Substantial Compliance (LTB)

Legislation Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 21, Sched. F

46 Every provision of this Part applies to every Act and regulation. 2006, c. 21, Sched. F, s. 46.

47 Section 46 applies unless,

(a) a contrary intention appears; or

(b) its application would give to a term or provision a meaning that is inconsistent with the context. 2006, c. 21, Sched. F, s. 47

...

84 Deviations from a form whose use is required under an Act do not invalidate the form if,

(a) they do not affect the substance and are unlikely to mislead; and

(b) the form is organized in the same or substantially the same way as the form whose use is required. 2006, c. 21, Sched. F, s. 84

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

212 Substantial compliance with this Act respecting the contents of forms, notices or documents is sufficient. 2006, c. 17, s. 212.

TSL-29748-12 (Re), 2012 CanLII 98084 (ON LTB)

18. I say this for two primary reasons. First of all the wording of section 212 is paramount: “Substantial compliance with this Act respecting the contents of forms, notices or documents is sufficient.” I would point out that this provision does not say substantial compliance with the Act is sufficient; rather, it says substantial compliance with the “contents of forms, notices or documents” is sufficient. In other words, what section 212 means is that the mandatory requirements of the Act are not up for debate, but mistakes or typographical errors in filling out forms will not invalidate an otherwise valid document.

19. Second, if it is accepted (as the Board Member in TNL-18527 accepted) that a mistake with respect to a mandatory requirement of the Act in a notice can somehow be waived or forgiven, the entire legislative scheme then becomes a shifting sand of unknowable requirements. Nothing will be certain; no one will be able to figure out if a notice is valid or not. A Member would have to decide the subjective question of whether or not the notice was too misleading or too confusing in each instance, including those cases where the recipient of the notice was not present to testify as to what they thought it meant. Such a result would defeat one of the purposes of the Act, which is to informally and efficiently resolve disputes between landlords and tenants as it would inevitably lead to endless hearings about what the recipient of a notice thought it meant.

TET-90203-18-IN (Re), 2018 CanLII 113791 (ON LTB)

10. Section 28 of the SPPA speaks to substantial compliance with the requirements of content and allows for deviations where there can be deemed to be adequate notice from the contents despite the absence certain information. A mirror provision appears in the Act in s. 212. Section 212 says:

Substantial compliance with this Act respecting the contents of forms, notices or documents is sufficient.

11. This provision does not speak to the broad application of notice relating to a different application process entirely. It is intended to ensure that unimportant typographical errors do not stop a party from proceeding. It is not intended to permit parties to proceed with any issue before the Board regardless of the form and content of a filing. The Board requires that the proper application and filing fee be provided with each application, and has the power to combine them at the time of filing or they can be heard together.

CEL-02248 (Re), 2007 CanLII 75937 (ON LTB)

Pursuant to section 184 of the Act, the Statutory Powers Procedures Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.22, as amended (the “SPPA”) applies with respect to all proceedings before the Board. Section 28 of the SPPA states:

28. SUBSTANTIAL COMPLIANCE – Substantial compliance with requirements respecting the content of forms, notices or documents under this Act or any rule made under this or any other Act is sufficient.

Section 212 of the Act states:

212. SUBSTANTIAL COMPLIANCE SUFFICIENT - Substantial compliance with this Act respecting the contents of forms, notices or documents is sufficient.

The aspects of s. 43 of the Act are mandatory and the purpose is to ensure that the recipient of the notice is aware of the information. Guideline 10 states that when making a determination of whether a notice is adequate one should consider if “it communicates the necessary elements clearly enough that a tenant would be expected to understand it and the options they have.”

The Legislation Act (the ‘LA’)

The LA assists in determining the substantial compliance of forms. Section 46 of the LA states that “[e]very provision of this Part applies to every Act and regulation.” It expresses the test to determine substantial compliance of a form. Section 84 provides that:

Deviations from a form whose use is required under an Act do not invalidate the form if,

(a) they do not affect the substance and are unlikely to mislead; and

(b) the form is organized in the same or substantially the same way as the form whose use is required.

Both of these elements must be met in order for the notice to be valid