Unilaterally Altering Contracts

Caselaw.Ninja, Riverview Group Publishing 2021 ©
Date Retrieved:	2024-11-24
CLNP Page ID:	1850
Page Categories:	[Legal Principles]
Citation:	Unilaterally Altering Contracts, CLNP 1850, <5n>, retrieved on 2024-11-24
Editor:	Sharvey
Last Updated:	2022/01/18

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Kritz v City of Guelph, 2016 ONSC 6783 (CanLII)

[53] With respect to the City’s argument that certain rights of tenants under the RTA (including security of tenure) are “conferred upon tenants individually and cannot be displaced or circumvented by a group lease” and “while a group may commence a tenancy together, they [i.e. each member of the group] retain individual rights under the RTA and the landlord must deal with each tenant as an individual”, Mr. Kritz points out a recent decision of the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, as reflected in D.S. v. R.T., SOT-68533-16-RV, 2016 CanLII 44359 (Ont. L.T.B.), at paras. 6-10. There, the Board upheld an earlier decision that had determined that one tenant could unilaterally terminate a joint tenancy without the consent (or even the knowledge) of his/her co-tenant.

TST-78142-16 (Re), 2016 CanLII 88280 (ON LTB)

15. Section 5(i) of the Act states that the Act does not apply if the tenant is required to share a kitchen or bathroom with the owner.

16. The Landlord testified that he moved into one of the units in the residential complex on September 14, 2016, after the Tenant’s tenancy began. The Landlord’s unit has a bathroom but the Landlord shares a kitchen with three other units. The Landlord testified that he told the Tenant that he was moving into the unit 7 – 10 days prior to moving in but he did not discuss with the Tenant how this would impact the terms of the Tenant’s tenancy.

17. There was no evidence before me that the Landlord moved into the residential complex with the bad faith intention of causing the rental unit to be exempt from the application of the Act, under section 5(i). In fact, it was the Tenant’s legal representative who raised the issue of the application of the Act at the hearing.

18. I nevertheless find that the Act applies to the rental unit for the purpose of this hearing, despite section 5(i) of the Act. The Landlord cannot unilaterally change a fundamental aspect of the Tenant’s tenancy (i.e. whether the Act applies to it) by moving into the residential complex after the tenancy has already begun. (See Cowie v. Bindlish, 2010 ONSC 2628 (CanLII), paras. 16-17). Accordingly, I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the Act applied to the rental unit during the Tenant’s tenancy, including at the time of the lock out.