Bed Bugs (Abatement)

TET-20134-11 (Re), 2012 CanLII 44831 (ON LTB)

2. The Tenant has brought the instant application claiming once again that the Landlord has failed to meet its maintenance obligations under section 20(1) of the Act by failing to address a new bed bug infestation and a mouse problem in the rental unit.

23. The evidence before me leads me to conclude that after the January 27, 2010 hearing of TET-02033-09, the Tenant remained silent on the issue of bed bugs in his unit until August 18, 2011. At a minimum, the Tenant did not report his concern through the proper channel until August 31, 2011 when he submitted a written service request. It is curious that the Tenant, who went to some effort to compile photographic and video evidence to support his current application, would not have logged his maintenance concerns in writing with the Landlord. Yet from the January 27, 2010 hearing up to August 31, 2011 there is no written record of the Tenant ever complaining to the Landlord about bed bugs. It is incumbent on the Tenant to promptly report his concerns using the established maintenance request protocol setup by the Landlord. This is especially true in the case of a multi-tenant residential complex.

V. Determination:

1. I find that the Landlord failed to meet the Landlord's obligations under subsection 20(1) of the Act to maintain the rental unit and failed to comply with housing and maintenance standards in relation to treating the Tenant’s unit for the presence of rodents.

VI. It is ordered that:

3. The Landlord shall pay to the Tenant a rent abatement of $179.00. This amount represents a fifty percent rent abatement for the period from December 8, 2011 to February 8, 2012.