Failure to Name all Tenant's on Notice of Termination

From Riverview Legal Group


Caselaw.Ninja, Riverview Group Publishing 2021 ©
Date Retrieved: 2024-04-30
CLNP Page ID: 2317
Page Categories: Defective Notice (LTB)
Citation: Failure to Name all Tenant's on Notice of Termination, CLNP 2317, <https://rvt.link/a0>, retrieved on 2024-04-30
Editor: P08916
Last Updated: 2023/11/27


Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17[1]

43 (1) Where this Act permits a landlord or tenant to give a notice of termination, the notice shall be in a form approved by the Board and shall,

(a) identify the rental unit for which the notice is given;
(b) state the date on which the tenancy is to terminate; and
(c) be signed by the person giving the notice, or the person’s agent. 2006, c. 17, s. 43 (1).
(2) If the notice is given by a landlord, it shall also set out the reasons and details respecting the termination and inform the tenant that,
(a) if the tenant vacates the rental unit in accordance with the notice, the tenancy terminates on the date set out in clause (1) (b);
(b) if the tenant does not vacate the rental unit, the landlord may apply to the Board for an order terminating the tenancy and evicting the tenant; and
(c) if the landlord applies for an order, the tenant is entitled to dispute the application. 2006, c. 17, s. 43 (2).


[1]

SOL-21281-11 (Re), 2012 CanLII 21588 (ON LTB)[2]

7. At the hearing on January 26, 2012, A. D. testified that she was a tenant of the unit but that she was neither named as a tenant on the N4 and the L1 application nor served with the N4 and the L1 application.

8. A. D. gave sworn testimony and stated that she and B. H. were co-tenants of the rental unit and that they had signed a lease together but the Landlord had refused to give them a copy of the signed lease agreement. A. D. also testified that there were other tenants and or occupants of the rental unit who were also not named or served with the N4 and the L1 application. No evidence was provided to prove that the rental unit had other tenants apart from A. D. and B. H. I find it likely that A. and B. were the tenants of the rental unit and that the rental unit also housed occupants. The Landlord does not have to name or serve occupants with the N4 and or with the L1 application.

9. I accept A. D’s. sworn testimony that she is a tenant of the rental unit and find that she should have been named as a party to these proceedings and served with the N4 and with the L1 application.

10. I also find that the physical presence of the Landlord at this hearing was important as he is the only one who had information with regards to the claims that the Tenant/s were making against him and or as to whether A. D. was an occupant or a tenant of the rental unit.

11. Guideline 10 of the Board’s Interpretation Guidelines provides that if the landlord has entered into a tenancy agreement with more than one tenant, the Notice of Termination (N4) should name and be given to all tenants. The Guideline further provides that the Notice of Termination is an essential step in the landlord’s process of evicting a tenant and that the Board will not terminate a tenancy and order eviction of the tenant unless the tenant has received a valid Notice of Termination from the landlord and the landlord has successfully proved the ground claimed in the Notice at the hearing of the application.

12. Therefore I find that the application filed with the Board was filed based on a defective N4 which did not name A. D. as a tenant of the rental unit and I also find that A. D. should have been named a party to these proceedings.


[2]

Centurion Property Associates Inc v Gosal, 2021 CanLII 119137 (ON LTB)[3]

1. The Landlord served an N4 Notice of Termination dated January 12, 2021 on the Tenant. In addition to Jasleen Gosal, the N4 listed the following people as Tenants of the rental unit: “Sukhwinder Gosal”. I find that these other parties that are not Tenants because he is not named in the tenancy agreement and has only agreed to act as a Guarantor.

2. Notices of termination must comply with all requirements contained in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Act), otherwise they are void. This strict approach to technical requirements is to ensure that the Tenant is aware of the conduct or issue and the steps needed to remedy it if they are to avoid eviction.

3. The strict approach to technical requirements includes ensuring that the named parties are the Tenants that have a right to occupy the rental unit, as defined at s.2 of the Act.

4. In this instance by listing third parties that are not on the lease, are not even occupants, it creates confusion as to who could and should respond to the notice and who is responsible for paying the rent.

5. As a result, the N4 notice of termination is defective. The Board cannot issue an eviction order without a valid notice of termination.


[3]

Executive Property Management v Gil, 2022 CanLII 94711 (ON LTB)[4]

10. The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the ‘Act’) provides mandatory requirements for notices of termination. Section 43 of the Act, which applies to all notices of termination, does not expressly state who should be named on the notice of termination. However, as subsection 43(2) of the Act requires the landlord giving such a notice and to set out the reasons and details respecting the termination and inform the tenant receiving the notice of certain information, it is implied that the landlord giving the notice of termination must name the tenant of the rental unit. Where there is more than one tenant, the notice of termination must name all of the tenants of the rental unit.

11. For N13 notices of termination, subsection 50(1) authorizes the landlord to give notice, subsection 50(2) requires the date for termination specified in the notice to be at least 120 days after the notice is given and to be the day a period of the tenancy ends or, where the tenancy is for a fixed term, the end of the term, and subsection 50(4) of the Act provides early termination rights to a tenant who receives such a notice. Read together, it is clear that the landlord is required to give a copy of the notice to each of the tenants of the rental unit.

12. The Landlord was required to give the N13 notice of termination to all tenants of the rental unit. Since it was uncontested that the Landlord only gave the notice of termination to Ms. Gil but not Ms. Ruud, or even Mr. Cook, it follows that service of the notice of termination was defective. This means that the Board does not have jurisdiction to terminate the tenancy and that I must dismiss the Landlord’s application.

[4]

Heath v Taylor, 2021 CanLII 149821 (ON LTB)[5]

5. Notices of termination must comply with all requirements contained in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Act), otherwise they are void. This strict approach to technical requirements is to ensure that the Tenant is aware of the conduct or issue and the steps needed to remedy it if they are to avoid eviction.

6. The strict approach to technical requirements includes ensuring that the named parties are the Tenants that have a right to occupy the rental unit, as defined at s.2 of the Act.

7. In this instance by listing third parties that are not on the lease, are not even occupants, and failing to list the actual Tenants, it creates confusion as to who could and should respond to the notice and who is responsible for paying the rent.

8. As a result, the notices of termination are defective. The Board cannot issue an eviction order without a valid notice of termination.


[5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, <https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/06r17>, retrieved 2023-11-27
  2. 2.0 2.1 SOL-21281-11 (Re), 2012 CanLII 21588 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/fr36k>, retrieved on 2023-11-27
  3. 3.0 3.1 Centurion Property Associates Inc v Gosal, 2021 CanLII 119137 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/jkrz8>, retrieved on 2023-11-27
  4. 4.0 4.1 Executive Property Management v Gil, 2022 CanLII 94711 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/jsd1m>, retrieved on 2023-11-27
  5. 5.0 5.1 Heath v Taylor, 2021 CanLII 149821 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/jph1c>, retrieved on 2023-11-27