It all came down to a math problem.

Nina Willis’s last ditch effort before the Landlord and Tenant Board to stop a scheduled eviction failed because she didn’t account for a $170 filing fee.

“This is about a very straightforward mathematical equation,” said adjudicator and board vice chair Murray Graham, during the Landlord and Tenant Board hearing on Friday.

“People make mistakes all the time and they live with the consequences. This is one of those times.”

Willis, a serial bad tenant with a long history of failing to pay rent, had filed a motion at the board seeking to have an April eviction order voided under a provision of the Residential Tenancies Act.

The act affords tenants one chance during each case to pay what they owe, in rent and to cover fees their landlords incurred during the process.

Willis’s had argued she paid landlord Darius Vakili a total of $11,550 in installments and that was all she thought she had to pay.

Those funds were turned over after board adjudicators and Superior Court judges ordered Willis to pay. It turns out she was $170 short, the fee Vakili paid to get an application for a hearing at the board.

Her eviction is now expected to take place at the end of September.

Willis has been ordered out of six homes since 2005, including the house she currently rents, according to tenant board and court documents obtained by the Star, as well as interviews with landlords, lawyers and paralegals.

The Star has used Willis’s case to highlight how tenants can manipulate publicly funded tribunals and courts to delay evictions.

Willis tried unsuccessfully to have the Star removed from the landlord and tenant board hearing. She blamed the missing amount on her own misunderstanding of the system stating “I am not a lawyer,” and said her landlord Vakili and his lawyer failed to tell her what she owed.

“I am not trying to abuse the system,” she insisted.

Adjudicator Graham reminded her that neither Vakili nor his lawyer are responsible for ensuring she met the requirements of a motion she filed.

“This matter has been stretched on considerably. You had all the time in the world,” he said.

Graham allowed a recess so Willis could locate what she said was proof she paid the missing $170. She did not. Willis offered to pay the $170. Graham said paying after the fact would not change the results.

Willis has now been ordered to pay the $170 and $330 in Sheriff’s fees. The eviction would cause her family “great harm,” she told the adjudicator in the hearing. “Obviously I will have to go back to another court” said Willis.

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Meanwhile, Willis has been charged with fraud, for allegedly providing fraudulent cheques and false employment information related to her tenancy with landlord Vakili and another landlord.

Her trial is scheduled to start on May 14.