Common Space

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

Landlord’s responsibility to repair

20 (1) A landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining a residential complex, including the rental units in it, in a good state of repair and fit for habitation and for complying with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards.

(...)

Responsibility of landlord

161 In addition to a landlord’s obligations under section 20, a landlord is responsible for,

(a) removing or disposing of garbage or ensuring the availability of a means for removing or disposing of garbage in the mobile home park at reasonable intervals;

(b) maintaining mobile home park roads in a good state of repair;

(c) removing snow from mobile home park roads;

(d) maintaining the water supply, sewage disposal, fuel, drainage and electrical systems in the mobile home park in a good state of repair;

(e) maintaining the mobile home park grounds and all buildings, structures, enclosures and equipment intended for the common use of tenants in a good state of repair; and

(f) repairing damage to a tenant’s property, if the damage is caused by the wilful or negligent conduct of the landlord.

O. Reg. 516/06: GENERAL

Exterior common areas

26. (1) Exterior common areas shall be maintained in a condition suitable for their intended use and free of hazards and, for these purposes, the following shall be removed:

1. Noxious weeds as defined in the regulations to the Weed Control Act.

2. Dead, decayed or damaged trees or parts of such trees that create an unsafe condition.

3. Rubbish or debris, including abandoned motor vehicles.

4. Structures that create an unsafe condition.

5. Unsafe accumulations of ice and snow. O. Reg. 517/06, s. 26 (1).

(2) An inoperative motor vehicle or trailer that has remained in an exterior common area for more than a reasonable amount of time shall be removed. O. Reg. 517/06, s. 26 (2).

(3) Wells and holes in exterior common areas shall be filled or safely covered and the wells shall also be protected from contamination.

(...)

Common areas

44. (1) All interior common areas and exterior common areas shall be kept clean and free of hazards. O. Reg. 517/06, s. 44 (1).

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1),

“interior common areas” includes laundry rooms, garbage rooms, corridors, lobbies, vestibules, boiler rooms, parking garages, storage areas and recreation rooms.Common areas

Montgomery v. Van, 2009 ONCA 808 (CanLII)

[11] Turning to the provision in this case, I begin by observing that, read literally, it addresses the “responsibility” for snow removal, without specifying any services to be provided by the tenant. By providing that tenants are “responsible” for snow removal, the clause clashes with the legislation that places that responsibility squarely on the landlord. Thus, if taken literally, the clause would be inconsistent with the Act and void pursuant to s. 16.

(...)

[13] In order to be effective, a clause that provides that a tenant will provide snow removal services must constitute a contractual obligation severable from the tenancy agreement. The reason such a clause must be able to stand alone as an enforceable contract is because s. 16 of the Act voids provisions of tenancy agreements that are inconsistent with the Act or Regulations. The Act and Regulations make clear that in the landlord and tenant relationship, the landlord is responsible for keeping the common walkways free of snow and ice. Therefore, it cannot be a term of the tenancy that the tenant complete snow removal tasks.

[14] This does not mean that the landlord cannot contract with the tenant as a service provider to perform snow removal tasks. It does mean, however, that the clause under which the tenant agrees to provide such services, even if included in the same document as the tenancy agreement, must create a severable contractual obligation. The severable contractual obligation, while it cannot transfer the landlord’s statutory responsibility to ensure maintenance standards are met, may support the landlord’s claim over against the tenant in contract.

[15] In this case, the provision is inextricable from the tenancy agreement. It does not indicate a definite consideration for the snow removal task separate from the provision of the premises. As well, a consideration of the context leads me to conclude, it is too indefinite to create an autonomous contract for services. The tenant lives in one of several basement apartments of a multi-unit residential complex. The provision vaguely places the task of snow removal “from their walkway and stairway” on tenants jointly. It does not set out specifically what part of the complex’s common walkways this tenant agrees to keep clean and does not stipulate on what schedule she should perform the joint obligation. The provision fails to define this individual tenant’s task clearly enough to create an enforceable contractual obligation.

Perreault v C/o Sentinel Management Inc., 2021 CanLII 148914 (ON LTB)

15. This regulation may impose an obligation on the Landlord to maintain exterior common areas, including removing dangerous snow and ice from them. This is material to distinguish the current application from Montgomery, as in Montgomery the tenant was one of many in a multi-unit complex, whereas the Tenant in this application resides in a detached house as the sole tenant. The tenancy agreement gives her exclusive possession of the entire property, including the walkways and the pool. Subsection 26(1) of O. Reg 517/06 imposes these obligations on a Landlord for “exterior common areas” only. As there are no exterior common areas, only areas of exclusive possession, subsection 26(1) could not be engaged. Montgomery simply cannot be taken as an authority that the Landlord cannot delegate lawn or snow removal responsibilities in the lease for a standalone house that is rented in its entirety under a single tenancy agreement.

(...)

17. The removal of snow and general lawn maintenance of an exclusive-use area are in my view ordinary cleanliness obligations, which are the Tenant’s responsibility under section 33 of the Act. Therefore, while Montgomery is separately rejected as an authority in this application, my core finding is that the lawn maintenance and snow removal on exclusive- use areas fall under the Tenant’s obligations under section 33 of the Act, not the Landlord’s obligations under section 20. The delegation of these responsibilities to the Tenant in the lease is not improper.

Cavaliere v Kogon, 2024 ONLTB 88820 (CanLII)

33. It is the Landlords’ responsibility to maintain the rental unit and residential complex in a good state of repair. The Landlords’ responsibility is triggered a soon as the Landlords know or ought to have known about the problem. The Landlords cannot shield themselves from responsibility by feeling of intimidation. Once the Landlords know of the disrepair, they have to repair it regardless of how they may feel.

34. With respect to the garbage, while the Tenant said the Landlords agreed to remove the garbage items from the common area, they did not provide any submissions with respect to complaints to the Landlords after the initial meeting on or around June 25, 2022. In my view, neither the Tenant nor the Landlord provided overly persuasive evidence on this issue. As a result, I find the Tenants led insufficient evidence to establish that, on a balance of probabilities, the Landlords are in breach of their maintenance obligations.