So, your landlord wants to evict you.
According to Ryan Hardy, a staff lawyer at the , the best you can do is 鈥渇ight like hell to stay there and fully exercise your legal rights to challenge the eviction.”
Ideally, you鈥檇 get a lawyer early on or access a legal clinic for free advice (although there are income limits for those who are eligible).
If you think you were evicted in bad faith 鈥 meaning your landlord was dishonest in order to evict you 鈥 there may be legal recourse for you, too.
Here鈥檚 what you need to know about evictions and how to protect yourself.
You don鈥檛 need to move out just because your landlord gave you an eviction notice
There are several steps that must take place before a tenant can legally be evicted, with some exceptions, Hardy explained.
Typically, the landlord must first give the tenant an eviction notice. Although many tenants believe this is enough to be forced out, it is 鈥渙nly the first step鈥 in what can be a lengthy process, Hardy explained, and听the tenant has many opportunities throughout that process to fight the eviction.
The time period an eviction notice gives a tenant to leave 鈥渋s a bare minimum chosen by your landlord, not a legal timeline you have to obey,鈥 Hardy emphasized. Landlords are required to give a certain number of days notice, but听the landlord has to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to evict a tenant, and the board usually has to schedule a hearing where the tenant can make their case against the eviction.
Finally, the LTB must make an eviction order, which directs a sheriff to evict a tenant after a certain date.听Ultimately, though, the tenant can stay until they receive the sheriff’s order.
If a tenant disagrees with a decision, they can apply to review and/or appeal it. If the board agrees to review the case, it can temporarily lift the eviction order until a definitive decision is made at a hearing.
Hardy warned that a landlord has the option to apply to听鈥渆xpedite鈥 an eviction in some circumstances, including if they previously applied to evict the tenant or if the tenant broke a set of terms agreed to when the landlord previously tried to evict them (under Section 78 of the听). The same would be true if the landlord said the tenant gave notice to move or agreed to move and then didn’t听(Under Section 77).
In these cases, the landlord can apply to the LTB to evict the tenant without giving an听eviction notice, and the tenant may not get a hearing.
鈥淚f a tenant didn鈥檛 get a hearing, or missed one, they should always try to get one,鈥 Hardy said. 鈥淔or (Sections 77 and 78), the way to do that is the听听form. If they missed a hearing, it鈥檚 via the听听form.鈥
A tenant may contest the landlord’s claim that they agreed to move out or may say their circumstances changed, Hardy added.
How addressing the issues can void eviction
Depending on the type of eviction a tenant is facing, they may be able to 鈥渧oid鈥 it by dealing with听the issue in question before the landlord applies to the LTB, Hardy explained.
When a tenant owes rent, they are given an gives them at least 14 days to pay off the rent they owe, Hardy said.
Meanwhile, an N5 eviction notice 鈥 which is based on a tenant鈥檚 alleged behaviour 鈥 will give the tenant seven days to correct their behaviour (such as not smoking if the lease has a no-smoking clause). The law says that if they do so, the landlord can鈥檛 apply to the LTB for eviction.
The exceptions under Section 78 still apply.
It鈥檚 also possible that 鈥渇or whatever reason,鈥 the landlord changes their mind before applying to the LTB.
Once the case goes to the LTB, the tenant and the landlord could still come to an agreement to prevent eviction.听
How a landlord’s mistake could void eviction
Eviction notice periods, when not properly given, have been a 鈥渕ajor tool for tenant advocates,鈥 Hardy said.
The Residential Tenancies Act sets minimum notice periods for eviction notices, and non-compliance by the landlord invalidates the notice, he explained. The non-compliance could be due to an 鈥渙bvious鈥 mistake, such as the landlord giving the tenant 30 days for an N12 eviction notice, which legally requires 60 days. It could also be for something 鈥渕ore technical,鈥 such as the landlord writing 60 days on the notice, but giving it to the tenant a few days later, effectively reducing the notice period.
“Tenants can check any notice they receive for compliance by reading the fine print,” Hardy said. “All the requirements are explained on the notice. However, some of it is confusingly worded, so legal advice is best when possible.鈥
What to do if you can’t immediately repay your rent
Arrears 鈥渋s the most common type of eviction,鈥 Hardy said, meaning most people in Ontario are evicted because they owe rent money.听
If a tenant is evicted because they鈥檙e in arrears, they should fight at the LTB for a repayment plan in order to stay in their home, Hardy said. The board could choose a plan proposed by the landlord or the tenant, or decide on a plan that falls somewhere between the two. For example, if the landlord is fighting for 11 days, and the tenant is fighting for six months, the board could decide on a two-month repayment plan, instead.
The board also tends to make 鈥渁 very practical distinction between tenancies that are sustainable and tenancies that are not,鈥 Hardy added. So if they have reason to believe a tenant won鈥檛 be able to pay their rent in the future (perhaps they lost their job, with no immediate prospects, and are now relying solely on Ontario Works, which is $500 short of rent) 鈥渢he best the tenant can hope for is a delayed eviction,鈥 Hardy said.听Alternatively, someone with 鈥渕assive arrears鈥 may be seen as a sustainable tenant because they have a clear way to repay the rent they owe 鈥 for example, with an upcoming tax return.
A delay would be based on a 鈥減urely compassionate argument,鈥 perhaps to allow a child to finish the school year in the neighbourhood, or to allow the tenant to stay in the home until winter ends.
Own-use evictions and purchaser鈥檚 own use evictions听
Many no-fault evictions,听Hardy explained,听are generally believed to take place in bad faith in order to remove a tenant who鈥檚 paying low rent, so that under Ontario鈥檚 vacancy decontrol rule, they can move someone new in and charge them a higher rent.听
No-fault evictions include own-use evictions (in which the landlord, certain immediate family members听or a caregiver moves into the unit for at least a year), purchaser鈥檚 own-use (in which the unit has been sold and the purchaser or a family member of theirs moves in) and “renovictions,” which include substantial renovation, conversion and demolition requiring the unit be vacant.
The landlord typically has to give the tenant an eviction notice 鈥 it鈥檚 not enough to tell them that a family member wants to move in or that they鈥檙e selling the unit, Hardy said.
He also highlighted that someone simply buying the unit is “absolutely not a basis for eviction” as it just means the tenant will have a new landlord.听There would only be a basis for eviction if the buyer or their family member wanted to move in.
听if they want the unit for themselves or their family member or if the landlord is selling the unit and the purchaser wants to move in.
For a purchaser’s own-use eviction, the unit has to have already been sold 鈥 the landlord can’t have a tenant evicted just because an empty unit is easier to sell.
Fighting at the LTB 鈥渋s the only way to really avoid鈥 a bad-faith eviction in this case, although it is 鈥渇ar from guaranteed,鈥 Hardy said. In his opinion, the LTB often fails to properly scrutinize landlord鈥檚 own-use claims, which makes it so important that tenants get legal advice and gather evidence ahead of time.听 even though they said it would be for a family member or email exchanges in which the landlord was pressuring the tenant to leave.
What to know about renovictions
If a tenant is evicted听on the basis of conversion or demolition, they won’t be able to move back in, but听with a substantial renovation eviction, “there’s a possibility of moving back in when the renovations are complete,” Hardy highlighted.
That’s because conversion and demolition evictions can only be carried out if a property is going to be changed into a non-residential premises, although there is some ambiguity when renovations are “so substantial” that a demolition is necessary. If a renovation requires demolition, a tenant will have the rights of someone renovicted for substantial renovation, Hardy explained.
Renovicted tenants have the right of first refusal, meaning they should be allowed to return to the unit “at a rent that is no more than what the landlord could have lawfully charged if there had been no interruption,” according to the Residential Tenancies Act.
However, many substantial renovation evictions, like own-use evictions, are widely believed to be done in bad faith, Hardy said.
A landlord may be acting in bad faith if the renovations can actually be done without evicting the tenant 鈥 although the process may be more expensive or inconvenient 鈥 and if the landlord has no intention of letting the tenant go back to the unit,听Hardy said.
“In that case, a common strategy is taking too much time,” Hardy said. “It could also be completely false 鈥斕齀 could tell you I’m going to do a bunch of renovations, and then the second you move out, I don’t need to do any of those renovations. That’s probably the most flagrant example of a bad-faith renoviction.”
In order to successfully evict a tenant on this basis, 鈥渢he landlord has to demonstrate the extensive nature of the repairs or renovations, they have to have the permits, and usually make at least some sort of argument about why vacant possession is necessary,鈥 he explained.
鈥淎 tenant who is contesting the eviction wants to hit hard and focus on all the criteria,鈥 Hardy said. 鈥淪ometimes you might be nitpicking or attacking the permits that have been issued, sometimes you might be focusing more on 鈥業s eviction really required? Is vacant possession really required?鈥 It’s always going to be fact specific.鈥
What to do if you think you were evicted in bad faith
After听a no-fault eviction,听a tenant may feel听the landlord acted in bad faith. If so, they can submit a T5 application to the LTB, and make their case at a hearing. They had to have received a formal eviction notice to be eligible.
Hardy said most tenants will have up to a year after eviction to apply, and those who were renovicted have two years.听
They can seek monetary compensation or request to move back in, although Hardy said there are 鈥渇ew, if any鈥 cases of tenancy being restored because an innocent third party has likely already moved in.听
“The board is reluctant to evict one person to restore another person’s tenancy,” Hardy said. “There’s a legal debate about whether that makes sense, but it’s not a question that’s been answered by Ontario law.”
Hardy said the “simplest approach” a tenant can take in convincing the LTB that a renoviction or own-use eviction was carried out in bad faith is by proving that the landlord did not do what they promised to do. If that’s the case, the landlord’s only defence will be that something stopped them from doing so,听“like an illness or financial calamity.”
He noted that with an own-use eviction, specifically, there are a number of scenarios in which the LTB presumes the landlord acted in bad faith. According to the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord acted in bad faith if they evicted a tenant for own-use but the person they said would be moving did not, and:
advertised the rental unit for rent;
brought in a new tenant;
advertised the rental unit, or the building that contains the rental unit, for sale;
demolished the rental unit or the building containing the rental unit; or
took any step to convert the rental unit, or the building containing the rental unit, to use for a purpose other than residential premises.听
An argument that a tenant was renovicted in bad faith, however, may focus “on whether the renovations happened or whether the landlord afforded the right of first refusal,”听Hardy said.听
“Often, tenants don鈥檛 dispute the renovations but are arguing the听landlord stopped them from moving back in. So then it will focus on the听landlord’s conduct, lack of communication, maybe avoiding the tenant or pretending not to have heard from them,” he said. “One common听landlord tactic is just to simply delay, since nobody can move into a unit that isn鈥檛 ready yet.”
A tenant could seek general compensation, the difference between their old rent and their new rent, or other options outlined on the T5, Hardy said.听They could win up to $35,000, although most 鈥済et way less.鈥
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