Air Ducts Re: Dust (RTA)

CET-43865-14 (Re), 2015 CanLII 59718 (ON LTB)

10. It is not disputed that the Landlords have not cleaned the heating and air ducts.

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It is ordered that:

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7. The Landlords shall clean the heating and air ducts.

SWT-11556-17 (Re), 2018 CanLII 42814 (ON LTB)

12. The Tenant’s friend, BM, testified that he visited the Tenant at the unit almost daily from the beginning of October 2017, to the day she moved out. He observed black dust around the air ducts, on the floors and in the bathroom, and collected on furniture and items of clothing. He also detected the odour of cigarette smoke in the Tenant’s unit. He saw her attempt to discuss the matter with the Landlord and he was dismissive. He accompanied the Tenant to the Rent4All office in late October or early November 2017, with the sample she had collected at their request and the staff members were extremely rude and the police were called. The Tenant told him that she gave Rent4All a written notice that she was going to vacate but he did

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Remedies

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25. Since this is the Tenant’s application, she bears the burden of proving the claim and the entitlement to damages on a balance of probabilities. I accept her testimony that breathing the dirty air was distressing and her fear for her daughter’s health substantially interfered with her reasonable enjoyment of the premises and prompted her to make the decision to move.

26. I am satisfied that a 25% abatement of rent from June to November 2017, is reasonable under the circumstances since both she and her daughter had to breathe air she found unpleasant and unsafe and she had to engage in extra cleaning to remove the soot from the floors. (25% x 6 months x $1,000.00 per month = $1,500.00)

SWT-12021-10 (Re), 2010 CanLII 65620 (ON LTB)

[12] The Landlord received complaints from other tenants that the ventilation system for the residential complex was blowing cold air, and rather than resolve the problem by repairing the system, the Landlord blocked off the vents and permitted the system to shut down completely. The ventilation system was not in a good state of repair as required by subsection 20(1) of the Act. In March 2010, the Tenant made a written complaint to the Landlord about poor air flow and other issues, and the Landlord took no action with respect to the ventilation system at that time. The Tenant complained to the municipal by-law inspection office, who directed the Landlord to repair the ventilation system. The Landlord hired an electrician who performed repairs and re-started the ventilation system. The repair was completed by the hearing date. Although the Landlord did repair the system, the repair was not completed in a timely fashion once the Tenant reported the problem, and as such, I find that the Tenant is entitled to an abatement of rent.

[13] Neither party was clear about the date the repair was completed, but the repair was still outstanding when the application was filed in August 2010. Therefore, it is appropriate for the abatement to apply for the months of March 2010, which was the month of the Tenant’s first documented complaint, to August 2010, the month of the hearing. In calculating the amount of the abatement, I have considered the reasonable impact on the Tenant, which included dealing with dust hanging in the air, and odours and hot air in the summer and I find that the Tenant is entitled to an abatement of 15% of the rent for the months of March 2010 to August 2010, which totals $568.80.

[14] The repair improved the air circulation, but as a result of being closed up for years, the ducts and air vents are full of dust and grime, and the circulated air has a musty, stale odour. A repair order is necessary to resolve this problem.

[15] The Tenant gave evidence that his bathroom fan blows air into the bathroom instead of taking air up to the roof of the complex, and as a result, cat litter odours from a third-floor unit come down into the Tenant’s unit. The Tenant does not have any pets and the cat urine odour reduces the Tenant’s enjoyment of his rental unit. Although the Landlord denied there is a problem with the bathroom fan in the rental unit, I am not satisfied that the Landlord has sufficiently investigated the issue. A repair order is necessary to resolve this problem.

TST-89508-17 (Re), 2018 CanLII 42704 (ON LTB)

8. At the outset of the hearing the Tenants agreed the issues raised in their T6 and T2 applications are as follows:

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i) six air vents in the unit are in a state of disrepair;

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44. The same holds true for the various heat/air vents in the unit. The vents should not be in such a state of disrepair so as to prevent the Tenants from controlling the heat flow in the unit—especially when the exterior temperatures reach below -20, as is the case at present.

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It is ordered that:

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6. On or before January 31, 2018, the Landlord shall:

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(4) repair or replace the six air/heat vents in the unit;