It’s very frustrating for a landlord who is dealing with tenants not paying their rent on time, but unfortunately the only thing that can be done is issuing the N4 notice whenever the rent is not paid on the due date. If the tenant pays the rent, then you basically have to wait until the next time it happens and serve her again. Eventually after serving several N4’s you may serve a notice to terminate based on persistent late payments (form N8), but it’s not easy to evict a tenant for this reason. The Board will usually give the tenant another opportunity to start paying rent on time and issue a payment plan.

If you need the unit for your stepfather to move in, that would be a valid reason to terminate the tenancy. In this case you could serve the tenant with a form N12, giving them 60 days to terminate at the end of the rental period. However, the tenant could still refuse to move out, in which case you will have to file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board to go to a hearing for the Board to decide. You will have to pay the tenant one month’s rent as compensation or offer them another unit acceptable to them, and the person who will be moving in will have to swear an Affidavit stating their intentions to move in to the unit. Visit the Board’s website for more information on the procedures and to obtain the forms, https://tribunalsontario.ca/ltb/forms/#landlord-forms.

If the tenant files a bad faith application based on the N12, effective September 1, 2021, the tenant can get an order against you for the following: an order to pay the former tenant an amount of increased rent for up to 1 year, an amount of up to 12 months’ rent charged to the former tenant, an amount for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, landlord pay to the Board an administrative fine not exceeding the greater of $10,000 and the monetary jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court, and other penalties as deemed appropriate by the adjudicator.