A Fish Always Stinks At The Head

And here is just another example of where the mayor and city council are inept at managing the resources of the city........

City's tenants have it good Uncollected rent, unsigned leases -- an audit finds municipality to be an absent minded landlord

By ROB GRANATSTEIN, CITY HALL BUREAU

The City of Toronto is an extremely lax landlord, a new audit has discovered.

With 990 properties to its name, the city is allowing rent money to go uncollected, not raising rents to keep up with market rates and not demanding businesses show financial statements -- as commercial rents usually include the landlord getting a portion of revenues, the damning audit found.

Potentially millions of dollars dating back as far as 1992 have been left in the hands of tenants.

The audit found a "lack of management oversight" leaving a number of expired leases on the books, many cases of non-compliance with lease provisions and cases where the city isn't receiving the rental income it is due.

"What is particularly disconcerting is the fact our audit findings are based on a review of a relatively small number of leases," the audit report states.

The city has 990 properties and earned $20.1 million in rental income in 2005. Only 50 leases were audited.

The audit found the city is not earning what it should from commercial leases. It is standard in those leases for landlords to get "additional rent," either a share of operating costs, utilities and property taxes, or a percentage of revenue earned, the audit states.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2006/09/13/pf-1833792.html