Tenant Legal Services
Tenant Legal Services - Advice
If you are a Tenant in Ontario, you need access to a high caliber legal advice especially when you are facing problems with either your landlord, property manager or other tenants.
Invictus Legal represents both tenants and landlords and am well versed in the Residential Tenancies Act. We can help tenants in a number of ways, including:
- Been given an N4, N5 or other eviction notices alleging rent arrears or misconduct
- The Landlord is telling you that they wish to move in.
- The landlord wishes to renovate of demolish the rental unit.
As a Tenant you have rights and need practical solutions that help you. What do you need?
- Make a payment agreement to bring my rent up to date.
- I have been accused of bad behaviour which I didn't do.
- The landlord illegally evicted me.
- The landlord, or another tenant has been harrassing me and is trying to get me out.
- The landlord is trying to raise my rent above the legal limit.
Ontario Tenant - N4 Notice for non-payment of Rent.
If you, as a Tenant, have been served with an N4 notice this is a serious situation. Have you paid your rent? How far behind are you?
As a Tenant representative, Invictus Legal LLP will be having a serious discussion about your options here. Just because you have been served with an N4 doesn't mean you will be evicted in a few weeks. We can help you negotiate as we have with many other tenants across Ontario. On the surface the basic options are:
- Pay the outstanding amount owed.
- Leave the Rental unit.
- Fight the eviction at the LTB.
There may be several reasons why you would wish to stay in your unit and Invictus Legal can help make this happen legally. Let's look at each of these individually.
Pay the full amount listed on the N4 before the termination date
If you admit that you owe the money then payment may be an easy option. However you should seek legal advice. At Invictus Legal LLP we have encountered several options where the application can be fought, for example.
- Where the tenant has actually paid and can prove it.
- Where the Landlord has refused to receive funds sent electronically.
- Where there are reported maintenance of other Section 82 or 83 issues that need to be raised.
Every situation is different, you should have a consultation with a paralegal to see whether you do have options.
Leave the Rental Unit
This is one option, but please do not become one of the growing homeless population.
If you decide to accept this option then you need to vacate in the full knowledge of the landlord then return possession of the rental unit on or before the stated termination date. You can also have a legal representative, like Invictus Legal LLP assist in negotiating options for you.
Negotiate a Payment Plan
The LTB rules allow for mayment plans to be negotiated. There are many times proposals will be accepted and other occasions where they will be rejected.
Negotiating a rent payment plan requires quick, honest communication and a realistic budget. leaving the negotiation for manths will not assist the Landlord is seeing the troubles you are going through. Ine of the things paralegals, like those engaged by Invictus Legal LLP can assist with is negotiation. Paralegals are trained negotiators and can often find solutions where you would not think they exist.
One thing our paralegals aalways do is put the agreement in writing: Generally you should make payments by a traceable means, cheque, email transfer etc. Never rely on a verbal promise; make sure the final plan is signed by both you and your landlord, our paralegals do that all the time. The agreement must show how much is owed, your Tenant's normal rent, the extra payment amounts to be paid, and the exact dates everything should be clear. Also you should consider a clause about what to do when failures occur.
What options exist when tenants are served with an N5 or N7.
Legal Service firms like Invictus Legal can offer you a choice and defend your rights.
N5 Notice
The first N5 is a warning to correct a problem. the solution, stop the noise, repair the damage, or reduce occupants within 7 days which will completely void the notice.
If this is your second N5 Notice then you should seek legal advice. One of the options is to fight this, especially if you believe that you corrected the issue before the 7 days expired.
Form N7 Notice
is used for for serious problems or safety impairment impacting the landlord or other tenants in the residenial complex. An N7 cannot be voided by fixing the behavior, but not all N7s are valid.
With either of these notices, look through your papers, gather evidence, Collect photos, texts, witness accounts, or receipts to prove the allegations are false.
N12: Notice to End Tenancy Because the Landlord, Purchaser, or Family Member Requires the Unit.
The Landlord, subject to certain conditions, or certain members of their family, are permitted to move into the rental unit. They must stay for a continuous period of 12 months. They are are supposed to move in right away, delaying 3 months for renovation is not acceptable.
A lot of these requeses are not genuine, many are about rerenting the unit for a higher rent. There is a presumption of bad faith when an N12 notice is sent to the Tenant. Invictus Legal LLP will help Tenants challenge the N12 in the LTB tribunal.
Associated with the N12 is the Tenant T5 application. The rule in Section 57 of the RTA, if a landlord re-rents, lists for sale, or fails to occupy the unit within a reasonable time (typically 12 months), bad faith is presumed.
N13: Notice to End Tenancy: Landlord Wants to Demolish, Repair, or Convert the Unit.
The N13 application is made by the Landlord, when they wish to renovate or rebuild the rental unit. There are specific rule applied in respect to these applications. In Elkins v. Van Wissen, 2023 ONCA 789, the court established that the LTB cannot limit its bad-faith evaluation strictly to the landlord’s state of mind on the exact day the N12 or N13 notice was served.
Further, active case law supports the view that the burden rests heavily on the landlord to objectively disprove bad faith or demonstrate a genuine, unforeseen circumstance relating to the post-eviction circumstances.
For a Tenant, successfully challenging the N13 notice and associated L2 application, is about having effective evidence, pictures, videos, rental site listings etc. These can be used to challenge the landlord's assertion that their actions were genuine.
