How to Avoid Getting Evicted

WARNING - THE FOLLOWING CONTENT IS NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

How to Avoid Getting Evicted

A tenant's guide to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board

Topics Covered

• An obligation to pay rent.....?
• Introduction to basic legal concepts
• An overview of the eviction process
• An introduction to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board

Introduction

The simple goal of this book it to provide it's readers the tools necessary to successfully defend against a landlord attempting to evict you through the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board. Throughout this book you will learn many valuable lessons about how the legal process for eviction works and what you can do to stop it. I feel at this point that it is important to make a distinction between avoiding an eviction and avoiding payment of rent, the two concepts are not the same. The first chapter in this book will explain how your obligation to pay rent works and what rights you as a tenant have if rent is not paid. Just because your rent is not paid does not automatically give your landlord the right to evict you. This concept of a landlords right to evict will be explained you go through through this book.

Legal Jargon

Through out this book I will be referring to cretin legal words and concepts that you will have to have a very basic understanding of in order to improve your odds of success before an adjudicator. So before we do a deep dive into the dark and twisted world of Landlord & Tenant Law we are going to go over some basic legal concepts.

I believe it was (cite here) that said "if you can't explain something simply the you don't understand it well enough". As in the case of law this basic principle if the foundation to every great legal defense.

The most important legal concept that you must first understand before moving forward is "the truth". Now I know what your all thinking, I know what the truth is, bla bla bla. If you are going to increase your odds of not being evicted then here is the first magic moment.

The measure of truth is the consistency, from an adjudicators point of view how you tell the story of what happened will be judged based on how well you can explain your self.

I want you to imagine for a moment that your up coming hearing date is represented as a puzzle. The picture on the puzzle represents the truth of what has happened to you. In your mind you know exactly what this picture looks like and based on this picture all the facts are on your side. Now I want you to imagine that you are sitting in front of an adjudicator at the Landlord and Tenant Board, you just finished listening to your landlord or their legal representative tell some story that from your point of view is a total lie. In that moment you reach into your bag spill the puzzle pieces all over the table and say, "look at these facts, the picture could not be any more clear", needless to say without putting the puzzle together all the facts in the world won't save you.

This book is about learning how to put the puzzle pieces together so when you get in front of the member you are able to show a clear picture of what you believe has happened to you, and give a compelling argument about why you should stay in your home.

Chapter One

• Reasons you can be evicted

• • Non-Payment of Rent
  • Intererence in Reasonable Enjoyment
  • Persistent Late Payment of Rent
  • Illegal Act
  • Imparing the saety of others.
  • Major Renovations
  • Landlord's Own Use
  • New buyer's own use.

The reasons listed above are the only reasons why you as a tenant can be evicted from your home. This book is designed to be guide for tenants who are facing the threat of eviction. It is my goal to provide you the reader with the tools necessary to defend your self at a Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board hearing. This book is by no means a substutute or legal advice, but i given the choice between last minute help from duty counsel or reading this book in advance of a a hearing date followed by last minute duty counsel I know which option many o my former clients would have chosen.

This book is broken down much like a reference manuel. The purpose of this book is not only to educate you well in advance of your hearing date, but to serve as a practical tool during the hearing process.