Landlords who evict tenants for their own use will have to offer compensation, proposed legislation says
Landlords would have to give tenants a new unit or compensate them with one month’s rent.

thestar.com
By MAY WARREN
April 27, 2017

Ontario landlords would have to compensate tenants they evict for their “own use” under the province’s proposed rental legislation.

The highlights of the new protections were presented as part of the province’s housing affordability plan last week.

But details of the “Rental Fairness Act,” which amends the Residential Tenancies Act and is in second reading, are now public.

Landlords would have to offer tenants a new unit or compensate them with one month’s rent, if the bill passes as written.

Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations said this will “disincentive landlords from acting illegally, which is great.”

It’s hard to know how many people are evicted yearly based on these grounds, as the forms landlords use to do it, the N12, are not tracked. But tenant advocates say it’s a widespread issue.

Landlords will also have to put in writing to the Landlord and Tenant Board that they need the unit for at least a year and are acting in “good faith.”

That means if your landlord evicts you so that he or she or a family member can live in the unit and then you see it on Craigslist two months later for higher rent, it’s on them to explain to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

“Right now when that happens the tenants have to prove the landlord acted in bad faith, now what they’re doing is reversing the onus,” said Dent.

Landlords are unhappy about the new rules.

“This will have a very significant impact on small landlords and a very significant impact on condominiums,” said Jim Murphy, president of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario.

He believes the “tight” new rules will result in some small investors selling off units because they don’t see them as worth the extra trouble.

“That again will be bad news for tenants because there’ll just be less supply,” he said.

What else you need to know

The new legislation gets rid of the “1991 exemption” and expands rent control to all units, not just those built after that year.

That means your landlord can’t raise rent higher than a certain guideline set by the province each year. That was 1.5 per cent in 2017.

Once the legislation is passed the new rent control rules come into effect as of April 20, 2017.

Landlords can still raise rents “above the guidelines” if they apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

But they won’t be able to do this for increased utilities costs.

You can still have an oral tenancy agreement, but if you want a written lease it needs to be a standard government one.

That’s to prevent unscrupulous landlords from sneaking in illegal clauses, like prohibiting pets or demanding security deposits, into leases.

The legalisation also makes it an offense for landlords to go after tenants for rent for the period after they leave the unit (as in rent they’re not owed), or other illegal charges like key fees.