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.
If a tenant fails to give the required notice (60 days for a monthly tenancy or 28 days for a weekly tenancy), the Landlord has a legal duty to mitigate their losses This means the landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent the unit as soon as possible. A landlord cannot simply leave the unit vacant and continue charging the former tenant. If the landlord suffers financial losses such as unpaid rent during the vacancy period or reasonable advertising costs to re-rent the unit, the landlord may be able to claim those losses by filing and L10 -Application to Collect Money a Former Tenant Owes, with the LTB. This application must be filed within 1 year of the date the tenant vacated the unit. To file the L10 application, the Land must be able to properly serve the former tenant. This generally requires the tenant’s new residential address, unless the tenant has consented to service of documents via email in writing. The L10 form is available on the LTB website at prescribed form is available on the LTB website at https://tribunalsontario.ca/ltb/forms/ .
Since the tenant gave you written notice that they are moving out but have failed to vacate the property, you can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction order based on the notice. The tenant’s must have given written notice using an N9 form to end a tenancy or other wise written notice must clearly identify the rental unit address, have a termination date that falls at the end of a rental period and signed by all the tenants. To proceed, you would file an L3 Application to End a Tenancy and Evict a Tenant along with the required declaration. These forms can be obtained from the Landlord and Tenant Board’s website at https://tribunalsontario.ca/ltb/forms/.
No, a tenant’s verbal notice to terminate a tenancy is not legally sufficient or enforceable under the Residential Tenancies Act. To legally end a tenancy, a tenant must give written notice using the N9 – Tenant’s Notice to End the Tenancy form. The written notice must clearly state the tenant’s intention to move out, identify the rental unit, and provide the required notice period with the termination date falling at the end of the rental period. A verbal notice cannot be enforced at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and a landlord cannot rely on verbal notice to obtain an eviction order.
If your tenant has already been charged by the police with regards to the drug dealing in the rental unit, you can serve him with a Form N6 – Notice to Terminate Tenancy Early for an Illegal Act. This gives the tenant 10 days’ notice to leave. It also allows you to apply immediately to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction order that you can enforce if the tenant does not leave according to the N6 notice.
If the police have not charged the tenant and it is only a suspicion that the tenant is dealing drugs in the rental unit, you can only serve a Form N5 based on the tenant’s interference with the reasonable enjoyment of the premises by the other tenants who are complaining about disturbances. Having people coming and going at all hours of the day and any other similar disturbances interfere with the other tenants’ enjoyment of the rental unit. Once you serve the Form N5, the tenant has an opportunity to correct the situation within seven days. If it is not corrected within 7 days, you can then file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board to go to a hearing where an adjudicator will decide whether or not there are grounds to end the tenancy.
A tenant does not have to move out when a short-term agreement ends, as the tenancy automatically continues on a month-to-month basis unless it is legally terminated. If the tenant owes rent, you may serve an N4, giving them 7 days to pay before you can file an L1 Application. If the tenant owes utilities, as per their tenancy agreement, you may serve an N5. If the tenant does not pay within the 7-day voiding period, you may apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction order and recovery of the outstanding amount.
You cannot ask your tenants not to bring their guest as it is not unlawful for them to have guests stay in the rental unit as often as they please. If the number of people occupying the rental unit on a continuing basis contravenes health, safety and housing standards required by law, you may serve an N5 notice of termination where you would need to prove the tenant is contravening the municipal bylaws. The tenants can avoid termination if they reduce the number of people occupying the rental unit to comply with health, safety and housing standards within 7 days according to the N5 notice.