass, like most landlords have done for the 20 years that I've been involved, letting governments ignore their plight, then you will be steamrollered by what's coming. 如果你是一个房东，看到了我写的这个东西，你会干什么？如果你像大部分房东过去二十年来那样，坐以待毙，那就等政府枉视你的困境吧，你会被即将到来的不幸所碾压。 You need to contact your MPP, contact every provincial cabinet minister, and send them your thoughts. Give them a link to my blog. Cut and paste my blog and write your own letter. Arrange a video meeting as a constituent. 你应该联系你选区的省议员，联系每一个省内阁部长，把你的想法告诉他们，把我这篇文章的链接发给他们。剪切引用我文章中的内容，用于你自己的信，做为选民，安排视频会议。 If you don't become part of the solution, you have only yourself to blame. 如果你不成为解决问题的一份子，那么你只能责备自己。 我建议给各位省议员信中要提到的内容
- Ontario should set up a rent bank to dole out rents starting with April's rent directly to landlords for those tenants who can prove they have been laid off or had their hours reduced.
安大略省应设置“租金银行”，将那些失业的，或者工时被减的租客们，他们的四月份租金，直接发给房东。 - We need to solve the immediate problem for small landlords. Small landlords need help today.
需要立即解决小房东们的问题。小房东需要马上的救助。 - The messaging from government should advise people to pay their rent to their landlord if they can, but if not, then to access the provincial government rent bank.
政府应该告诫人们，如果可以，他们应该向他们的房东交租。如果交不出，他们应该寻求省政府的“租金银行”救助。 - The messaging should let tenants know that like landlords, who may only have expense deferral, that this is a loan for rent...a no interest loan but a loan nonetheless that will have to be paid back over time.
应该向租客们发出讯息，告诉租客们，他们获得的钱（类似房东支付延迟那样）只是借来当租金用的，虽然没有利息，但是始终是要还的。 - The messaging should be honest, making tenants aware that at some point the Landlord Tenant Board will be up and running, and people who have rent arrears without hope of re-payment will be at risk of eviction.
讯息必须诚恳真实，要让租客们知道，一段时间后，房东房客管理局会重新开放并运作，欠租的而且没希望能还清的人，仍然有被驱逐之风险。 DO！ 我给大家准备了一个信函模板
联系MPP的信件模板：Dear Sir/Madam MPP:
I have a small investment property. I currently rent it to my tenants. Covid-19 made my tenants lost job and they told me that they cannot pay the rent of April. I am so worried. I have no enough money to pay my mortgage if I don’t have rent income.
I understand that is NOT my tenants’ fault, I blame no one. Most renters are living on paycheque to paycheque.
I suggest the provincial government set up a emergency Rent Bank so that when the tenant cannot pay the rent, they can go Rent Bank to borrow the money. I can write a proof to support them.
Else, please tell people that the PM Ford did not say “Don’t pay Rent, No eviction”. That is misleading. The law is sitting there, the legal process is still lawful.
I strongly ask you as my MPP to tell the government to THE RIGHT THING!
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于戎伟 安省律师公会 · 法律顾问 于氏法律事务所 电话：647-352-8388
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发表于 2020-3-22 21:14:39
