Going After a Bad Faith N12 »

For information on damages, please read our article Damages on a Bad Faith N12.

Your landlord gave you a N12 claiming that they were going to live in the rental unit and that they needed you to vacate. Maybe you decided to move out based on the N12 or maybe you decide to contest the N12 at a Landlord and Tenant Board hearing. After the hearing, the Board issued an eviction order against you because of the N12.

After you move into a new place, an old neighbour reaches out to you and says “Just so you are aware, your old landlord came to me and ask if I knew anyone who was interested in renting out your old place.” Furious at hearing this, you go online and find some rental ads for your old place.

The Bad Faith Application

As touched on in the article Receiving The Dreaded N12,¹ when this happens you have the right to file an application against your landlord because your landlord gave you a N12 in bad faith. The application that will need to be filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board is called: T5 – Landlord gave a Notice of Termination in Bad Faith. We call those applications a T5 – Bad Faith Application.

**What Does the Residential Tenancies Act Say**

Section 57 of the Residential Tenancies Act, lays out everything related to a T5 – Bad Faith Application.² Section 57 lays out: who can file a T5 – Bad Faith Application, a transitional period, limitation period, what happens if a N12 was originally found in given in good faith, when a notice can be considered automatically given in bad faith, and what the Landlord and Tenant Board can award to a former tenant.

Who can File

Only a former a tenant can file a T5 – Bad Faith Application. If you are a current tenant and it comes clear that the N12 was given in a bad faith. That piece of information can be used to defend against a N12. However, a T5 – Bad Faith Application is not just for a bad faith N12. A T5 – Bad Faith Application can also be used for a bad faith N13.

Transitional Period

For the vast majority of people reading this, the transitional period has no applicability to them. What the transitional period’s purpose is that if you had a T5 – Bad Faith Application filed before the new remedies could be awarded by the Landlord and Tenant Board, you could amend the original T5 – Bad Faith Application to include the new remedies.

Limitation Period

In order to file a T5 – Bad Faith Application, you have to do it within a set period of time. The clock starts ticking once you vacate the rental the unit. The reason you vacated could be because you decided to move out or because the Landlord and Tenant Board issued an eviction order. The reason for vacating the rental unit does not affect the limitation period. Once you have vacated the property, you have one year to file a T5 – Bad Faith Application against your previous landlord.

N12 Was Originally Given in Good Faith

As a tenant you have the right to contest a N12 and take it to a hearing. You decide to exercise your excise right to contest the N12 on the basis that you believe it was given in bad faith. The N12 went to a hearing and unfortunately, the Board decided the N12 was given in good faith and an eviction order was issued. This does not stop you from filing a T5 – Bad Faith Application if it a later date it comes to light that the N12 was given in bad faith.

Notice Can Be Considered Automatically Given in Bad Faith

Normally, the tenant has to prove that the N12 was given in a bad faith. However that changes when the landlord does any of the following:

(a) advertises the rental unit for rent;
(b) enters into a tenancy agreement in respect of the rental unit with someone other than the former tenant;
(c) advertises the rental unit, or the building that contains the rental unit, for sale;
(d) demolishes the rental unit or the building containing the rental unit; or
(e) takes any step to convert the rental unit, or the building containing the rental unit, to use for a purpose other than residential premises.

As soon this evidence is entered at the hearing, the landlord now has to prove that the notice was given in good faith. The tenant now does not have to prove that the N12 was given in bad faith.

What Can the Landlord and Tenant Board Award

The Landlord and Tenant Board can issue several different awards once it has been established that the N12 was given in bad faith. What the Landlord and Tenant Board can issue can be found under section 57(3) which states:

1. An order that the landlord pay a specified sum to the former tenant for all or any portion of any increased rent that the former tenant has incurred or will incur for a one-year period after vacating the rental unit.

1.1 An order that the landlord pay a specified sum to the former tenant as general compensation in an amount not exceeding the equivalent of 12 months of the last rent charged to the former tenant. An order under this paragraph may be made regardless of whether the former tenant has incurred any actual expenses or whether an order is made under paragraph 2.

1.2 An order that the landlord pay a specified sum to the former tenant for reasonable out-of-pocket moving, storage and other like expenses that the former tenant has incurred or will incur.

2. An order for an abatement of rent.

3. An order that the landlord pay to the Board an administrative fine not exceeding the greater of $10,000 and the monetary jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court.

4. Any other order that the Board considers appropriate

Breaking the Awards Down

A good way to provide how expensive this can be for a landlord is to provide a simple example.

In our simple example, there is only one tenant who was paying $1,000 a month in rent. The Tenant was served a N12 and decided to contest it. A hearing was held on February 1, 2022 and the Landlord and Tenant Board issued an eviction order. The Tenant moved out on February 28, 2022 and finds a new place to rent with a new monthly rent of $1,500. The Tenant had to hire a moving company for $500. On April 15, 2022, the Tenant sees their old place up for rent and saves the rental ads as evidence. The Tenant immediately files a T5 – Bad Faith Application against the Landlord.

The Tenant can already can ask for:

12 months of the old rent at $1,000 for a total of $12,000.
12 months of the difference in the new rent for $6,000.
$500 for moving expenses.
- Total: $18,500

That $18,500 doesn’t even include a fine to the Landlord and Tenant Board, general damages, or a rent abatement for when the Tenant was living there.

With the average rental cost in Ontario hovering around $2,000 a month as of the date of this article. It is very easy to hit the maximum $35,000 that the Landlord and Tenant Board can award.

Final Thoughts

A bad faith N12 can quickly become very expensive for a landlord. It doesn’t matter that the landlord was able to secure an eviction based on the N12. What matters is that the tenant received a N12, vacated the rental unit it, secured evidence that the N12 was given in bad faith, and then proceeded to file a T5 – Bad Faith Application within one year after vacating the rental unit.