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.
Illegal acts do not have to occur inside the rental unit. For landlord-tenant purposes, illegal activity can be considered if it occurs anywhere in the rental unit or the residential complex. For example, if the police caught the tenant dealing drugs in the parking lot of the rental property, the landlord could issue the tenant an N6 notice.
Yes, a landlord can file for eviction even where the illegal activity was committed by a guest or occupant rather than the tenant. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, a tenant is responsible for the conduct of anyone they permit into the rental unit or residential complex. If a guest or occupant engages in an illegal act that occurs in the rental unit or on the property where the rental unit is located, the landlord may serve the required notice and apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction. The Board may consider the tenant’s level of knowledge and or involvement, but the tenant is not automatically protected from eviction simply because they did not personally commit the illegal act.
In this situation, because the tenant assaulted you, you may serve an N6- Notice to End your Tenancy for Illegal Acts, which allows you to seek termination of the tenancy without waiting for further incidents to occur. If the assault occurred in the rental unit or residential complex, you may serve an N6 for an Illegal Act. After serving the notice, you must file an L2 application and gather the evidence that you will rely on at the hearing, such as police reports, charge information, and witness statements (if applicable). You may also address the rent arrears by serving the tenant with an N4 for non-payment of rent. If the rent is not paid within 14 days, you may also file an L1 application.
There are two possible notices of termination you can serve to your tenant:
The first notice is Form N5 – Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Interfering with Others, Damage or Overcrowding. You can serve this notice to your tenant if your other tenants in the building are complaining, damage is being caused in the rental unit, the condo management is complaining about the constant turnover of people in your unit, or your tenancy agreement does not allow the tenant to rent the unit on a short-term basis. This notice is a 20 day notice to end the tenancy, but it allows the tenant to correct the situation within seven (7) days. If they do not correct the situation in seven (7) days, you can file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board as early as the 8th day.
If the tenant is collecting more rent from the Airbnb renters than what the tenant is paying you each month for rent, this is considered illegal act. In this case, you can serve your tenant with Form N6 – Notice to End your Tenancy for Illegal Acts or Misrepresenting Income in a Rent-Geared-to-Income Rental Unit. This notice is also a 20 day notice to end the tenancy (Reason 2), however, the tenant is not given an opportunity to correct the situation. You can file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board right after you provide your tenant with this notice.
In either case, you should collect as much evidence as possible. For example, print-outs of the advertisements on the Airbnb website showing your unit, proof of what the tenant is charging to rent out your unit and complaints from other tenants or condo management. It is important to fill in as much detail as possible about the tenant’s behaviour in the Details About the Reasons for this Notice section of each form.
If the reason for termination is based on the tenant’s drug dealing, the best way to prove it is when the police have laid charges and you can get the police report and/or summons the police officers to the hearing. You should also have other witnesses such as the other tenants in the residential complex. There are selected cases posted on the Landlord and Tenant Board’s website, I believe there are a couple of these cases that deal with illegal activities.
In this case, you can serve your tenant with Form N6 – Notice to End your Tenancy for Illegal Act or Misrepresenting Income in a Rent-Geared-to-Income Rental Unit. This notice is a 10 days notice to end the tenancy (Reason 1), and the tenant is not given an opportunity to correct the situation. You can file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board right after you provide your tenant with this notice.
Section 61.1 of the RTA may apply in this case and you could serve the Form N6 to the tenant based on the by-law infractions but only if you have been served with a Notice of Violation from the local municipality specifying the infractions.
If you simply suspect drug use it may not be enough grounds to evict unless you can get proof. You can serve Form N6 based on illegal acts if you are able to gather evidence about the illegal drug use and/or possession/distribution by your tenant or their guests at the rental unit. However, if your house contains 3 or fewer residential units, you can serve the Form N7 based on the disturbances. In both cases, you will also need to submit Form L2 and a Certificate of Service when applying to the Landlord and Tenant Board for a hearing.