Non-Application of the RTA (Eviction)

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

Exemptions from Act
5 This Act does not apply with respect to,

(a) living accommodation intended to be provided to the travelling or vacationing public or occupied for a seasonal or temporary period in a hotel, motel or motor hotel, resort, lodge, tourist camp, cottage or cabin establishment, inn, campground, trailer park, tourist home, bed and breakfast vacation establishment or vacation home;

(i) living accommodation whose occupant or occupants are required to share a bathroom or kitchen facility with the owner, the owner’s spouse, child or parent or the spouse’s child or parent, and where the owner, spouse, child or parent lives in the building in which the living accommodation is located;

(n) any other prescribed class of accommodation.

YMH v YWCA, 2019 CanLII 121436 (NWT RO)

12. I understand that Northview took action by giving the Landlord an eviction notice on September 10, 2019, ending the contract for the rental premises effective immediately and requiring the Landlord to have the premises vacated. The Landlord told the Tenant to vacate the premises, and then on September 12, 2019, Northview changed the locks to the premises, prohibiting the Tenant’s return. Sometime over the next few days the Tenant was granted access to the premises during daytime hours only, and then started staying there again on September 18, 2019. The Tenant’s children returned to the premises September 20, 2019. On October 2, 2019, the RCMP forcibly entered the premises and removed the Tenant and his children, returning possession to Northview. Under what authority the RCMP conducted this eviction was not established at hearing – no evidence was presented of either an eviction order or a writ of possession issued by the Supreme Court. Neither was an application to a rental officer made by the Landlord seeking termination of the tenancy agreement and eviction.

Sunrise North Senior Living Ltd. v. The Sheriff (Regional Municipality of York), 2020 ONSC 469 (CanLII)

[63] Section 141(1) of the Courts of Justice Ac, R.S.O., c. C.43, states that "orders of a court arising out of a civil proceeding and enforceable in Ontario shall be directed to a sheriff for enforcement".

[64] As held by Bale J. in his decision of January 8, 2019, in combination these two provisions make clear that the sheriff "is required to enforce the eviction order, in the same manner as a writ of possession…"

[70] The Sheriff does not have the discretion to decide not to enforce the eviction orders.

[71] In Central Guaranty Trust Co. v. McRae (1993), 1993 CanLII 8542 (ON SC), 13 O.R. (3d) 295 (Sup. Ct.), at para. 12, the Superior Court held that the Sheriff has a duty to enforce validly made writs of possession and no discretion not to do so:

A writ of possession is an order of the court. It is granted only after a Judge or master has made a judicial determination which includes consideration of the rights of the occupants. A Sheriff is an officer of the court, sworn to uphold the law. Refusal by a law enforcement officer to enforce an order of the court can only serve to undermine respect for the judicial system and bring the administration of justice into disrepute. A Sheriff, therefore, has no discretion to refuse to execute a writ of possession.

[72] The same principle clearly applies to the Sheriff's obligation to enforce an eviction order made by the Board, given that section 85 of the Residential Tenancies Act provides that an eviction order is to be enforced in the same manner as a writ of possession.