Serious Risk to Safety (LTB)

TSL-66654-15 (Re), 2016 CanLII 39866 (ON LTB)

16. It is uncontested that the rental unit is very cluttered with combustible materials, the Tenant uses multiple electric heaters to make the rental unit very hot and the Tenant is a heavy smoker. It is also uncontested that the Tenant keeps combustible items on his stove and that he uses his stove to cook. These facts demonstrate that the state of the rental unit presents a serious risk of fire. As for whether the Tenant left an electric heater on in close vicinity to water, the evidence from both the Landlord and the Tenant is hearsay on this point (hearsay is a statement made outside of the hearing room). However, the Landlord’s evidence comes from a person who has no reason to fabricate and therefore this evidence is more reliable. On the other hand, the Tenant does have a reason to fabricate. I therefore find, on a balance of probabilities, that the Tenant left an electric heater on and that it was found by the superintendent to be surrounded by water. This presents a significant risk of electrocution. Accordingly, based on this fact and all of the other evidence, I find, on a balance of probabilities, that the state of the rental unit poses a serious risk to the safety of the Tenant and to the safety of the other tenants in the building.

17. I am therefore satisfied that the Tenant has seriously impaired the safety of any person.

EAL-30005-13-SA (Re), 2013 CanLII 18254 (ON LTB)

4. The Tenant was angry at getting an eviction order and pleaded with the Landlord to preserve his tenancy on February 21. He threatened to set himself on fire. Later that same day, the fire department responded to a fire in the Tenant’s unit. The Tenant explained that he had fallen asleep in his chair at 5 pm while smoking a cigarette and his clothes had caught on fire. The fire department official told the security personnel that the fire was suspicious and possibly mischief related.

5. I believe on the balance of probabilities that the Tenant poses a serious risk to his neighbours and it would not be reasonable to provide him relief from eviction.

TSL-12789-11 (Re), 2011 CanLII 13414 (ON LTB)

8. This application is based on a notice of termination served on the Tenant pursuant to section 66 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the ‘Act’). That section permits a landlord to give a tenant a notice of termination if an act or omission of the tenant seriously impairs the safety of another person, provided that the act or omission complained of occurs in the residential complex. This means that the Landlord must establish that the effect of the Tenants’ actions threatens the well being or physical integrity of another person to such a degree that termination of the tenancy is reasonable in order to ensure the safety of others. In other words, have the Tenants’ actions put someone at serious risk of harm? Not every risk of harm to another will meet the test, as the impairment of safety must be serious.

9. Verbal harassment and threats alone will rarely constitute a serious impairment of safety to another person. It may be a frightening experience, but unless there is evidence that a tenant has a clear intention to commit some form of physical assault, words are only words, and do not put people’s physical safety at risk. There was no evidence before me that the Tenant actually intended to physically harm the other resident. As the Tenant indicated at the hearing, the only person that the Tenant harmed was himself, which happened at a later date, and was not covered by the Notice of Termination.

10. The Tenant’s behaviour may be such that the other residents do not feel entirely safe around the Tenant, but the evidence presented was insufficient to show that the Tenant‘s conduct constituted a “serious” impairment of safety as required by the Act.