This is part 3 of our four-part series on landlords’ maintenance obligations. In part 1 we covered the legislation governing maintenance and repairs for residential tenancies in Ontario, and in part 2 we dug into what actually constitutes a true breach of a landlord’s obligations.
There’s a bit of a grey area, and there will be times when the landlord and tenant don’t agree. The tenant may feel a maintenance issue makes the unit unfit for habitation, while the landlord may consider the repair purely cosmetic. Filing an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board is costly and time-consuming, so you want to be certain you have a viable case before taking that step.
First, you can research past Board decisions on similar issues to get a sense of whether your issue meets the threshold. You may also want to get the advice of a paralegal or lawyer — often available for free through services like Legal Aid or other community organizations.
If you still have doubt, you could contact the property standards office of your municipality. They will send a bylaw or property-standards official to your apartment to assess whether any standards are being breached, and if so, issue an order to the landlord to fix the issues — which also gives you evidence to support a Board application. For more information, visit Tribunals Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board website.