by Mary Baxter
Like many farmers in Ontario, brothers Randy and Tim De Block have assembled the land base for their mixed farm operation by buying smaller farms. They own half of the 4,000 acres between Mitchell and Monkton in Perth County where they grow cash crops. But the acquisitions have meant acquiring houses they don’t need.
Randy has two. Right now, they’re rented to his son and a friend of his son’s. The landlord tenant relationship is good, but that hasn’t always been the case. He’s had to deal with heating bills “that don’t get paid and the tenants are gone” and one tenant who sued.