This type of situation does not fall under the Residential Tenancies Act because you are not considered a landlord. You are a head tenant and the person you are renting to is your roommate. You should obtain legal advice on this issue from a lawyer or paralegal. We can only provide legal advice to landlords and property owners that are covered by the RTA. Contact the Law Society Referral Service at www.findlegalhelp.ca or the Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) at www.cleo.on.ca for more information about evicting your roommate.

According to the Residential Tenancies Act, it is not unlawful for a tenant to take in a roommate to help pay for the rent. The landlord cannot stop a tenant from doing this. If you were to go through the eviction process at the Landlord and Tenant Board and obtain an eviction order against your tenant, everyone living in the rental unit would be evicted as well.

We cannot tell you if what they have done is contrary to building and property standards. You have to check with the municipality’s building and property standards department about this. If it is in contravention of any by-laws and/or they have caused damage to the rental property, you would then be within your rights to issue a N5 notice to have them correct the problem and follow eviction process accordingly.

It is up to you and your potential tenant to decide who is the applicant filling out the rental application and who will sign the lease as a tenant. You do not have control over who comes in after the tenancy commences, as those people would be the tenant’s guests and therefore, the tenant’s problem. If the tenant named in the lease ends up not paying the whole rent or her guests/roommates cause problems like noise disturbances or damages, you would simply begin the eviction procedure against the tenant and try to prove your case at the Landlord and Tenant Board.