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.

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.