º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø

But legal clinics, who have for years raised concerns about the LTB’s COVID-era move online, sayÌýremote hearingsÌýcreate unequal access to justice for tenants, reduce opportunities for mediation and worsen the backlog at Ontario’s busiest tribunal.

Benjamin Ries, executive director ofÌýSouth Etobicoke Community Legal Services, said most courts — including small claims and criminal court — agree trialsÌýshould be in-person. The Labour Relations Board also holds hearings in-person by default.Ìý

Meanwhile, even government employees who are not public-facing areÌýbeing sent back to the office,Ìýhe said.

“I don’t know how the Landlord and Tenant Board or the premier of Ontario can explain being 180 degrees opposite,” Ries said, noting for tenants, the stakes are high as theyÌýmay faceÌýlosing their housing.

None of Ontario’s constituent tribunals intend to return to default in-person hearings.

“In today’s world users expect online services that are convenient and accessible anywhere and at any time,” andÌýthe tribunal sector is “not immune” to those pressures, a Tribunals Ontario spokesperson said.

A 2024-2025 survey of aboutÌý1,700 participants — half tenants, 32 per cent landlords and the rest, other users — found 90 per cent had a positive experience with virtual hearings, they said.

The province, meanwhile, said virtual hearings remove the “cost, time, and travel barriers” of in-person hearings. They alsoÌýallow the LTB to process “significantly more” cases each day.Ìý

It has invested $6.5 million to add 40 full-time adjudicators and five LTB staff “toÌýhelp speed up processes and reduce the backlog,” plus $28.5 millionÌýon a new Tribunals Ontario digital case management and dispute resolution system,ÌýsaidÌýJulia Facca, press secretary for Attorney General Doug Downey, in a statement.

Virtual hearings are unfair for tenants, lawyers say

Douglas Kwan, director of advocacy and legal services at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, said most landlords use video, while a majority of tenants phone in — something a 2023 Ombudsman Ìýon the LTB also pointed out.

This dynamic is “akin toÌýputting one party with the judge in one room and another party in a separate room altogether,” Kwan said. “You’re obviously going to favour the person who’s in the room with you.”

The LTB says decisions areÌýbased on “the specific facts, evidence and submissions” before the adjudicator.

Tenants will struggle to participate particularly if they don’t have access to video technology, are in remote areas without strong broadband, are survivors of domestic violence, have mental disabilities or are not technologically savvy, tenant lawyers say.

Ries addedÌýthe requirements for getting in-person hearings aren’t clear, noting none of his clients have ever been approved for one, including an older tenant who hadÌýcognitive function issues.

Tribunals Ontario said in 2024-2025,Ìýit only received 291 requests for in-person hearings out of 127,000 applications, which it believes “sends a clear message” that users prefer virtual hearings.

Of the requests, 17 were granted while 42 were accommodated with alternative supports, it said.

Effect of lost ‘hallway conversations’Ìý

Kwan said the virtual system disconnects tenants from resources and reduces opportunities for landlords and tenants to reach an agreement, noting Tribunals Ontario data showsÌýthe percentage of cases resolved by mediation decreased from 13.5 per cent in 2018-2019 to six per cent in 2023-2024.

When the LTB had regional offices, municipal homelessness prevention programs would often rent spaces next door and could grant tenants rent bank money “on the spot” to avoid eviction,ÌýKwan said.

Ries said there used to be tenant duty counsel at each regional office, but now duty counsel must navigate virtual hearing rooms and breakout rooms with people from across the province.

“These are real ways in which the Landlord and Tenant Board has reduced the range of services available to parties in exchange for everybody (getting) to sit at home,” he said.

Digital hearings come at the cost of “hallway conversations” that often led to mediated agreements, lawyers said.

The º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøRegional Real Estate BoardÌýhasÌýalsoÌýcalled on the LTB to restore in-person hearings with the option of virtual hearings.

CEOÌýJohn DiMicheleÌýsaid the loss of in-person conversation stands out to him most among the challenges of virtual hearings.

“When you have the opportunity to see people face-to-face, you can come to some better understanding and you can mediate better,” he said.

LTB backlog worsened after 2020, but improved recently

The LTB’s backlog ballooned after moving online, Kwan said, from about 15,000 cases at the end of the 2018-2019 year to 53,000 cases to the end of 2022-2023 year, according to Tribunals Ontario data.

That’s despite the tribunal receiving fewer applications in the later years and having nearly triple the number of adjudicators, Kwan said, so “they’re not as efficient as they once were in person.”

In 2023, an ombudsman report found the LTB was “fundamentally failing in its role of providing swift justice,” leaving tenants and landlords “forced to live in unsafe and substandard conditions” or “facing financial ruin.”

Tony Irwin, president of theÌýFederation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario, said the online moveÌýin 2020 came with “growing pains,” but he now believes online hearings contribute to a more efficient system.

Tribunals Ontario contendsÌýit has “significantly increased the number of cases resolved and closed over the past two years.

“As of September 19, 2025, the LTB had successfully reduced its active caseload to 36,761 applications, a 33 per cent reduction since the caseload peaked at 55,000 in December 2023,” it said.

The province noted the number of cases resolved last year — 106,000 — was the highest in its history.

Kwan, however, says that progress is due to the increase in adjudicators, which he believes is making up for the problems and inefficiency of the online system.