This content was shared by Openroom CEO Weiting Bollu in the Openroom Rental Nexus Newsletter and reposted publicly for your viewing.

When tenants default on rent, the system’s slow enforcement and backlog at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) allows them to stay in properties without paying for extended periods. If you are a small landlord, rental income from your property is most likely used to cover your mortgage, maintain the property, and cover your expenses. 

Dealing with non-payment of rent without a clear path of recovering these arrears made me feel angry, frustrated, worried about my property, and at times even hopeless. I know from listening to all of your stories, that I am not the exception in having this experience. 

Openroom's Rental Debt Ledger

This is the top problem Co-Founder Vishal and I wanted to solve when we embarked on building the Openroom Rental Debt Ledger to negatively impact credit scores and credit reports when a tenant does not pay rent. This past week, we verified several distinct tenant profiles to know that our 2-year journey of ideating and testing with you, our Openroom community, works. It works!!!!

We answered the question:  "How do I know rental debt I reported through Openroom has hit Equifax?"

What is shown?

When Openroom hits the Equifax credit report for unpaid rent, 5 distinct attributes are shown.
1. It's under the COLLECTIONS section.
2. It says OPENROOM.CA RENTDEBT.
3. It says the Landlord's name.
4. It says the amount owing.
5. It indicates it is UNPAID.

How does it work?

On the 15th of every month, we calculate the interest owed on the rental debt and send the latest amount owing on the rental debt court order into Equifax. Then, we can help you do an verification to see if it showed up on the report (optional).

Why does it matter?

• This matters to people who are owed rental debt. Being able to negatively impact the credit score and have it show up in the 'Collections' section is how it should be - just like credit cards.

• This matters when you are screening tenants. You should look out for a line item such as the above that indicates whether someone has rental debt.

• This also matters to great renters out there because the more we can hold people accountable, the better the rental ecosystem is. We can work towards a more affordable rental future.

We are on a path to build transparency in the rental ecosystem. That starts with our mission of HOLDING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE for their actions.

No, one does not just get to walk away when they owe rent.

At Openroom, this is just one of the ways we are putting your court order to work. As we dive deeper, we learn more. We promise to share what we know with you.

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