Maintenance Obligations (LTB)

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

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.

(2) Subsection (1) applies even if the tenant was aware of a state of non-repair or a contravention of a standard before entering into the tenancy agreement.

29 (1) A tenant or former tenant of a rental unit may apply to the Board for any of the following orders:

1. An order determining that the landlord has breached an obligation under subsection 20 (1) or section 161.

(2) No application may be made under subsection (1) more than one year after the day the alleged conduct giving rise to the application occurred.

30 (1) If the Board determines in an application under paragraph 1 of subsection 29 (1) that a landlord has breached an obligation under subsection 20 (1) or section 161, the Board may do one or more of the following:

1. Terminate the tenancy.

2. Order an abatement of rent.

3. Authorize a repair or replacement that has been or is to be made, or work that has been or is to be done, and order its cost to be paid by the landlord to the tenant.

4. Order the landlord to do specified repairs or replacements or other work within a specified time.

5. Order the landlord to pay a specified sum to the tenant for,

i. the reasonable costs that the tenant has incurred or will incur in repairing or, where repairing is not reasonable, replacing property of the tenant that was damaged, destroyed or disposed of as a result of the landlord’s breach, and

ii. other reasonable out-of-pocket expenses that the tenant has incurred or will incur as a result of the landlord’s breach.

6. Prohibit the landlord from charging a new tenant under a new tenancy agreement an amount of rent in excess of the last lawful rent charged to the former tenant of the rental unit, until the landlord has,

i. completed the items in work orders for which the compliance period has expired and which were found by the Board to be related to a serious breach of a health, safety, housing or maintenance standard, and

ii. completed the specified repairs or replacements or other work ordered under paragraph 4 found by the Board to be related to a serious breach of the landlord’s obligations under subsection 20 (1) or section 161.

7. Prohibit the landlord from giving a notice of a rent increase for the rental unit until the landlord has,

i. completed the items in work orders for which the compliance period has expired and which were found by the Board to be related to a serious breach of a health, safety, housing or maintenance standard, and

ii. completed the specified repairs or replacements or other work ordered under paragraph 4 found by the Board to be related to a serious breach of the landlord’s obligations under subsection 20 (1) or section 161.

8. Prohibit the landlord from taking any rent increase for which notice has been given if the increase has not been taken before the date an order under this section is issued until the landlord has,

i. completed the items in work orders for which the compliance period has expired and which were found by the Board to be related to a serious breach of a health, safety, housing or maintenance standard, and

ii. completed the specified repairs or replacements or other work ordered under paragraph 4 found by the Board to be related to a serious breach of the landlord’s obligations under subsection 20 (1) or section 161.

9. Make any other order that it considers appropriate.

(2) In determining the remedy under this section, the Board shall consider whether the tenant or former tenant advised the landlord of the alleged breaches before applying to the Board.

31 (1) If the Board determines that a landlord, a superintendent or an agent of a landlord has done one or more of the activities set out in paragraphs 2 to 6 of subsection 29 (1), the Board may,

(a) order that the landlord, superintendent or agent may not engage in any further activities listed in those paragraphs against any of the tenants in the residential complex;

(b) order that the landlord, superintendent or agent pay a specified sum to the tenant for,

(i) the reasonable costs that the tenant has incurred or will incur in repairing or, where repairing is not reasonable, replacing property of the tenant that was damaged, destroyed or disposed of as a result of the landlord, superintendent or agent having engaged in one or more of the activities listed in those paragraphs, and

(ii) other reasonable out-of-pocket expenses that the tenant has incurred or will incur as a result of the landlord, superintendent or agent having engaged in one or more of the activities listed in those paragraphs;

(c) order an abatement of rent;

(d) order that the landlord pay to the Board an administrative fine not exceeding the greater of $10,000 and the monetary jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court;

(e) order that the tenancy be terminated;

(f) make any other order that it considers appropriate.

(2) If in an application under any of paragraphs 2 to 6 of subsection 29 (1) it is determined that the tenant was induced by the conduct of the landlord, the superintendent or an agent of the landlord to vacate the rental unit, the Board may, in addition to the remedies set out in subsection (1), order that the landlord pay a specified sum to the tenant for,

(a) all or any portion of any increased rent which the tenant has incurred or will incur for a one-year period after the tenant has left the rental unit; and

(b) reasonable out-of-pocket moving, storage and other like expenses which the tenant has incurred or will incur.

(3) If the Board determines, in an application under paragraph 5 of subsection 29 (1), that the landlord, superintendent or agent of the landlord has altered the locking system on a door giving entry to the rental unit or the residential complex, or caused the locking system to be altered, during the tenant’s occupancy of the rental unit without giving the tenant replacement keys, and if the Board is satisfied that the rental unit is vacant, the Board may, in addition to the remedies set out in subsections (1) and (2), order that the landlord allow the tenant to recover possession of the rental unit and that the landlord refrain from renting the unit to anyone else.

(4) An order under subsection (3) shall have the same effect, and shall be enforced in the same manner, as a writ of possession.

(5) An order under subsection (3) expires,

(a) at the end of the 15th day after the day it is issued if it is not filed within those 15 days with the sheriff who has territorial jurisdiction where the rental unit is located; or

(b) at the end of the 45th day after the day it is issued if it is filed in the manner described in clause (a).

32 If the Board makes an order terminating a tenancy under paragraph 1 of subsection 30 (1) or clause 31 (1) (e), the Board may order that the tenant be evicted, effective not earlier than the termination date specified in the order.

161 In addition to a landlord’s obligations under section 20, a landlord is responsible for,

(a) removing or disposing of garbage or ensuring the availability of a means for removing or disposing of garbage in the mobile home park at reasonable intervals;

(b) maintaining mobile home park roads in a good state of repair;

(c) removing snow from mobile home park roads;

(d) maintaining the water supply, sewage disposal, fuel, drainage and electrical systems in the mobile home park in a good state of repair;

(e) maintaining the mobile home park grounds and all buildings, structures, enclosures and equipment intended for the common use of tenants in a good state of repair; and

(f) repairing damage to a tenant’s property, if the damage is caused by the wilful or negligent conduct of the landlord.

Onyskiw v. CJM Property Management Ltd., 2016 ONCA 477 (CanLII)

[1] This appeal concerns the interpretation of s. 20(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17 (“RTA”) which provides as follows:

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.[1]

[2] The appellant tenants submit that the respondent CJM Property Management Ltd. (the “landlord”) failed to comply with its duties to provide and maintain under s. 20 because the elevator that services their building was out of service for 96 days in one year. They submit that the Landlord and Tenant Board (the “Board”) erred in denying their application for an abatement of rent. The Board found that the landlord had at all times acted reasonably in having a program of preventive maintenance for the elevator, in repairing it when it broke down and in installing a new elevator. The Divisional Court dismissed the tenants’ appeal. Leave to appeal to this court was granted on October 5, 2015.

[3] The Divisional Court did not err in selecting or applying the reasonableness standard of review. For the reasons that follow, I agree with the Divisional Court that the Board’s decision was reasonable, and I would dismiss the appeal.