Thursday 1 November 2012

Who practices Landlord and Tenant Law?

I have been asked on many occassions how I managed to become so involved in residential landlord and tenant law.  The truth of the matter is that it happened entirely by accident.  In the mid-1990's when I was working in my first law firm I was asked by a colleague to assist a small religious non-profit corporation with a problem they were having with a residential tenant.  Given that it was early in my career I looked at any work as an opportunity to broaden my knowledge and experience.

In resolving the problem for this client it became apparent that very few lawyers were actually practicing Landlord and Tenant law.  In those days, residential landlord and tenant matters were governed by the Landlord and Tenant Act.  Legal proceedings took place in the Courthouse before the registrar at 9:00 a.m. and Superior Court Judge at 9:30 a.m. if the lawyers or the registrar had not managed to strong arm the parties into a settlement.

The 9:30 a.m. appearance before a Judge could be a harrowing experience.  The authority of the Judge's office was readily and swiftly deployed.  Only parties with the most serious cases, and confidence in them, would have the nerve to survive this session.  Given that the 9:30 a.m. block was half an hour before the "real" motions, the Court was intolerant of foolishness and those who were unprepared.  It was normal for an entire docket of cases to be cleared in less than 30 minutes.

It turns out that I enjoyed the Landlord and Tenant work. It called for rather pure advocacy, spur of the moment judgment calls and negotiation.  The subject matter, while not recognized within the bar as being in any way glorious, certainly captured the serious attention of both landlords and tenants alike.  Tenants because the outcome would determine their future address and landlords because the problem (usually non-payment of rent) was directly impacting the profitability of their business.

Notwithstanding that this area of law interested me, it soon became clear that this work did not command significant legal fees.  Ultimately, I think it is this fact that explains why not many lawyers pay much attention to this area of law.

In the heady days of the 1990's (compared to today for sure!) Ontario Legal Aid was a panacea for lawyers interested in poverty law issues--which included rental housing.  Legal Aid would fund tenant cases where the landlord was breaching its obligations under the law (maintenance, repair, illegal entry, breach of quiet enjoyment) and certainly it would almost always defend an application against a tenant for termination and eviction from their rental unit.  Having an interest in social justice, liking the cause of the under-dog, and having the ability to earn a living with "volume" I never said "no" to any landlord and tenant file regardless of the underlying circumstances.

Sometimes, not saying "no" is all it takes to become the go-to-guy.  Within a few years I was receiving referrals from lawyers and law-firms from all over.  Everyone, it seemed, was happy to refer landlord and tenant cases to someone who knew the "ins and outs" of this area of the law.

If my success as a landlord and tenant lawyer began in the mid-1990's, it became even more so with the passage of the Tenant Protection Act (TPA).  The TPA took landlord and tenant matters out of the Courts with the creation of an administrative tribunal known as the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal.  This Tribunal specialized in Landlord and Tenant cases, was located apart from the Courthouse, and it had its own Rules, Forms, and processes.  The departure from the procedures under the Landlord and Tenant Act were significant and therefore, the lawyers who once dabbled, now gave it up completely.

Subsequent to the TPA, the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) was passed and it replaced the TPA.  The Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal was renamed the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board.  The administrative law nature of the Board did not, and has not, changed.  For me, what changed was the recognition by landlords that the practice of law before this Tribunal was becoming more specialized.  No longer were cases being resolved on the stern resolve of Superior Court Judges in 30 minutes or less.  The Tribunal, by the nature of its structure, gave parties much more time and opportunity to fully air their positions.  Cases became longer and more complex.  Parties are now asserting their rights and positions especially in the face of a "no costs" environment fostered by the Tribunal/Board.

For several years the playing field between landlord and tenant was virtually level.  As a lawyer representing both sides, I heard both landlords and tenants, equally and vociferously, complaining about the inequity in the law.  Both sides thought (and still today feel) that the law is weighted in favour of the other side.

In my view, the law surely has its idiosyncrasies, but for the most part I feel that it is balanced.  The balance arises from the fact that the law is entirely knowable---i.e. it isn't arbitrary.  Any landlord and/or tenant is able to know the rules and follow them if they care to learn the law.  If the law is understood, and the Rules followed, the outcome in most cases would not offend most people's sense of justice and fairness.  I have always felt, whether I am on the side of the Landlord or Tenant, that a just result could be achieved by guiding my client to act in accordance with the rights, responsibilities, and obligations imposed under the governing legislation (LLT, TPA, RTA).

The unfairness that landlords and tenants often rail about generally arises in circumstances where the person hasn't bothered to learn the law.  Such people often think that the law is an ass and should not apply to them because their values and ideas of what the law should be are somehow superior to the will of the provincial legislature.  Needless to say, this view doesn't carry much sway before the adjudicators hearing cases.

In recent months I have become concerned that the playing field is becoming less even.  The problem arises because the Legal Aid system, run by Legal Aid Ontario, is broken.  Since the mid-1990's, Legal Aid slowly chipped away at the services it covered and provided to low income Ontarians.  This is significant because low income Ontarians are the ones most affected by Landlord and Tenant laws.  Tenants with money and resources don't stay around to fight with crazy landlords (they just give their notice and move), and landlords normally don't pick fights with tenants who have resources as these tenants usually pay their rent.

Legal Aid, long ago, stopped funding any case where the tenant was trying to fight an injustice caused by a landlord (via private certificates that could be taken to a private lawyer).  Legal Aid restricted its funding to resisting applications for termination of tenancies.  Even this was circumscribed by a new requirement for tenants to seek help first from a Community Legal Clinic.  Only if the Clinic was not able to help the tenant would Legal Aid authorize a tenant to retain a lawyer to help them (albeit at a substantially discounted hourly rate with a capped number of hours).  While making it more difficult to get legal help, at least Legal Aid Ontario allowed for the possibility of tenants to get a lawyer if they really pushed.

That is no longer the case in the East Region of Ontario.  As of a few months ago, Legal Aid Ontario cut all funding of Legal Aid Certificates to tenants.  Regardless of the circumstances, if a tenant can not get help at a clinic, they are simply out of luck.  The fact of the matter is that Community Legal Clinics have an endless number of clients in all of the poverty law areas of practice.  In Ottawa, the simple reality is that these clinics have so few resources to bring tenant applications that it is a fair comment to say they never do.  With respect to applications against tenants, there is a profound pressure to negotiate resolutions in the face of a massive caseload.  Difficult clients, especially those with mental health problems, are often overlooked as these tenants even have a difficult time asking for help.

One can see the beginning of a trend where vulnerable tenants are not fighting.  Many tenants now receive the limited advice of duty counsel which means they get about 10 minutes of legal guidance to run the case themselves.  I have watched tenants, who have good cases and who would have won had they had a lawyer, give up and lose.  These days, with the elimination of Legal Aid funding, I am representing many more landlords than in the past.  In one case, a tenant I was seeking to evict advised the Board that she was told not to bother fighting the claim because Legal Aid told her that she didn't have much of a chance so they wouldn't even represent her.  Anecdotal perhaps, but this trend is increasingly apparent to those of us who practice before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Some of you may wonder how I'm getting my fill of social justice and fighting for the under-dog.  I'm pleased to say that I'm enjoying taking the occasional "good" case without charge.  As people who love their careers can attest, while money is important the intangible rewards of interesting work can readily compete for one's feeling of satisfaction for a job well done.

Michael K. E. Thiele
Quinn Thiele Mineault Grodzki LLP
310 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 1V8

2 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I have been served with a registered letter stating that I had 60 days to move out of my home that I have been living in for 4 years. I have never had any problems with the landlords and always paid my rent on time every month. I have four children. The reason that was in that letter was that the landlords parents were moving in after I move out. That's what I thought was happening. It's been about three weeks now since my family has moved out from that home. Drove by and seen there is a for sale sign on the lawn. That makes me so upset when they are now selling the house and it hasn't even been a month since I moved out. Can they really do that when there hasn't been any issues with me and my family. They have lied saying they were moving in. This is hurtful when they gave me no choice but to move under circumstances they were moving in. Took my children away from all their friends on that street all for them to be selling in three weeks after I moved out. I can't believe this:(.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Melissa: The Residential Tenancies Act contemplates a situation where the landlord gives a Notice of Termination in bad faith. It sounds like you received a Form N12 (landlord's own use). If this is what you received take a look at section 57 of the Residential Tenancies Act. Then go to the Landlord and Tenant Board website and look for FORMS, TENANT FORMS, and then select the T5 form. This is the application you would use.

      If by chance you did not receive a Form N12, but relied on a letter instead of the proper Form you might still be able to use the T5 form but I would also combine it with the T2 form. If the Board does not consider the "letter" a bad faith notice then I think it is fair to characterize the letter as interference with your quiet enjoyment--which is the T2 form.

      There are lots of little tricks in relation to these applications. Just because a landlord does not move in does not mean that the notice of termination was served in bad faith. If, for example, the landlord's parents died after the service of the N12 and after you moved out then this would be a change of circumstances that explains why the move in did not happen. For you to be successful, you need to establish that at the time of service of the N12 (or the letter) the landlord did not have a good faith intention to occupy the rental unit for residential purposes. This is more complicated than simply proving the property is for sale.

      Good luck

      Michael K. E. Thiele
      www.ottawalawyers.com

      Delete

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Any answers provided are intended to reflect the Law of Ontario, Canada. The answers are not legal advice and no one should rely on the answers provided as legal advice. The answers are intended to be general information about Ontario Law and are the personal view of the author based on the limited facts provided to the author. The answers may not be legally accurate and may indeed be contrary to the law of Ontario. Answers and conclusions drawn may have been different if facts had been shared that have not been disclosed in the comment/question. This blog is intended to assist people in learning about Ontario Landlord and Tenant Law. However, if you have actual legal problems this blog should under no circumstances replace proper legal advice obtained by retaining a lawyer or licensed paralegal to advise you. Nothing in this blog, comments submitted or answers provided, gives rise to a solicitor and client relationship. Comments are published as submitted and commenters should be aware that if they identify themselves in a comment that their identity will become public upon the comment being published. Comments that have been published may be deleted upon request to the author.

The content of this article and any responses to comments are intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Search This Blog

More Articles: Blog Archive