Refusal to Assign or Sublet Tenancy (LTB)

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

95 (4) A tenant may give the landlord a notice of termination under section 96 within 30 days after the date a request is made if,

(a) the tenant asks the landlord to consent to an assignment of the rental unit and the landlord refuses consent;

(b) the tenant asks the landlord to consent to an assignment of the rental unit and the landlord does not respond within seven days after the request is made;

(c) the tenant asks the landlord to consent to an assignment of the rental unit to a potential assignee and the landlord refuses consent to the assignment under clause (3) (c); or

(d) the tenant asks the landlord to consent to an assignment of the rental unit to a potential assignee and the landlord does not respond within seven days after the request is made. 2006, c. 17, s. 95 (4).

96 (1) A tenant may give notice of termination of a tenancy if the circumstances set out in subsection 95 (4) apply.

98 (1) A tenant or former tenant of a rental unit may apply to the Board for an order determining that the landlord has arbitrarily or unreasonably withheld consent to the assignment or sublet of a rental unit to a potential assignee or subtenant.

(2) No application may be made under subsection (1) more than one year after the day the alleged conduct giving rise to the application occurred. 2006, c. 17, s. 98 (2).

(3) If the Board determines that a landlord has unlawfully withheld consent to an assignment or sublet in an application under subsection (1), the Board may do one or more of the following:

1. Order that the assignment or sublet is authorized.

2. Where appropriate, by order authorize another assignment or sublet proposed by the tenant.

3. Order that the tenancy be terminated.

4. Order an abatement of the tenant’s or former tenant’s rent. 2006, c. 17, s. 98 (3).

(4) The Board may establish terms and conditions of the assignment or sublet. 2006, c. 17, s. 98 (4).

(5) If an order is made under paragraph 1 or 2 of subsection (3), the assignment or sublet shall have the same legal effect as if the landlord had consented to it. 2006, c. 17, s. 98 (5).

EAT-61174-16 (Re), 2017 CanLII 49011 (ON LTB)

1. KW indicated that she signed the lease as a guarantor. The rental unit was occupied by her son, M. W. (MW). The lease was for the period of April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017 at an amount of $1,000 per month. The rental unit is a basement suite in a house, of which the main portion is occupied by the Landlord and his family. The Tenants paid a last month’s rent deposit and provided the Landlord with postdated monthly rent cheques for every month up to and including February 2017.

15. The Tenants were entitled by section 95 of the Act to assign their lease to another tenant with the approval of the Landlord. The Landlord had the right to refuse the assignment to a potential assignee. However, s.95(5) of the Act states that “[a] landlord shall not arbitrarily or unreasonably refuse consent to an assignment of a rental unit to a potential assignee”.

16. From the uncontroverted evidence presented at the hearing, it appears that the Landlord did act unreasonably in systematically refusing consent to every proposed assignment that was presented to him. Since the Landlord already had post-dated rent cheque payments in hand, he obviously saw little incentive to cooperate with the process of finding a new tenant.

17. The Tenants appeared to have been unaware of their right under s. 95(4) of the Act to terminate the tenancy on 30 days’ notice whenever the Landlord refused to accept a proposed assignee. Be that as it may, I conclude that the Landlord failed to comply with s. 95(5) of the Act and that the facts establish that he would have been unlikely to accept any assignee that was presented by the Tenants.

18. It also appears that the Landlord unlawfully locked out the Tenants at the beginning of December 2016 which is unlikely to be unrelated to the fact that he was unable to cash the Tenants’ cheque payment for December’s rent.

19. The Tenants have requested that the Board terminate the tenancy as of October 2, 2016, which is the date that MW moved out of the rental unit. They also have requested that the Board order that the Landlord reimburse to the Tenants the monthly rent payments for October and November 2016 as well as the cost of $37.50 to put stop payments on the remaining rent cheque payments as well as return the last month’s rent deposit. I find that this is a reasonable request under the circumstances

TNT-25678-11 (Re), 2012 CanLII 21999 (ON LTB)

1. The Tenant asked for the Landlord's consent to sublet the rental unit to M. G., who wanted to continue the lease, which ends on July 20, 2012.

2. The Landlord refused the assignment because M. G. is a homemaker/student, whose husband is a physician working in another country and the Landlord assumed that because she is making monthly payments for a BMW and did not disclose all financial records she had requested from her, apart from her credit rating, she is financially unreliable.

4. Section 95 (4) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the 'Act') states clearly that;

5. If a tenant has sublet a rental unit to another person,(a) the tenant remains entitled to the benefits, and is liable to the landlord for the breaches, of the tenant’s obligations under the tenancy agreement or this Act during the subtenancy; and (b) the subtenant is entitled to the benefits, and is liable to the tenant for the breaches, of the subtenant’s obligations under the subletting agreement or this Act during the subtenancy and further on a subtenant has no right to occupy the rental unit after the end of the subtenancy. s. 97 (5), which was made clear in the 7 months lease agreement with the subtenant.

6. By not taking into consideration that the Tenant still had full responsibility for the rental unit for the remainder of the lease, in case the subtenancy does not work out. I find that the Landlord acted unreasonably when withholding consent to the assignment.

TET-79769-17 (Re), 2017 CanLII 60357 (ON LTB)

1. This application raises a discrete legal issue of statutory interpretation with respect to subparagraph 95(4)(d) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the 'Act'). That provision is about a tenant’s right to assign a tenancy agreement to another person. It says:

A tenant may give the landlord a notice of termination under section 96 within 30 days after the date a request is made if,

…

(d) the tenant asks the landlord to consent to an assignment of the rental unit to a potential assignee and the landlord does not respond within seven days after the request is made.

[Emphasis added.]

2. The Tenant takes the position that “the landlord does not respond within seven days” means the landlord must say yes or no to the potential assignment within the seven day period. The Landlord takes the position that it means the landlord cannot ignore the request and must respond within seven days to the request but the actual approval or denial may take longer than the seven days and that should be okay.

3. For the reasons stated below I find that the phrase “the landlord does not respond within seven days” in s. 95(4)(d) means a landlord must reply to the request within seven days by approving or denying the proposed assignment within the seven day period. Simply acknowledging receipt of it is not sufficient. However, the Tenant’s application is dismissed because the factual evidence does not justify the abatement remedy requested.