Landlord and Tenant Board adjudicator issues interim order that favours landlord despite potential conflict of interest
An adjudicator at the Landlord and Tenant Board who admitted to being in a conflict of interest issued an order advocates say weakened the legal position of a tenant facing eviction after losing his job during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Nov. 25, adjudicator Shannon Kiekens was presiding over a virtual hearing between Pinedale Properties and a member of a largely immigrant, working-class tenants’ union, the East York 50.
The lawyer for Pinedale Properties, Kristin Ley, works for the prominent pro-landlord law firm Cohen Highley, where Kiekens worked as a paralegal for 20 years until earlier this year.
In a video of the hearing shared by People’s Defence Toronto, which describes itself as an organization fighting to build political power for poor and working-class people, Kiekens said she was in a possible conflict of interest and would recuse herself and adjourn the hearing until another adjudicator was