Making a Third-Party Request for Information under TARA
TRIBUNAL ADJUDICATIVE RECORDS ACT, 2019
The Tribunal Adjudicative Records Act, 2019 (“TARA”) came into force June 30, 2019. The Landlord and Tenant Board ("the Board") currently have no formal procedures for making a request for documents pursuant to TARA.
TARA provides that adjudicative records (as defined in the statute) are presumptively available to the public. Certain records are also expressly excluded by the statute [s. 1(3]). It also provides that parties and affected persons may apply for, and the Board itself may make, confidentiality orders in certain circumstances.
TARA applies to adjudicative records in all proceedings before the Social Justice Tribunals, including the Landlord and Tenant Board, that are commenced on or after May 29, 2019. The Board will continue to apply their existing Procedures on Access to Documents and Exhibits Contained in their Tribunal Adjudication Files to requests in respect of proceedings commenced before that date.
Upon receiving a request for documents pursuant to TARA where no confidentiality order has been issued, a tribunal must make the document available to the requester without notice to the parties to the proceeding or, in its discretion, the Board may advise the parties in the Board file of the request (including the identity of the requester) and may provide an opportunity for those parties to provide submissions.
While the Board retains the discretion to seek submissions on any request, the Board generally regards the following as adjudicative records within the meaning of TARA and will typically make the following documents available to the requester without notice to the parties
- application forms and attached schedules/ statement of facts;
- response and/or intervention forms and attached schedules/ statement of facts;
- documents which are required to be attached to an application (such as certificates of service);
- notices of hearing;
- written legal submissions; and
- documents which have been made an exhibit in a Board hearing.
The Board typically does not produce copies of decisions, as they are publicly available at www.canlii.org, a free legal information database.
The text of the Tribunal Adjudicative Records Act, 2019 is available here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/19t07.
The text of the Regulation provides that certain statutes prevail over TARA is available here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r19211.
Making a Request
Requests under TARA for any documents or information housed under the authority of the Social Justice Tribunals of Ontario including the Landlord and Tenant Board can be made by sending an email to Access.TO-TDO@ontario.ca.
Sample Request
Subject Line: Re: TARA - Access to Records Request -
Requestors Details:
- Riverview Legal Group LLP
- Shaun D. Harvey,
- P.O Box 26013, 250 King Street West
- Kitchener, ON N2G 1B6
- Tel: (226) 600-1076
- sharvey@riverview.legal
Tribunals Ontario
- 15 Grosvenor Street, Ground Floor
- Toronto, ON M7A 2G6
- Tel: 1-888-332-3234
- Fax: 1-888-377-8808
- Access.TO-TDO@ontario.ca
The following documents listed below are requested under the authority of the Tribunal Adjudicative Records Act, 2019 (“TARA”). Information Requested:
- Orders / Decisions
- Applications and Supporting Documents
- Hearing Exhibits
- Notices of Hearing(s)
- Hearing Recordings
- Transcripts (if available)
Involving connected to the following individual(s)/corporation(s), or tribunal file:
- Name of Individual(s)/Corporation(s):
- Address, or last known address of the individual(s)/corporation(s) (If known):
- Tribunal File Number (If known):
