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.
A landlord should avoid asking how many children a prospective tenant has, because family status is a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code. Asking about the children can be seen as information used to screen out families, which is not permitted. A landlord may instead, ask how many people will occupy the unit to ensure compliance with health and safety, or occupancy standards. Landlords cannot refuse to rent or apply different rules simply because a tenant has children.
No, you should not evict her based on these complaints alone. As per the Ontario Human Rights Code, family status is a protected ground and noise associated with normal day-to-day living (including children) is generally considered reasonable. Evicting a tenant simply because she is a single mother or because her children make ordinary noise could expose you to serious liability, including a human rights complaint, unless there is clear evidence of excessive or unreasonable behaviour that goes beyond the norm and proper steps have been followed.
The tenant’s role includes clearly communicating their accommodation needs, explaining how their disability affects their use or enjoyment of the rental unit, and participating in the process in good faith. The tenant must work with the landlord to explore reasonable solutions, including alternatives if the original request is not feasible. Most importantly, a tenant must corporate with reasonable accommodations offered.
Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, there is a duty to accommodate. If a tenant makes a request to accommodate their disability, the landlord must provide it. As a landlord, you have a duty to accommodate your tenant’s disability to the point of undue hardship, and limited eyesight after eye surgery may qualify as a disability. If better lighting is needed for the tenant’s safe or reasonable enjoyment, you should consider the request in good faith and only refuse it if it would cause undue hardship, such as excessive cost that would put you in a difficult financial situation.
Visit https://landlordselfhelp.com/human-rights-in-rental-housing/ on our website, I think it should provide some clarification on the issue of renting to tenants with disabilities and the landlord’s duty to accommodate. Other than this there aren’t really any other differences, the Act would apply in the same way as in any other rental situation.
According to the Human Rights Code, a 16 or 17 year old person who is living away from their parents cannot be refused an apartment because of their age, and a lease signed by a 16 or 17 year old is legally binding.
Section 13 of the Ontario Human Rights Code does not allow publication or notification that indicates an intent to discriminate against any person covered by one of the protected grounds in the Code. Students and persons requiring a guarantor would presumably fall under the category of age, family status or person in receipt of public assistance. So unless the owner intends to share a kitchen or bathroom with the person answering the rental ad – these situations would be exempt from the Code under Section 21 – then the ad would most likely be in violation of the Code.