One of the most common headaches to residential landlords is that their tenants don’t pay rent on time. As a litigator involved in landlord-and-tenant law, I occasionally encounter landlords who have taken the matter into their own hands.
Landlords adopting “self-help” remedies sometimes cut off vital services to the unit (such as heat, water, and electricity), change the locks, or simply harass the tenant by frequently showing up at the rental unit, hoping to intimidate the tenant. Make no mistakes, these tactics are illegal.
Not only are these tactics illegal, but in my experience, they seldom work. Rather, they frequently give rise to legal claims by the tenants, thereby prolonging the dispute. In the end, landlords who use self-help remedies fare worse financially than those who had not.
What can you do if your tenant hasn’t paid the rent on time?
In Ontario, you must give your tenant written notice that he or she has not paid on time, while specifying the amount owed and noting that the tenant may avoid the termination of the tenancy by paying rent. When giving the notice, you may use the prescribed form available on the Landlord and Tenant Board’s website.
After receiving the notice, the tenant has a “grace period” to remedy the situation. The length of the period depends on whether rent is collected daily, weekly, or monthly.
If the tenant pays rent before the grace period expires, the notice becomes void, and the tenant is entitled to continue the tenancy.
On the other hand, if the tenant fails to pay rent before the expiration of the grace period, the landlord is entitled to bring an application against the tenant to terminate the tenancy before the Landlord and Tenant Board.
If you’re a tenant, don’t assume that you can always take your time paying your rent so long as you pay before the grace period expires. That would be a mistake. If you’re consistently late paying rent, your landlord would be entitled to refuse to renew your lease after its expiry.
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