This week I had 3 cases before the Landlord and Tenant Board. Today I want to talk about residential leases, legally referred to as residential tenancies.
In Ontario, residential tenancies are governed solely by the “Residential Tenancies Act.” This act was enacted in 2006, replacing the old Tenant Protection Act. The act is intended to offer a comprehensive code in outlining the rights and obligations between landlords and tenants.
As such, all matters concerning residential tenancies in Ontario that involve less than $10,000 can only be brought before the Landlord and Tenant Board.
While the Board is technically an administrative tribunal, the Board maintains certain power of the Superior Court, including the authority to summon witnesses, to award monetary damages, and of course, to evict tenants.
The legislation recognizes the power imbalance between landlords and tenants. Landlords are typically in a more powerful position as they generally have more money, and may select tenants from various potential applicants. Hence, there are only a handful of grounds on which a landlord may terminate a lease before the lease-end without the consent of the tenants. Some of the grounds include: willful damage to the property, overcrowding, substantial interference to the landlord and other tenants; safety concerns, and illegal conducts.
On the other hand, tenants generally can get out of a lease if they are able to sublet or assign the lease to someone else. Although the consent of the landlord is still required, the law states that such consent cannot be arbitrarily withheld by the landlord.
If you are a tenant having trouble with your lease, you can obtain free summary advice from the duty counsel at the Board or from a Legal Aid clinic. If you have a LAO certificate for representation before the Board, please feel free to contact me for more information.
For small-scale landlords, Legal Aid funds a Landlord Self-Help Centre that provides free information and referral services. Legal Aid does not provide assistance to commercial landlords.
