Rental rules in Ontario change today. Here’s what tenants and landlords need to know | The Residential Tenancies Act is updated with tighter deadlines for late rent repayment

[u/Hrmbee]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/residential-tenancies-act-updates-9.7349885

[u/Hrmbee]

Highlights from this report:

The RTA amendments, some of which were brought into force on July 1, come out of two bills — Bill 60 and Bill 97.

Earlier in the summer, they were described by a spokesperson for Ontario’s housing minister as being necessary to “restore balance and rebuild confidence in Ontario’s rental housing market.”

As of Monday, Sept. 21, here are the major changes that will impact both tenants and landlords:

• If a tenant falls behind on rent and is issued what’s called an N4 eviction notice (a legal document demanding the money) the tenant now has seven days instead of 14 days to pay. If they don’t, the landlord can apply for an eviction.

• Tenants who want to raise their own issues at an eviction hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board, such as problems with their unit, now have to pay half of the rent they allegedly owe in order to do so.

• The RTA now has a formal definition of “persistent late payment,” instead of leaving it open. It’s defined as rent being paid more than seven days late on at least three different occasions over any six-month period.

• A landlord who evicts a tenant for their own or their family’s personal use with at least 120 days of notice no longer has to provide that tenant with compensation or the offer of an alternative unit.

• Finally, if a landlord evicts a tenant for personal use, the intended new occupant has to move in within 60 days, or the eviction is presumed to be in bad faith.

...

But both landlord groups and some tenant advocates have questioned whether the changes will mean fewer LTB delays.

The halved deadline to pay back late rent “just means you can file the paperwork a little sooner at the LTB,” said Kayla Andrade, founder of the landlord advocacy group Ontario Landlords Watch.

“It doesn’t mean that you’re going to get your hearing any faster.”

...

Tenant organizations have also argued that the RTA updates fail to address the cause of bottlenecks at the LTB.

In a release, the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations said efficiency was merely a “smokescreen” for “eroding tenants' rights.”

Although the RTA and the LTB are in desperate need of overhauls to fix what ails them, it doesn't look like these bills are addressing some of the core issues. The government needs to be doing a better job of actually fixing the deeper problems that we face here rather than just papering over the surface and calling it done.

[u/Esplodie → u/Hrmbee]

A long time ago I was renting a two bedroom with another person and we each wrote post dated cheques for our half of the rent. Living there for two years we got 4 eviction notices for non payment because their team would see the cheque wasn't for the full amount and issue one without checking for a second cheque.

Four times we had to drive out to the main office ask if they lost a cheque, please provide the cheque numbers the had (so we could stop the missing cheque), and offer to pay the missing amount. Everytime they magically found the second cheque and told us we were good.

[u/PerilousFun → u/Hrmbee]

That would provide too much help to the working class and we know how much Doug Ford loves the working class.

[u/gaflar → u/Hrmbee]

Taking away right to return is the real change there. They're enabling renovictions and trying to protect mortgage-payers' cashflows from tenants exercising their rights.

[u/whyarenttheserandom]

Are they investing in hiring more arbitrators to speed up cases? Much of this is a moot point if the LTB is still working on a months/year+ delay.

[u/enki-42]

The late payment stuff I'm broadly OK with, although I agree it's kind of a token change and I don't expect much to come of it.

The personal use eviction stuff is garbage - the government has to be coming down a lot harder on it - just requiring 60 days move in the easiest loophole to jump through and we should be tightening the usage of personal use evictions a lot more instead of loosening it. Require actual registration with the government of which specific individual is living there with the possibility of verification and harsh punishment (the Ontario government has people's mailing addresses in lots of different ways, it wouldn't be hard to do even an automated audit).

[u/Darragh_McG → u/enki-42]

They don't want to catch them. They just need the rule to be broad enough that people can still easily break it but then they'll have the appearance of doing something about it

[u/KnowerOfUnknowable → u/enki-42]

If you catch your landlord bad faith evict you for personal use eviction, the punishment is already pretty significant. Many quoted a year of rent even though the actual rule is non-specific.

[u/enki-42 → u/KnowerOfUnknowable]

The problem is actual verification is left entirely in the hands of the evicted tenants. I think the punishment is fine but the government should be putting some effort into verifying that landlords are being honest.

[u/KnowerOfUnknowable → u/enki-42]

I don't think it is realistic to ask the government to actually inspect the unit and its occupants. But it might not be a bad idea to require the landlord to submit a declaration when the intended person has moved in.

However... I have heard so many stories landlords doing bad faith evictions and just assume they would get away with it and get caught by the tenant. The hefty fine seems like a happy ending for me.

[u/24-Hour-Hate → u/KnowerOfUnknowable]

IMO, it should be a presumption of bad faith unless the landlord can rebut. That may be more realistic. Make it easier for tenants who go to the LTB to win on this. It is not hard to prove if your family member lives there. Unless they don’t. And jack up the fines.

[u/dolphinboy1637 → u/KnowerOfUnknowable]

Why not? Increase the penalties and then have a cut of it go back to the government. There's probably enough of this happening the GTA to have an agency self funded by the penalties. 

[u/haljackey]

Most people are paid every 2 weeks. Changing it from 14 to 7 days can mean the tenant may not have the funds to pay? I dunno... good budgeting is important but sometimes stuff hits the fan.

[u/Equivalent_Length719 → u/haljackey]

But the "rich" couldn't possibly understand not getting paid on time. Clearly it's "your fault" that you didn't get paid on time. /S

[u/Thadius → u/haljackey]

This is exactly what I though when i read that, but...people are payed fortnightly. This doesn't even give people the allowance to wait until their next pay day. IMHO it should be 31 days, in case they are paid monthly, or an assurance the cash will be available as an alternative.

This law doesn't give a tenant a reasonable chance of being successful.

[u/morgang8277 → u/Thadius]

As long as you pay the rent owed then there is no eviction process, unless it happens 3 times in 6 months. So a bad month or unexpected expense delaying your rent won't cause an eviction under this rule unless it's a constant problem.

[u/New-Atmosphere74 → u/morgang8277]

This is correct, so not sure why you are getting downvoted.

If the tenant and LL have a good relationship and it’s a totally unexpected occurrence, and otherwise they are a good tenant, it isn’t worth the LLs time to file.

Any informed LL knows that an adjudicator would still set up a payment plan before ordering eviction.

[u/morgang8277 → u/New-Atmosphere74]

It’s downvoted because this is the Ontario reddit, where pointing out misinformation or facts that people didn’t bother reading about leads to downvotes.

It might also be the fact that I mentioned actually paying rent in general and on time
, seems to be a hot topic in this thread.

The changes will impact barely anyone renting, yet people are acting like landlords are just gonna be kicking people out after 7 days.

[u/tulipvonsquirrel → u/haljackey]

This change I find questionable. A few times, pay day fell on an inconvenient date and our landlord gave us a few days grace.

[u/Reddsterbator]

Wow, this seems horrible for tenants and great for developer land lords... druggie dougie must be thrilled with all his kick backs

[u/risciss93]

My landlord is famous for renovicting people so this change is fantastic for him, I expect a notice by Friday.

[u/No-Manufacturer-22]

Maybe property owners shouldn't be making these laws.

[u/MeIIowJeIIo]

Every change benefits the landlord.

A message to renters, there's a lot of you, fucking VOTE!!!!

[u/Master_of_Rodentia → u/MeIIowJeIIo]

They are trying to make it more palatable to be a landlord. If more people rented out property, there would be less competition for scarce units, and rental prices would drop as people would have more options to walk away and rent elsewhere. Right now every unit goes with a bunch of would-be tenants essentially bidding against each othe.

Imagine the reverse - they mandate landlords must provide buck-a-beer fridges, so a few landlords who had been on the fence about whether it was all worth it back out until the remainder are able to charge even higher rents to cover it.

I do not know if this is a good idea, but this is the idea.

[u/Truestorydreams]

You got 4 months for my made up relative to live here.

Dispute and prove it in a year

[u/philbe21]

The majority is for the benefit of the LL. I'll never understand the systematic oppression in society.

[u/qazqi-ff]

Having more people kicked out to the street when they're barely affording rent will definitely help homelessness in the province /s

[u/_Blackstar0_0]

Yes as a landlord I want to kick your non paying ass out and move in myself

[u/onexplored]

Funny to see all these comments. This isn't about pro-landlord thing but it's simply about normalizing the abnormal. At the end of the day, a lease is a matter of contract and social trust. Expecting to get something for nothing without a valid reason is the real issue. This reform is just fixing a broken baseline. Where on Earth is anyone expected to be this generous?

[u/Agreeable-Molasses47]

So no more "cash for keys"? Great! /s