The point of this blog is to describe what the appeal process is like. As you will see from an Order issued by the Property Standards Officer it will contain an issued date as well as a correction date. The correction date is the date by which the Property Owner, or the person to whom the Order is directed, is expected to have complied with the Order. The Order also advises the recipient of the right to appeal the Order to the Property Standards Appeal Committee, normally within 30 days of the date of the Order. There is a fee of $150 to appeal. Once the Appeal request is received the Hearing will be scheduled within 30 days.
What do the Appeal forms look like? As of the date of this blog, there are no formal appeal documents and no written nor formal Rules of Procedure before this committee. A call to the coordinator reveals that a simple letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Committee, which sets out the intention to appeal the Order is sufficient. In my experience it is best to draft a "form like" Notice of Appeal that cites the name of the property owner, the municipal address, the date of the Order, the Correction Date, and the name of the Property Standards Officer. Then in sequentially numbered paragraphs, provide some background on the property, background on the issue, background on how the Order came to be, the attempts to comply with the Order or the attempts to negotiate a resolution with the Property Standards Officer, then the grounds for the appeal, and a final section stating what the desired outcome of the appeal is along with a reference to the evidence to be relied upon at the hearing.
It is helpful to prepare a small book of documents, with sequentially numbered pages, tabbed if necessary, that includes all of the relevant documents (i.e. all of the documents that tell the story of what has happened and show what you want to happen). You should make at least 5 copies of this book and if time allows, file one with the secretary in advance of the hearing (though it will be accepted at hearing).
The hearing is before a committee of three Board Members. The hearings are held in regular meeting rooms, usually at the City Building on Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa. The process is informal although there is a record as the proceedings are recorded. I'm not sure if it is possible to obtain a copy of the record. It should be easy enough to get as the recording is in a digital format with a simple recorder being placed on a desk in the meeting room.
Of the Board Members, one acts as Chair and runs the hearing. Witnesses are sworn on oath. The Property Standards Officer is present to provide clarification and information. Interestingly, the Property Standards Officer begins to act as a bit of an advocate for the Order and it can't be said that the "Order" speaks for itself. The traditional adversarial process is not followed and there is indeed some back and forth. In the Appeals I've witnessed it is not unusual for the appellant and the Property Standards Officer to engage in debate while the Board/Committee kind of watches and occasionally interjects. It is a like a mini-cross examination. From what it appeared to me, so long as the dialogue was respectful and fruitful, the process was quite flexible.
For anyone attending such an appeal, I can say I was taken a bit by surprise as the Property Standards Officer may indeed enter new evidence (pictures, maps, charts, whatever), without notice or advance disclosure. To avoid such surprise I recommend that you contact the Property Standards Officer in advance of the hearing and request a copy of any evidence he/she intends to lead at the Appeal and at the same time make a similar request to the secretary of the Board.
The decision on the Appeal seems to come quickly and the panel deliberates before making an oral decision. Perhaps in more complicated matters they would not make an oral decision but for the most part the panel seems quite efficient in its decision making. A written decision follows in the mail following the appeal.
Michael K. E. Thiele
Quinn Thiele Mineault Grodzki LLP
310 O'Connor Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 1V8
Tel: 613.563.1131
mthiele@pqtlaw.com
I recently called The Property Standards Officer to have them come out and inspect the property I rent. They have not been out yet. I did so as I have no confidence in my landlord completing the repairs correctly. There are many examples of non standard repairs in the house. Well the property standards officer called the landlord and the landlord shows up at my door less than happy. After a lot of yelling and insults, he left and I know he is going to try to find some reason to get me out.
ReplyDeleteI have started recording everything said and how often he or a member of his family comes over to access as shed the landlord uses.
I am worried this is going to become a "I never said that" or "I had no idea the problems existed" kind of thing.
What advice can you give? I just want the repairs which will be extensive, but necessary as they have gone on for years.
I have asked for a repair to rotting wood stairs for almost a year. Verbally and I showed him in person.
Last winter I was not allowed to use the furnace until a new one was installed... that was Dec 12th. I froze for a month and had to use a space heater to thaw my washing machine before using it.
The bathroom tiles are loose and were caulked in place by someone before I moved in.. mold can be seen in the wall and the ceiling on the floor below.
Just looking for advice on how to present this to the LTB if I need to take that step or to defend against a "my son needs the place" application.
Thank you very much for your comment. You certainly did the right thing in getting Property Standards Involved as your requests to the landlord (in writing I presume) resulted in no action being taken. When tenants come to me about significant repair issues one of the first things I recommend (after not getting anywhere with the Landlord) is to contact Property Standards. The benefit of Property Standards is that they are generally considered, by the Landlord and Tenant Board, to be objective in assessing the condition of a property. Their orders bear the weight of law as well. As such, a Property Standards Order generally carries a lot of weight at the Landlord and Tenant Board and it has the added benefit of getting the work done.
ReplyDeleteNow, your experience that the Property Standards Officer called the landlord is not in fact unusual. Some Property Standards Officers view their job as a process whereby they get property owners to bring their property up to code/standards through communication and working together. An Order is like a hammer and many Officers find an Order to be the last resort. If they can get cooperation, and hence avoid writing an Order, they will go that way as it gets the problem solved in a less antagonistic manner.
Your landlord's reaction is unfortunate. At this stage, I would recommend writing an email to the Property Standards Officer, or a letter if you don't have a business card with an email address. You may wish to consider copying your email to your councillor as well. That email should be polite, thank the officer for his efforts and advise him/her that as a result of him contacting the landlord/property owner about your complaints that the result has been harassment, yelling at you, and insults. You can acknowledge that he was trying to get the landlord to cooperate (which likely was the Property Standards Officer's motivation), but that it hasn't worked. Ask the Property Standards Officer to please write an actual Order requiring the landlord to comply with the Property Standards By-Law as the landlord's actions towards you do not suggest a willingness to comply voluntarily.
Documenting your request to the Property Standards Officer, copying the letter to your councillor or to the head of the Property Standards Department should at least get some attention at different levels. If, by chance, the landlord and the Property Standards officer are a little to informal, then hopefully bring your complaints to the attention of your councillor and the "boss" should get a proper Order written.
continued
With respect to the problems with your landlord I wish I could offer you a great solution. Unfortunately, the landlord and tenant Board can not order your landlord to be a decent person. You can get an Order from the Board for repairs (T6 application) and for substantial interference (T2) but these are cold comfort with a landlord who is behaving irrationally. Please remember that if you feel unsafe, or you expect interactions to be particularly tense that you can always call the police. If you know that you will be interacting with the landlord and are worried you can ask the police to visit while the landlord is present to keep the peace and perhaps highlight to the landlord to behave rationally. Yelling insults is not acceptable and only invites escalation that you shouldn't have to suffer.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, and to your last comment on presenting your case to the Board. The key is to document and record and to deliver as much measured and objective evidence as possible. Photographs are great. video is great, a Property Standards Report can be invaluable, contractor reports, home inspector reports, and independent persons who don't have any direct interest in the outcome of the proceedings make great witnesses.
Presentation of evidence is always a challenge, even for lawyers who have been doing this forever! The key is to deliver compelling evidence, quickly and efficiently and in such a way that the conclusion is obvious. The Landlord and Tenant Board is an extremely busy Board and the fact is that adjudicators have a limited amount of time to hear your case. From that perspective, having all of your documents (that you intend to present) put into one sequentially numbered paged book (x3 copies) is a great start to showing the adjudicator that you are organized and know exactly what you intend to enter as evidence and prove.
Best of luck---please let me know how it goes.
Mike Thiele
Thank you for the advice. I will take action and draft a letter to my city councillor today. I only have a name of the property standards officer, but will try to find his contact information. Will keep you posted.
ReplyDeleteI wrote an email to both the officer and my councillor. The officer called me that afternoon and arranged for an inspection today.
ReplyDeleteI walked though with him very quickly as he kept saying "next", took a picture, moved on. He did not really look at the detail of the problems, just general area. Some items were discounted as "it's an old house". Okay, so my toilet needs to be flushed twice because it is an old house? Really?
He then told me he would contact the landlord, tell him what needs to be repaired, and that much of the repairs will be "lipstick on a pig". I said "surely the safety issues must be addressed properly?" He said the house is old, I have to expect it to be like this.
I will wait and see what the landlord actually does.
Certainly it is true that you can not expect an old house to be like a new house. Often enough, the very reason to want and old house is so that it isn't like new house. That being said, you make the distinction perfectly in asking why a toilet should have to be flushed twice. If this is to be expected then I suppose you should only expect half the lights to work, half the outlets etc etc.. This does not make sense. Good luck and I hope that the Property Standards Officer surprises you. If not, you are not precluded from filing a T6 form (Maintenance) but to be successful you will need to prove in other ways that the property is in need of repair--i.e. photos, video, contractor quotes, perhaps even a home inspection report. Sometimes even common sense will count!
DeleteWell, it gets better. The landlord sent me an email to say that he will be by to see the repairs I want corrected and that I need to make a list. He said he'd be by sometime in the next three days.
ReplyDeleteI politely informed him that the officer was going to contact him with the list of repairs and that notice must be given in person, by mail, or fax reference RTA 191 with specific information like date, time, reason reference section 27.
I told him he could come by and bring the signed letter with him this time with all the times and details, but he has to let me know when.
I also mentioned that he was out on the weekend and walked around the deck looking at the rot. He did not tell me he was coming, just showed up and I said that was illegal and he should really follow the law. I said you wouldn't like if I dropped by and walked around your deck would you?
I then said I insist that we follow proper procedure as verbal obviously hasn't worked for us.
I just got an email reply that read..
I am afraid you are going to get nothing out of "landlord" if you keep this nonsense up.
Unlike you, "Landlord" works everyday and doesn't have the freedom to be dropping by at a certain hour of a certain day. He doesn't know from one day to the next what area of the country he will be in. And who do you think we could hire that would work under these conditions.
If you don't like where you're living you can leave anytime. Give us written one month notice and then go.
"landlords wife"
This was all done by email and I printed and saved the messages. Best part is she CC'd the city building inspector.
All I ever wanted was the repairs made and that we follow the law. Am I being unreasonable?
I am thinking of filing with the LTB about everything now. I just don't know where to start as there has been so much and frankly, I can't afford to be kicked out of here right now.
I know he will be by in the next couple of days to yell, I am going to record him on my ipad.
It does get more interesting! It seems to me that you have a landlord who is not a professional landlord and one who hasn't informed himself of the requirements of the Residential Tenancies Act. You ask whether you are being unreasonable---well that is a question that doesn't really need to be answered as you are only demanding what the law gives you (i.e. it doesn't matter if "people" find it reasonable or not. Your relationship with the landlord is severely strained and you are not getting any satisfaction from him. Under such circumstances it is entirely reasonable to demand compliance with the law and to stick to the strict letter of it. If the landlord begins to cooperate, be appreciative and reasonable--maybe then you will be comfortable waiving statutory and legal requirements. Until your relationship gets there, you are fully entitled to demand compliance with the provisions of the RTA.
DeleteNow, he has told the City inspector that I refuse to let him in. No, I just refuse to sit here for "sometime within the next 3 days" for the landlord to show up. I just want proper notice.. I mean how do I show him the problems if I am not here?
ReplyDeleteI'm close to done.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI just found your website as I was looking for details on what was involved in an appeal process for property standards for the city of Ottawa. I found your posting tremendously helpful. I am not a renter or a landlord but have been having issues with my neighbour's snow and ice accumulation falling off their newly installed solar panels into my backyard. The avalanche of snow and ice is very dangerous for us to use the backyard in the winter and prevents us from putting any structure in that area in the summer as it will be damaged in the winter.
I contacted the city of Ottawa and the initial by-law officer deemed it a safety hazard but when a property standards officer came by several months after we kept inquiring about our case, they told us that there was nothing they could do.
I contacted the officer's supervisor who then took it to the city's legal services and they finally issued our neighbour a notice to comply.
Now the neighbour has appealed the process and I'm worried that the property standards offficer will not fairly represent us in the appeal process as they were the one who denied us in the first place.
Should I be attending the appeal process with the evidence (pictures) I have along with a lawyer?
Any advice you can me on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hi there:
DeleteI was intrigued to read your approach through property standards as opposed to proceeding in a private lawsuit against the nieghbour, seeking an injuction, damages etc. for causing this nuisance. I presume that the Property Standards officer would have based the Order on the property not being safe? I recall several years ago that there was a problem in Ottawa with people being struck by ice sliding from roofs. I thought a by-law was passed to address that problem but perhaps it was done in the Property Standards By-Law.
In any event, your question was whether you should attend the hearing with a lawyer. This is an impossible question to say "no" to as it is difficult to conceive how your presence could be harmful. In fact, being there could only help your cause. I think your evidence of the existence of the problem, the extent of it, some photos, some video, and explanation as to the danger it presents would indeed be useful evidence for the committee. The bigger issue is likely procedural. I haven't been to this committee in some time. The last time I was there, no specific rules had been passed and no "forms" existed. The committee seemed to proceed on the fly conducting itself in a manner that seemed impromptu. Fairness seemed to be the over-riding rule. Hopefully that is still the case. If I were you now, I would inquire with the secretary whether there are Rules of Practice and review them. In doing so, I would be focused on finding out how to get "standing" at the appeal. "Standing" is a legal concept which basically refers to the adjudicative body recognizing you and allowing you to participate in the process. Given that you have a direct interest in the outcome of the appeal it would not be unreasonable for the Committee to grant you "standing". The question often, in relation to granting people standing, is whether you have anything unique to offer or contribute to the decision making process. If the committee has no rules, and nothing explicit about how you may participate, I'd simply write a letter to the secretary advising that you are a homeowner who is directly affected by the decision in this appeal and that you would like the committee to recognize you and allow you the opportunity to make a presentation. Perhaps you could offer evidence, suggestions, or information that would allow the committee to fashion a remedy(solution) that would not otherwise be obvious if you were not involved. Hopefully, the secretary would be able to confirm that the committee would hear you. Alternatively, you could try to get recognized at the hearing by standing up and trying to intervene. However, I think that this would have less chance of success. If the secretary informs you that the committee will not hear from you, then perhaps you go and try anyway, or alternatively go and support the by-law officer and try to force him to call you as a witness. Then, as a witness, make the point you wish to make.
Some of this, of course, you have to play be ear and react based on the situation. To that end, and to your last point, having a lawyer present--who has advocacy experience (i.e. trial experience)---would indeed be helpful. The process will be familiar to that lawyer (even if they've never been before this committee) and they will be comfortable getting the Committee to pay attention to you. Obviously, the lawyer can't guarantee that you will be heard but your chances will increase.
Best of luck. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate knowing how the decision turned out and even to get a copy of the decision would be great. You can send it to my email if you don't wish to share it publicly in this forum. Thanks for writing.
Michael K. E. Thiele
Please continue this great work and I look forward to more of your awesome blog posts.
ReplyDeletebradgarey.com
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are residential landlords of a single family home in Ottawa. We have a clause in our lease requiring the tenant to be responsible for lawn maintenance and snow removal. Your comments appear to make this an illegal clause under the RTA - that only the owner of the property has that responsibility and cannot download it to a tenant.
Under the City of Ottawa Property Standards By-law 2013-416, the owner of the property is also defined as "the lessee or occupant of the property who, under the terms of a lease, is required to repair and maintain the property in accordance with the standards for maintenance and occupancy of property".
Does this definition and by-law not allow us to still include this clause in our lease?
We would greatly appreciate some clarification.
Thank you!
Hi: Thank you for this comment. Immediately below is the definition of "owner" as it appears in the City of Ottawa Property Standards By-Law that you cite.
Delete“owner” includes,
the person for the time being managing or receiving the rent of the land or premises in connection with which the word is used, whether on the person’s own account or as agent or trustee of any other person, or who would receive the rent if the land and premises were let; and
the lessee or occupant of the property who, under the terms of a lease, is required to repair and maintain the property in accordance with the standards for maintenance and occupancy of property;
There are a number of ways to approach your question and there are several ways to analyze the issue from a legal perspective. If the By-Law and the Provincial Law were in conflict you could ask which of the two laws takes precedence (legally). If the provincial law and the by-law were of the same force and effect you could look to see if either of them declares itself to be superior to any contrary law (the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) does that subject only to the Human Rights Code.) I think one would have recourse to this kind of analysis if there was some kind of equivalency. But I don't think that is the case.
Your legal relationship with your tenant is governed by the lease, which in turn is covered/governed by the RTA. The RTA and caselaw interpreting it place the maintenance obligation on the landlord and make it impermissible to shift the maintenance obligation to a tenant as a condition of the tenancy. Any clause, in a lease, that requires something that is contrary to the RTA is explicitly made void by the RTA. Accordingly, while the lease clause requiring the tenant to maintain the proper may in reality be physically written on the page (and the tenant signed agreeing to it), the clause is not legally in the lease and it is made void by law. Notwithstanding that you see it on the page---in law it is not there.
Now turn to the By-Law. Nothing in the by-law authorizes a residential landlord to transfer a maintenance obligation to a residential tenant. The by-law doesn't purport to regulate the relationship between landlord and tenant. It is silent on that aspect of the relationship.
The "owner" definition you referred to, (reproduced above), simply includes in the definition of owner a tenant who is required under the terms of the lease to repair and maintain. Fair enough. Your lease does not require your tenant to repair and maintain because that aspect of your lease (presuming the clause is a condition of the tenancy) is void. Your lease does not legally require the tenant to do the repair and maintenance. On that basis, your tenant does not fit the definition of owner under the by-law.
The issue, always, in trying to make tenants responsible for maintenance and repair is when that shifting is a condition of the tenancy. If you want to make it work you need to come up with a contractual relationship with the tenant, for the work to be done, that is freely entered into and is independent of the residential lease.
Michael K. E. Thiele
www.ottawalawyers.com
Part 1 of 3
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
Thank you very much for your answer. My apologies for my slow response back. We have had a situation arise with our tenants in the past week that we would also appreciate your advice on, but will leave that for next time.
I will have to post multiple times due to limitations by your website.
We have to be honest....we are very frustrated right now with the conflicting answers we are being given on the responsibility of property maintenance for our rental house.
Part 2 of 3
ReplyDeleteWe have tried very hard as landlords to do our due diligence when it comes to knowing everyone's rights and responsibilities. We use trusted sites. Over the past year, we have contacted the LTB on 4 separate occasions regarding this matter. Every single time we were told that our tenant is responsible to cut the lawn and shovel the snow if we have that included as a clause in our lease. We were also told that it did not need to be in a separate agreement from the lease. We were told that municipal bylaws overrode the RTA and that the city of Ottawa had property standards bylaw that gave that responsibility either to the owner or the occupant under a lease. When we looked further into whether the RTA or a municipal bylaw took precedence we were told that the following maintenance standards section of the RTA (Part 1,s4) indicates that bylaw DOES override on exterior maintenance standards.
"Municipal property standards by-laws applicable to exterior
4. If there is a municipal property standards by-law applicable only to the exterior of residential complexes or rental units, the maintenance standards in this Regulation that relate to the exterior of residential complexes or rental units do not apply to the residential complexes or rental units in the municipality that are subject to the by-law, but the maintenance standards in this Regulation that relate to the interior of residential complexes or rental units do apply to them. O. Reg. 517/06, s. 4."
We were also told that the responsibility only falls to the Landlord when there are common or shared exterior areas. We were told it only applied to rental units in a complex, not a single family family home where the tenant has sole use of the exterior areas. Even in our last conversation with them about two weeks ago, when we told them that we have now been given conflicting information from 2 other sources...the LTB stood firm that our tenants were responsible. We had called them as the tenants had not cut the grass at all this summer and now the lawn has considerable damage to be repaired. We asked what steps we could take and were told we could issue an N5 to have them repair the lawn damage. We had intended do to this in the spring.
Just to be sure we also contacted CLEO and Steps To Justice. Both agencies told us the same thing and both have it posted on their sites that if you rent a whole house the law is unclear about who is responsible for outdoor work, like lawn mowing or snow shovelling. We decided to check some more and contacted the LSHC. It was here that we were shocked to be told that the responsibility was the solely the Landlords and could not be included in our lease or downloaded to the tenants. However, their website shows conflicting information under several of their FAQ's. Here are some examples:
1."My tenant is supposed to look after the lawn but he didn’t and I had to repair it on my own. It cost around $1,600 with materials and labour to repair the damage. How do I prove these amounts are legitimate? How would I find the tenant after he moves?
If your tenant has already moved out, then your recourse would be to file a claim in Small Claims Court but you do have to obtain the tenant’s new residential address. It’s not easy to track down a tenant, and you may have to hire an agency that provides this service. You can search on line for agencies that will do this; they’re called skip tracing agencies. As for the claim issues, you can try claiming for your own labour costs but it can be difficult to justify the amount you’re claiming. One way that might help is to obtain a quote from a landscaping company on the cost of doing the work, including labour costs. It’s ultimately up to the judge to decide what would be a reasonable amount. I’ve included the link below to the Small Claims Court website for information on the procedures and forms, https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/guides/."
Question-How can I sue if it is not their responsibility?
Part 3 of 3
ReplyDelete2."On our lease agreement, it states that the tenants have to mow the lawn in the backyard. What notice can I give them so they keep their word that they will take care of the lawn and keep the area clean?
The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 states that maintenance issues are the responsibility of the landlord. Therefore, your issue is one which involves contract law and we do not advise in this area. You may wish to seek the advice of a lawyer or paralegal."
Question-We are being advised and thought they did provide legal advice?
3."Is the landlord responsible for cutting the grass or removing the snow?
The landlord is responsible for maintaining the property which includes clearing the snow and mowing the lawn. If a tenant agrees to do these tasks, the tasks should be clearly laid out in the tenancy agreement. In the event that the tenant fails to live up to the terms of the agreement, it is ultimately the responsibility of the property owner."
Question-So a tenant can agree to perform the work as part of their lease agreement? Then if they didn't, it would be a breach of contract and grounds for an N5.
And lastly, when we brought up the Montgomery vs Van 2009 ruling to the LTB, we were again told that the tenant lived in one of several basement units in a multi unit residential complex and that it didn't apply to a single family unit.
And now we are hearing that the City of Ottawa is preparing a new Rental Property Management Bylaw which states;
"New rental property management bylaw
The bylaw would compel the landlord at the time of signing a lease with a tenant to provide contact information for the landlord and designated property manager, instructions for waste management, instructions for lawful parking, instructions for maintenance and cleanliness and instructions on how to report problems.
The document would be made available to bylaw officers if they request it. According to the city, this would create “a record of responsibilities” that would be better than creating a licensing system.
The document would help to determine whether violations are the fault of the landlord or tenant.
The city continues to look into a process for bylaw officers to gain lawful entry to units to investigate complaints."
Question-Instructions for maintenance sound like they can be designated Landlord or tenant responsibility?
As you can see, and hopefully appreciate, the confusion this causes, we have received quite a lot of conflicting information and just don't know who to trust at this point. We made the assumption that the LTB would be the best information source, as we would be dealing with the Tribunal if needed. We now feel very insecure in our ability to know and perform the proper action on this matter. And worse, look incompetent to our tenants.
We would appreciate any further insight you have on this matter. What is a landlord supposed to do? You don't know who to believe or trust!
Hi: You certainly seem to have gotten many different answers or information that may have been responding to a question you haven't asked. I don't know how I should respond to this other than to say that you need to find authoritative sources of information. Yes, I realize you have been trying to access authoritative information and who would have thought that the Landlord and Tenant Board wasn't such a source. In fact, if you go to almost any "hearing" day at the LTB you will hear a tenant or a landlord complain to the sitting adjudicator saying that they were told differently by the Landlord and Tenant Board (counter-staff or on the phone) and that what they have done is consistent with the advice given. But then, you'll also find that if you call the number 3 times and ask what you think is the same question 3 times you can get 3 different answers. I don't know how to respond to that phenomenon. I know that sometimes the problem lies in communication, sometimes in a lack of understanding the legal issues versus factual issues, sometimes plain misunderstanding the question and/or the answer, and sometimes people are just plain wrong. Inconveniently, sometimes the adjudicator gets it wrong too so you are left more thoroughly confused than ever. These are the realities of the practice of law and this probably explains why every case is a crap shoot and that in a legal case you can never be 100% certain of anything.
DeleteWhat can I say to help alleviate your confusion? There is simply too much in your comments to spend the time writing a thorough response. A thorough response would include the nuances, highlight the exceptions, and ultimately provide an answer that is accurate most of the time on the assumption of certain facts being true. Change an underlying fact (even in a small way) and you could completely change the legal outcome of what you're talking about. Hence the difficulty in trying to represent yourself in a rather intricate area of the law.
I do think that the over-all answer is much simpler than that the various paths you've been sent down. The short answer is that landlords are responsible for maintenance (snow and grass) and all the other stuff too. Is there a single family home exemption (meaning you can impose an obligation on a tenant for a single family home)? If the answer is "yes" you absolutely need to find that exemption in the RTA (look as long as you like--it isn't there). The statutory obligation is clear and any exception would need to be clearly spelled out in the RTA--not a bylaw. Provincial law trumps Municipal law---this is paramountcy. Where the two don't conflict then both apply. When Provincial laws (different statutes) conflict with the RTA, the RTA provides that the RTA trumps the other statutes unless the other statute is the Ontario Human Rights Code. The government intends the RTA to be the dominant legislative authority with respect to Residential Tenancies.
What about this Maintenance Standards regulation you mention. Simply, not applicable to you. The Regulation you are citing is Ontario Reg 517/06 Maintenance Standards. You will see that this regulation has limited application if you look at section 224 RTA. Because you are in Ottawa, the regulation does not apply (in any useful way to you). The local Property Standards By-Law will govern--and frankly, regardless of which you'd pick--neither allow the shifting of maintenance obligations to the tenant. Even if either could be read that way--both the regulation and the by-law are subservient to the RTA.
The answer for your "issue" can be found (I think) in Montgomery v. Van. Consider that case closely and note that the Court does allow a contract with a tenant for maintenance so long as the maintenance contract is not a condition of the tenancy agreement.
DeleteAs for an authoritative source of legal information--a trusted and accurate source the problem is not a lack of experienced (Residential Landlord and Tenant) legal professionals. There are many in Ottawa you could trust to guide you well. Unfortunately, the issue is the expense and perhaps not knowing if your professional is getting it right in this particular instance. To solve that, I'd suggest you do what the lawyers do and that is to buy the leading texts on Residential Tenancies law. My number one textbook is Residential Tenancies in Ontario, Third Edition, by Jack Fleming (publisher is LexisNexis). Ideally Mr. Fleming would soon publish a new edition but certainly the Third Edition is still very valuable. I recommend this text to you because it has the depth of information you clearly are looking for. This text has lots of caselaw, sets out many exceptions and explains the law. I don't agree with everything Mr. Fleming says but nothing that I've read in his text is plainly wrong. Beyond this text, you might want to get a copy of Dickie and Lyman's text: Working with The Residential Tenancies Act, 4th Edition. The publisher is Emond Publishing. This text is not as thorough but it is intended to be a working text and it is used in many paralegal problems to teach this area of law. If you really like the text you should know the Dickie and Lyman are Ottawa lawyers and you can retain them rather easily as they are local. I am quite collegial with them and regularly have files with Mr. Lyman who I am happy to say knows his stuff.
There are other texts as well. There is one by Feldman--some people swear by it as a favourite but I'm not a fan. There is another by Butkus--though I think it is now more of an annotated RTA.
Consider getting one (or more) of these academic texts. The value I think is that you'd get the depth of answers that you are currently missing. This seems relevant in your situation because some of the things you've been told are not completely wrong or perhaps are contextually correct to facts slightly different than your own.
I hope that helps. Good luck to you.
Michael K. E. Thiele
www.ottawalawyers.com