General Damages (LTB)

EAT-58948-16 (Re), 2016 CanLII 72081 (ON LTB)

34. The Tenant next requested $10,000.00 for “general non-pecuniary damages” and a further $10,000.00 for compensation for the injury the Tenant felt to his “dignity, feelings and self-respect” due to a breach of subsection 2(1) of the Human Rights Code.

35. First, the Tenant’s lawyer submitted no arguments as to how the Tenant’s rights under the Human Rights Code were breached. As a result, the request for compensation as a result of any alleged breach of the Human Rights Code is denied.

36. Second, on the question of an award for general damages, following the hearing, I researched whether the Board has the jurisdiction to award general damages, and found that it does. Subsection 31(1)(f) of the Act states that the Board may “make any other order that it considers appropriate”.

37. In considering whether and how much to award for general damages, I considered the impact that the Landlord’s many breaches of his obligations under the Act had on the Tenant. I accept the Tenant’s testimony that his pre-existing medical conditions of anxiety, a panic disorder, and major depression were exacerbated. I also accept that the Tenant felt exhausted, angry, frustrated, anxious, and bullied. I find that a reasonable award for general damages, given the extent of the Tenant’s distress, is $2,500.00. That amount shall be ordered to be paid by the Landlord.

SOT-97745-18 (Re), 2019 CanLII 86899 (ON LTB)

39. The Tenant requested an award in general damages based upon the Landlord’s egregious conduct pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 31(1) of the Act. The Ontario Divisional Court considered the application of this remedy in Mejia v. Cagini.[4] In that case, an unquestionably toxic relationship between the parties culminated in an assault upon the tenant by three friends of the landlord, in the presence of the landlord. The Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal found the assault took place in the presence of the tenant’s family and that its purpose was to put pressure upon the tenant to vacate the premises. The tenant was required to attend hospital for treatment. The Tribunal did not find that the landlord had himself committed the assault, but found that he did nothing to stop it and that he was responsible for the actions of his friends. The Tribunal found that the landlord had thereby interfered with the reasonable use and enjoyment of the apartment by the tenant and his family.

40. As in the present case, the tenant in Mejia did not seek damages in tort, but rather damages arising out of the breach of his right to quiet enjoyment of his apartment, pursuant to the rental contract.

41. While I recognize that the facts in Mejia were substantially more extreme, the basis of the Divisional Court’s findings regarding unacceptable conduct that impaired the Tenants’ right to quiet enjoyment remain applicable to the present case. Following the analysis in Mejia, I find that the Landlord’s protracted and unlawful attempts to coerce and intimidate the Tenants into vacating the rental unit represented an outrageous breach of the rental agreement. As well, her reckless actions in exacerbating the conflict between the Tenants and A.H. could have foreseeably resulted in violence. In light of all of the circumstances, I find that an award of $2,000.00 in general damages for the Landlord’s breach of the Tenants’ contractual right to quiet enjoyment is warranted.

42. Although the Landlord’s Legal Representative noted the absence of any quantifiable losses to the Tenants in support of their request for damages such as medical evidence, in light of the analysis in Mejia, this is necessarily fatal to the request. As the Court noted with respect to the scope of now paragraph (f) of subsection 31(1) of the Act:

Those cases and the grammatical and ordinary sense of the language giving the power to “make any other order that it considers appropriate” persuades us that the Tribunal has the power to award damages for breach of the contract of lease. To hold otherwise would be contrary to the intent of the legislature which gave to the Tribunal the jurisdiction under section 162 to which I have previously referred, to determine all matters arising out of the landlord and tenant relationship.[5]

43. The Tenants withdrew their other requested remedies with respect to the T2 Application at the hearing.

TNT-12521-19-IN (Re), 2020 CanLII 31130 (ON LTB)

48. The Tenant did not request a rent abatement for the harassment and illegal entries. However, she did request an unspecified $25,000.00 for other remedies. Pursuant to subsection 31(1)(f) of the Act, I have discretion to make any other order that is appropriate.

49. Attempted entry in the middle of the night is frightening to a young woman living on her own, and in particular, when the intruders were three young men. She did not give admittance to the intruders, but they came to the door and intimidated her sufficiently to motivate her to call the police. Consequently, I find that it is appropriate to award the Tenant a $500.00 rent abatement for the attempted harassment.

HOT-02167-17 (Re), 2019 CanLII 86881 (ON LTB)

36. To be clear, I do not find an award of $2,500.00 to be automatic.  It is open to a landlord to show that a lockout had an unusually low impact on a tenant.  Likewise, it is open to a tenant to show that a lockout had an unusually high impact.  Absent unusual circumstances, however, I find $2,500.00 to be the normal award.

The first lockout

37. In the present case, there are no unusual factors that would affect the degree of distress the Tenant suffered as a result of the first lockout.  $2,500.00 in general damages will be awarded.

The second lockout

38. After the first lockout, the Board ordered the Landlord to restore the Tenant to possession.  The Landlord ignored the Board’s order.  The Tenant had to enforce the order through the Sheriff.  Five days later, despite the Board’s order, the Landlord locked the Tenant out again.

44. In Saadati v. Moorhead, [2017] 1 SCR 543, 2017 SCC 28 (CanLII), the Supreme Court of Canada held that medical evidence is not necessary to establish mental injury.  The Court upheld a trial court’s finding of mental injury based on the testimony of the plaintiff, and of his friends and family who testified that his personality had changed.

46. In short, I find that the impact of the second lockout was dramatically greater than the impact of the first lockout.  For the second lockout, general damages of $6,000.00 will be awarded.