Withholding Rent (LTB)

🥷 Caselaw.Ninja, Riverview Group Publishing 2025 ©
Date Retrieved:	2025-08-16
CLNP Page ID:	2263
Page Categories:	[Payment of Rent (LTB)], [Maintenance Abatements (LTB)]
Citation:	Withholding Rent (LTB), CLNP 2263, <https://rvt.link/7z>, retrieved on 2025-08-16
Editor:	Sharvey
Last Updated:	2025/07/28

Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17

12 (1) Every written tenancy agreement entered into on or after June 17, 1998 shall set out the legal name and address of the landlord to be used for the purpose of giving notices or other documents under this Act. 2006, c. 17, s. 12 (1).

Copy of tenancy agreement

(2) If a tenancy agreement entered into on or after June 17, 1998 is in writing, the landlord shall give a copy of the agreement, signed by the landlord and the tenant, to the tenant within 21 days after the tenant signs it and gives it to the landlord. 2006, c. 17, s. 12 (2).

Notice if agreement not in writing

(3) If a tenancy agreement entered into on or after June 17, 1998 is not in writing, the landlord shall, within 21 days after the tenancy begins, give to the tenant written notice of the legal name and address of the landlord to be used for giving notices and other documents under this Act. 2006, c. 17, s. 12 (3).

Failure to comply

(4) Until a landlord has complied with subsections (1) and (2), or with subsection (3), as the case may be,

(a) the tenant’s obligation to pay rent is suspended; and

(b) the landlord shall not require the tenant to pay rent. 2006, c. 17, s. 12 (4).

After compliance

(5) After the landlord has complied with subsections (1) and (2), or with subsection (3), as the case may be, the landlord may require the tenant to pay any rent withheld by the tenant under subsection (4). 2006, c. 17, s. 12 (5).

...

Tenancy agreement in respect of tenancy of a prescribed class
12.1 (1) Every tenancy agreement that is entered into in respect of a tenancy of a prescribed class on or after the date prescribed for that class of tenancies shall comply with the following requirements:

1. The tenancy agreement shall be in the form prescribed for that class of tenancies.

2. The tenancy agreement shall comply with the requirements prescribed for that class of tenancies. 2017, c. 13, s. 5.

...

Demand for proposed tenancy agreement that complies with subs. (1)

(5) The tenant of a rental unit who is a party to a tenancy agreement described in subsection (4) may, once during the tenancy, demand in writing that the landlord provide to the tenant, for the tenant’s signature, a proposed tenancy agreement that,

(a) complies with subsection (1);

(b) is for the occupancy of the same rental unit; and

(c) is signed by the landlord. 2017, c. 13, s. 5.

Withholding of rent payments

(6) If at least 21 days have elapsed since the day the tenant made the demand and the landlord has not complied with the demand, the tenant may, subject to subsections (7) and (8), withhold rent payments that become due after the expiry of that 21-day period. 2017, c. 13, s. 5.

...

Money paid to Board
195 (1) Where the Board considers it appropriate to do so, the Board may, subject to the regulations,

(a) require a respondent to pay a specified sum into the Board within a specified time; or

(b) permit a tenant who is making an application for an order under paragraph 1 of subsection 29 (1) to pay all or part of the rent for the tenant’s rental unit into the Board. 2006, c. 17, s. 195 (1).

Rules re money paid

(2) The Board may establish procedures in the Rules for the payment of money into and out of the Board. 2006, c. 17, s. 195 (2).

No payment after final order

(3) The Board shall not, under subsection (1), authorize or require payments into the Board after the Board has made its final order in the application. 2006, c. 17, s. 195 (3).

Effect of failure to pay under cl. (1) (a)

(4) If a respondent is required to pay a specified sum into the Board within a specified time under clause (1) (a) and fails to do so, the Board may refuse to consider the evidence and submissions of the respondent. 2006, c. 17, s. 195 (4).

Effect of payment under cl. (1) (b)

(5) Payment by a tenant under clause (1) (b) shall be deemed not to constitute a default in the payment of rent due under a tenancy agreement or a default in the tenant’s obligations for the purposes of this Act. 2006, c. 17, s. 195 (5).

...

241 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations,

...

66. restricting the circumstances in which the Board may, under section 195, require a person to make a payment into the Board;

DEB v TAYLOR, 2025 ONLTB 35121

14. While I have considered that the Tenant is aware that the Landlord has a legal representative for this file, I do not find that sufficient to satisfy the requirement in section 12 (1). There is no evidence that the Landlord’s paralegal is retained on an ongoing endless retainer. The Tenant requires an address for the Landlord to use even once this specific matter is concluded.

15. I have also considered that the Tenant knows where the Landlord lives as he resides in the residential complex, and therefore may not need to be told what address to use for service. However, sections 12(1) and 12(3) of the Act both require that the Landlord tell the Tenant in writing what address to use for service. The Act does not say that if a Tenant can gain access to the Landlord’s address, then the requirement is waived. The likely purpose of the requirement to provide the information in writing is so there is no ambiguity surrounding what address can be used. The Tenant stated that the Landlord claims not to receive notices and that she is concerned if she files a tenant application the Landlord will claim not to receive it. Having the address for service in writing would directly address that concern of the Tenant.

16. I also find that the Tenant has not been provided with a full copy of the lease agreement. I accept the Tenant’s testimony in this regard as it was offered in a forthright manner. Additionally, the Tenant has repeatedly asked for a full copy of the lease which supports that she does not have one. While the Landlord denies receiving any of the Tenant’s requests, and claims to have given the Tenant a full copy of the lease, the Landlord at no point during the hearing produced a full copy of the lease. The Landlord’s inability to provide the lease even at the hearing suggests that he may have also been unwilling to provide the Tenant with one.

17. While both parties referenced the lease agreement in order LTB-L-056378-23 they only referenced the rent amount. That is not contrary to the Tenant’s submission that she only has the first page of the lease that contains the rent amount. While the Tenant may not have referenced the lease in at the hearing for file LTB-L-017719-24 that does not alone satisfy me that the Tenant is being untruthful about not having the lease. The Tenant could not have raised it at that hearing for any number of reasons.

18. I do not find the Tenant’s claim to be an abuse of process. The Act explicitly allows a Tenant to withhold rent until section 12 is complied with and there is no time limitation for when a tenant can raise an issue surrounding section 12 of the Act. That the Tenant has raised other concerns in other hearings does not necessarily mean that this claim is an abuse of process.

19. For those reasons I find that as of the review hearing date the Landlord has not complied with either sections 12(1) to provide a tenancy agreement with the address of the landlord, 12(2) to provide the Tenant with a copy of the lease or 12(3) if the tenancy agreement is not in writing to provide with 21 days after the tenancy agreement begins written notice of the address to be used for service. As such the Tenant’s obligation to pay rent is suspended pursuant to section 12(4) of the Act until the Landlord complies. The result of this is that the Tenant did not owe rent arrears when the N4 notice of termination was served and therefore the notice was invalid and cannot form the basis to terminate the tenancy. An arrears only order also cannot be issued for the same reason.

20. Pursuant to section 12(5) after the landlord has complied with subsections 12(1) and 12(2), or with subsection 12(3), as the case may be, the landlord may require the tenant to pay any rent withheld by the tenant under subsection 12(4).

CEL-55466-16-RV (Re), 2016 CanLII 18747 (ON LTB)

4. The Member’s decision not to exercise her discretion to grant relief from eviction is not unreasonable given the fact that this is the second application for arrears of rent in the past 3 months.

5. While I appreciate the Tenant may believe he had the right to withhold rent from the Landlord for what he considered outstanding maintenance concerns, in fact the statute does not permit Tenants to withhold rent for maintenance and repairs.

6. I am also satisfied the Board findings in the Tenants applications support the Member’s determination that section 83 (3) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 does not apply. I make this determination having regard to all of the Board’s Orders, including those Orders arising out of the Tenant’s applications. I am satisfied the Member applied the correct test in making her determinations.

TNL-07682-18 (Re), 2018 CanLII 113941 (ON LTB)

5. The Tenant has not paid rent since January 2018. According to her she is “withholding” rent because she continues to experience mice in the rental unit. A tenant is not entitled to withhold rent for any reason. If a tenant believes that the landlord is in breach of the landlord’s obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the 'Act'), the Tenant can and should bring an application to the Board to deal with the issue.

6. The Landlord appears to be a relatively unsophisticated person who has some difficulty explaining himself. The Landlord has made several attempts to address the mouse and roach infestation in the rental unit, both before and after the December 13, 2017 hearing.

7. The Tenant has refused entry to the Landlord’s pest control person on at least 2 occasions since December 2017.

8. Since December 2017 the Tenant has not advised the Landlord in writing that the problem persists, nor has she brought her own Tenant application alleging disrepair. Instead, the Tenant appears to be of the view that she can refuse to pay rent and when the Landlord brings an application for arrears, she can simply raise the mouse issue so as to defeat any attempt to evict her. This conduct has enabled her to avoid paying rent for a significant period of time to date.

9. If the problem were as serious as the Tenant claims, and if the Landlord actually did not make efforts to address the problem, the Tenant should have brought her own application or sought an order from the Board permitting her to engage a pest control company herself to deal with the problem and deduct the cost from rent. Instead she did nothing which suggests that the problem is not as serious as the Tenant claims, and that the underlying objective is to avoid payment of rent.

10. The Tenant has persistently failed to pay the rent on the date it was due.

11. I am not satisfied, based on the evidence, that the Landlord is in serious breach of his maintenance obligations pursuant to S. 83(3)(a) of the Act. He has made numerous attempts to deal with the mouse infestation, which have been thwarted by the Tenant and her family by their refusal to co-operate.