Defining a Residential Complex

Caselaw.Ninja, Riverview Group Publishing 2021 ©
Date Retrieved:	2024-09-30
CLNP Page ID:	2243
Page Categories:	[AGI Applications]
Citation:	Defining a Residential Complex, CLNP 2243, <https://rvt.link/7e>, retrieved on 2024-09-30
Editor:	Sharvey
Last Updated:	2023/07/31

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

2 (1) In this Act,

...

“rental unit” means any living accommodation used or intended for use as rented residential premises, and “rental unit” includes,

(a) a site for a mobile home or site on which there is a land lease home used or intended for use as rented residential premises, and

(b) a room in a boarding house, rooming house or lodging house and a unit in a care home; (“logement locatif”)

“residential complex”, except in Part V.1, means,

(a) a building or related group of buildings in which one or more rental units are located,

(b) a mobile home park or land lease community,

(c) a site that is a rental unit,

(d) a care home, and, includes all common areas and services and facilities available for the use of its residents; (“ensemble d’habitation”)

“residential unit” means any living accommodation used or intended for use as residential premises, and “residential unit” includes,

(a) a site for a mobile home or on which there is a land lease home used or intended for use as a residential premises, and

(b) a room in a boarding house, rooming house or lodging house and a unit in a care home; (“habitation”)

...

126 (1) A landlord may apply to the Board for an order permitting the rent charged to be increased by more than the guideline for any or all of the rental units in a residential complex in any or all of the following cases:

1. An extraordinary increase in the cost for municipal taxes and charges for the residential complex or any building in which the rental units are located.

2. Eligible capital expenditures incurred respecting the residential complex or one or more of the rental units in it.

3. Operating costs related to security services provided in respect of the residential complex or any building in which the rental units are located by persons not employed by the landlord. 2006, c. 17, s. 126 (1); 2017, c. 13, s. 22 (1).

TSL-94656-18-AM (Re), 2018 CanLII 120894 (ON LTB)

10. At the hearing the Landlord’s legal representative submitted that the unit downstairs is part of the residential complex because in the definition in the Act, “residential complex” means “a building … in which one or more rental units are located….” If that was the only part of the definition of “residential complex” I would agree. However, the definition also says that residential complex “includes all common areas and services and facilities available for the use of its residents.” These words mean that what is included in the residential complex is the areas used by residents. Residents are people who live in the building, not people who work in the building. Reading the definition as a whole, I find that the area occupied by the commercial tenant is not part of the residential complex because that area is not used by residents of the building.

TSL-96689-18-SA (Re), 2018 CanLII 120852 (ON LTB)

9. In the present case, I am not satisfied the Tenant breached a condition of Order TSL-89899-17-AM and therefore I must grant the Tenant’s motion pursuant to section 78(11)(a) of the Act and set aside the eviction order.

10. None of the photographs presented and none of the oral testimony was satisfactory in showing what specifically is the boundary line between the Dunn Avenue Parkette and the lands belonging to the owner of the residential complex. For instance, it was even suggested on behalf of the Landlord that the Parkette is located to the right of the path furthest away from the residential complex with the unlikely result that its identification sign and the city garbage cans are located on lands belonging to the owner of the residential complex.

11. Subsection 2(1) of the Act defines “residential complex to mean:

(a) a building or related group of buildings in which one or more rental units are located …, and

includes all common areas and services and facilities available for the use of its residents;

12. In the context of Order TSL-89899-17-AM, I find that the phrase “at the residential complex” means inside and not outside the building that is the subject of paragraph 2 of order TSL-89899-17-AM. That is because when used in an order of the Board, unless circumstances indicate otherwise, “residential complex” has the same meaning as it does in subsection 2(1) of the Act, namely, the building where rental units are located, and the preposition “at” means “in”.

13. Further, it was not established that the derogatory comment was made by the Tenant even while on the grounds of the owner of the residential complex. Consequently, the Tenant has not breached paragraph 2 of order TSL-89899-17-AM issued February 26, 2018.