The Province announced last week that it would be increasing the number of adjudicators and staff at the Landlord and Tenant Board to speed up decisions. It also announced it would be strengthening a broad range of tenant protections.
Ontario is investing $6.5 million to appoint an additional 40 adjudicators and hire five staff to improve service standards and continue to reduce active applications and decision timeframes at the Landlord and Tenant Board. The increase will more than doubles the number of full-time adjudicators at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
“Residents and rental housing providers deserve fast results, and government bureaucracy should not stand in the way,” said Attorney General Doug Downey. “That is why we’re investing millions of dollars to increase the number of adjudicators and staff at the Landlord and Tenant Board, so the board can continue its work to reduce its caseload, improve client service and resolve disputes faster.”
The provincial government also announced it is taking steps to make life easier for renters, with proposed changes that would enhance tenants’ rights to install air conditioning in their units and by strengthening protections against evictions due to renovations, demolitions, conversions as well as those for the landlord’s own use.
When evicting a tenant to use the unit themselves (or for their family), a landlord (or their family members) would have to move into the unit by a specific deadline.
When evicting a tenant to renovate a unit, landlords would be required to:
- provide a report from a qualified person stating the unit must be vacant for renovations to take place
- update the tenant on the status of the renovation in writing (if they plan to return)
- give them a 60-day grace period to move back in, once the renovations are complete
If the landlord doesn’t allow the tenant to move back in at the same rent, the tenant would have two years after moving out, or six months after renovations are complete (whichever is longer), to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for a remedy.
When a tenant is in arrears of rent, they may enter into a repayment agreement with their landlord to pay the rent they owe and avoid eviction. To make it easier for both tenants and landlords, the government is proposing to require use of the Landlord and Tenant Board’s plain language repayment agreement form. This would help ensure all parties better understand their rights and responsibilities.
Ontario’s provincial government says it remains focused on its long-term goal of creating 1.5 million homes by 2031, including rental homes. In October 2022, More Homes Built Faster introduced changes to reduce barriers for home builders to replace older, mid-sized rental apartments with larger, more modern rental buildings.
The government is consulting on changes “that will help to create a balanced framework governing municipal rental replacement by-laws. For example, the government is considering requiring replacement units to have the same core features (e.g., number of bedrooms) as original units. The proposals would also give existing tenants the right to move into the new unit while paying the same rent. This would help protect affordable housing while encouraging the revitalization of older, deteriorating buildings and increasing rental housing supply.”
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
There are Two issues:
Landlords rights:
Landlords should have the right to renovate and charge more rent.
Why would anyone put their money toward improving their property if not to increase value?
Tenants right:
Affordable – Government / rent controlled properties must be a priority for families.
Expecting a private citizen to incur the brunt of the lack of affordable housing is unfair.
Landlords take the loans. They fund the repairs. The provide maintenance. They Take the risk. They Take the responsibility for providing decent housing…they are not responsible the high cost of rent.
-Some tenants are very skilled at working the rental laws. Stopping rent. Months going by. Tribunal costs to the public and the landlord…Never to be re-couped.
These are not landlord / tenant laws.
These favour ONLY the tenant. The one who has NO skin in the game.
While these changes help small problems, they in no way are going to fix the problems of not being able to afford rent due to no rent control rates! I also agree that the credit checks are going to do nothing but make it impossible for some people to get an apartment. I have a student loan that I have been unable to pay because of various reasons, but I haven’t ever paid my rent late or not in full!
They need to get rid of the credit check, why does my credit rating have anything to do with my ability to pay my rent on time?
This does nothing to solve the housing crisis were in RIGHT NOW! They need to bring back a rant cap single income families CAN NOT AFFORD RENT.
This doesn’t solve the problem of no rent control on new builds. Tenants will still be scrambling at the end of the lease term to find affordable housing because landlords can jack up the rent to whatever they want after 12 months. Building new units that aren’t protected by rent control isn’t fixing the problem.
How can I apply for Last adjudicator job. No