Your first stop for self-help is a review of our FAQs. Take a look at the ever increasing collection of questions asked by Ontario’s small-scale landlords as well as the actual answers provided by Landlord’s Self-Help Centre.
The Court of Appeal has recently interpreted that the Ontario Regulation for Maintenance Standards only mandates that a landlord remove snow from outside communal areas of a residential complex not from places that are utilized only by individual tenants. However, when there are shared spaces, it remains the landlord’s responsibility. The case can be found here: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2024/2024onca459/2024onca459.html
You should speak with a legal service provider to ensure that your rental unit and lease agreement align with the facts of the Crete v. Ottawa Community Housing Corporation case.
There is not a timeline set out under the RTA, however, your municipality likely has their own bylaws that specify how long after a snow fall the landlord has to clear it. For additional information, Landlords are encouraged to contact their local municipality.
Yes, this is true. The landlord is primarily responsible to maintain the common areas of the property if it contains multiple units, and that includes clearing snow and maintaining the lawn in the summer months. Tenants are responsible for clearing snow and ice from areas used exclusively by them pursuant to s. 33 of the RTA, which makes tenants responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the rental unit.
I would first suggest writing a letter to your tenants with a reasonable timeframe for correcting this issue, and keeping a copy for yourself.
The next step would be to serve an N5 Notice. This is a 20-day notice to terminate the tenancy, but the tenant can void the notice by correcting all of the issues in the details section of the form within 7 days. If the mess is removed then the matter is resolved. If not, then you may apply for an eviction hearing by submitting an L2 application to the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Your general obligation under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 is to maintain the property and to comply with all health, safety and housing standards.
As with any situation that requires water or electricity supply shut off, temporary inconvenience is a standard part of the process for all concerned. If you can offer your tenant somewhere else to live at your expense during the time of the repair, then this seems reasonable. If the tenant does not agree to this, then you will have to reach some kind of compromise if you want to get on with getting the work done.
The landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining the rental unit in a good state of repair and fit for habitation and in compliance with health, safety and housing standards. A “good state of repair” is subjective. If the requests are reasonable, the landlord should fix them. If a landlord does not maintain the property, the tenant can file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board. If the tenant is successful, the LTB could issue an order to have the repairs done as well as an abatement of rent and reimbursement for any repairs they have done themselves.
You may still be required to repair the air conditioner if it was in the rental unit when the new tenant moved in. Although there may have been no mention of providing air conditioning in your Tenancy Agreement, once the tenant began using the existing air conditioner, it became an implied agreement that the air conditioner is provided and therefore you are responsible to maintain it.
Dealing with mould issues in a rental property can be a bit challenging, and it doesn’t help that the law does not set out clear guidelines on how to deal with this type of situation. The first step for you would be to meet with your tenants and try to come up with a plan on how to deal with the problem. If they have to move out temporarily while you get the problem corrected, you should offer them a rent rebate for the time that they’re out of the unit or offer to pay for their accommodation costs. It is really up to both parties to work something out. If they chose to move out instead and terminate their tenancy, then you should both sign an Agreement to Terminate the Tenancy which is a Form N11.
The Residential Tenancies Act, section 20 states that “a landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining a residential complex, including the rental units in it, in a good state of repair and fit for habitation and for complying with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards.” When it comes to any kind of pest infestation in a rental unit or on the rental property, it is the landlord’s responsibility to deal with the problem.
This is an issue that is not really addressed in the Residential Tenancies Act. It is usually up to the landlord and the tenant to work out an agreement at the beginning of the tenancy on how the garbage and recyclable items will be collected. If there is nothing in your tenancy agreement about it, you can try taking the position that all other tenants in the building take out their own garbage and it’s understood that would apply to her also. If you cannot come to an agreement, either one of you may file an application at the LTB.
Most tenants will usually do it themselves; however, the Act states that tenants are only responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the unit. Therefore, this would fall under the landlord’s maintenance obligations.
Typically, any plumbing issues would be the landlord’s responsibly. The landlord can only hold the tenant responsible if the landlord can prove that the tenant is the one that has caused the problem. The landlord should pay for the costs upfront, if the tenant does not agree to repay the plumber’s fee, the landlord can file a L2 Application and have the LTB issue an order for the landlord to pay.