Tenants Rights

Posted by Joel Nash Feb 1, 2007

New legislation in Ontario will call for a hearing on every residential tenant eviction. The Residential Tenancies Act, which took effect January 31, 2007 could mean waits of up to two months or more to settle an eviction.

Under the old system landlords served dispute forms to the tenants after filing the eviction with the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal (OHRT). Tenants then had 5 days to sign the form and send it to the OHRT to request a hearing. If the deadline was missed then they were evicted. Under the new act, evictions automatically proceed to a hearing in front of a Tribunal panel.

This means that while the tenant awaits the hearing they can remain in there rental housing unit. This is good legislation for honest tenants with real issues. However it will give individuals that abuse the system even more leverage.

The Reality is this new legislation is neither fair or equitable for landlords. Hopefully the province will recognize the inequity in the system and will begin to balance Landlord and Tenant rights.