Eviction for Non-Payment of Rent

Question: How can landlords navigate the complexities of evicting a tenant in Ontario for non-payment of rent?

Answer: Evicting an Ontario tenant for non-payment can be complex due to the potential for tenants to raise last-minute legal issues and the requirement for a fair assessment under section 83 of the Residential Tenancies Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.20. While many approach the Landlord and Tenant Board Ontario (LTB) independently, unforeseen complications may arise. With a paralegal's knowledge of statutory nuances and case precedents, landlords can better handle unexpected tenant defences and negotiate reasonable payment plans, ensuring a more efficient resolution.

Many landlords decide to represent themselves on a non-payment of rent applications at the Landlord Tenant Board Ontario (LTB) as they believe it is easy. A lot of the time it is easy. However, it can become incredibly complex. Most of the time you will have no notice of issues the tenant will raise to make your non-payment of rent application complex.

An L1 application is filed at the Landlord and Tenant Board to obtain a money judgment and evict a tenant. This is preceded by a N4 Notice of Termination served on the tenant.

If the N4 notice contains certain errors the board member may decline to give you an eviction order. Errors such as a missing an apartment number/unit description, improper termination date, math errors, and failing to properly state the start and end of a month or other term may mean no eviction order.

Section 82 of the Residential Tenancies Act allows a tenant to sue their landlord at a non-payment hearing. The tenant can give the landlord as little as 5 days notice of their intention to sue the landlord. In rare cases, the requirement for notice to the landlord can be waived.

Issues which a tenant can raise and sue you for with little notice to you include: alleging the landlord collected an illegal deposit or fee, harassment, illegal entry, illegal rent increase, interfering with the tenant’s reasonable enjoyment, and maintenance issues.

A skilled paralegal Ontario is able to deal with these issues with little notice. Self-represented landlords usually don’t have the skills, knowledge of the law, how prior cases have been decided, or the understanding of the process to properly oppose the tenant’s section 82 issues.

Most self-represented landlords are unaware or don’t take into account the effect of section 83 of the Residential Tenancies Act seriously.

Section 83 requires the board to consider all the circumstances of the landlord and the tenant in deciding whether it would be fair to delay or deny an eviction.

Even if the landlord proves that rent is owed the board still has the power to delay or deny an eviction. If the tenant proves certain circumstances exist the board must deny an eviction.

At an L1 non-payment of rent application the tenant can try to work out a deal with the landlord to enter into a payment plan to pay off the rent owing.

Many self-represented landlords are unaware that if they refuse to enter into a reasonable payment plan, the board has the power to impose a payment plan on the landlord.

Paralegals know how to properly deal with these situations. Many self-represented landlords do not know what to say to the board member regarding these issues. How to evict a tenant in Ontario is not as easy as some landlords believe.