As a tenant leader, advocating for tenant communities on the ground will require a fair knowledge of the policies and legal frameworks through which the right to housing is implemented in Canada. This toolbox provides a range of practical resources to support your leadership and advocacy work, with tools to increase your understanding of the right to housing in Canada.
Tenant leaders will usually be the first point of contact for impacted communities – with tenants themselves but also politicians, developers, lawyers and housing service providers. A key aspect of your advocacy work will be information: knowing which laws and policies regulate housing and how to best navigate the housing system will go a long way in preparing your claims and providing support to fellow tenants.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) has an online repository of resources on the right to housing in Canada. Below are some key resources on the right to housing, rental housing and the rights of tenants.
This toolkit offers tenant leaders with a range of practical information to support their advocacy work to claim the right to housing in their communities. It provides an overview of the main principles of the right to housing, Canada’s obligations to implement the right to housing, and policies at different levels of government that can help advance the right to housing. It also outlines what a human rights-based approach to housing can look like, examples of systemic housing issues experienced in Canada, and practical tools that can help tenants mobilize their communities and effectively participate in decision-making processes.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This resource is designed to help tenant leaders develop inclusive and participatory strategies to engage their community to claim their right to housing. It outlines the key principles for increased participation within tenant communities, building effective leadership, and mobilizing and organizing tenants. It also offers a guide on how to create strategic planning tools such as community action plans, communication plans and advocacy plans.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This resource is designed to help tenant leaders understand the responsibilities of each level of government to implement the right to housing, so that they can target their housing advocacy more effectively. It outlines the obligations of each level of government to implement the right to housing, as well as how to overcome jurisdictional challenges. It also offers a guide on what tenant leaders can do to advocate for their right to housing at each level of government.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This resource provides an overview of a human rights-based approach to housing. It is designed to help tenant leaders identify the root causes of housing challenges, the groups whose rights are most impacted by those challenges, and the institutions that have an obligation resolve them. It provides guiding tools to develop rights-based housing solutions and to hold institutions accountable for implementing the right to housing.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This document guides renters and community leaders on how to effectively engage with their local government to advance the right to housing in their communities. It includes information on how City Councils address housing issues, and provides guidelines for tenant leaders to make submissions and deputations at City Council meetings so that they can advocate for the issues that are most important to them.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This guide provides renters and community leaders with information on how to effectively engage with their provincial or territorial government to advance the right to housing in their communities. It includes an overview of how provinces and territories regulate the rights of tenants, and how provincial and territorial legislatures introduce laws that can impact the right to housing. It also includes a guide for tenant leaders on how to be involved in these processes by writing a letter to their local representative or petitioning the legislative assembly.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This guide provides renters and community leaders with information on how to make a submission to the Federal Housing Advocate, to claim their right to housing. It provides an overview of the Advocate’s role and the review process. It also guides tenant leaders on how to structure a submission, what information to include and how to gather it, as well as a practical checklist and examples of previous submissions that have been made by community members.
Inside the toolbox you’ll find:
This toolkit is designed to help medical professionals support tenants (their patients) who are seeking accommodations in their rental housing from their landlord under the Ontario Human Rights Code. This guide provides an overview of the disability accommodation and letter-writing processes, offers tips for writing an effective disability accommodation letter, and provides templates that medical professionals can use to write their own letters.
In this toolkit, you’ll find information about:
Generally, unless a rental agreement includes a term stating that smoking is not permitted in the unit or building, the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) allows a tenant to smoke in their unit as long as the second-hand smoke does not interfere with the landlord’s or another tenant’s reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit and complex. Even if a rental agreement permits smoking, the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) can order a tenant to stop smoking indoors if the LTB determines that smoking has interfered with another tenant’s, or the landlord’s, reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit and complex.
Non-smoking terms in rental agreements are generally valid. If the tenancy agreement or lease specifies that it is a non-smoking unit, then smoking is not allowed in that unit. Smoking in a non-smoking unit may result in the tenant receiving an eviction notice from the landlord.
A landlord may designate specific areas at the residential complex where smoking can occur, but the landlord is not required to do this. The Smoke Free Ontario Act prohibits people from smoking in common areas of their apartment buildings, including in areas like parking garages.
Removing a smoke detector creates a fire hazard. This can put both the tenant and other occupants in danger. A landlord may start eviction proceedings if a tenant removes or tampers with any smoke detector. The LTB may issue an eviction order in these circumstances.
Neither landlords nor tenants are allowed to change the terms of a tenancy without the agreement of the other party. If a rental agreement does not prohibit smoking, the landlord is not allowed to impose a no smoking policy inside rental units. Similarly, if a rental agreement prohibits smoking tobacco, but not cannabis, then the landlord cannot later impose a ban on smoking cannabis. However, even if a lease may allow some forms of smoking, a tenant may still face eviction if their smoking interferes with another tenant’s reasonable enjoyment in the building or causes damage to the rental unit and complex.
Second-hand smoke in a tenant’s unit may be found to be an interference with a tenant’s reasonable enjoyment under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act. Your landlord has a responsibility to provide you with reasonable enjoyment in your unit. If smoke from outside or other units substantially interferes with your enjoyment of your unit, then your landlord has a responsibility to take steps to resolve this. To do that, your landlord may need information about what you are experiencing.
To prepare the information to send to your landlord, write down detailed notes that describe the issues you are experiencing, including these key details:
Once you have prepared the information about the issues you are facing, communicate in writing to your landlord outlining the problem and asking them to correct it. If your landlord does not respond to you in a reasonable time, send them a reminder. Keep copies of all your correspondence with the landlord.
When a landlord receives a complaint about smoke in their building, the first thing they should do is investigate the problem. If the landlord establishes that a tenant has been impacted by second-hand smoke, the landlord should take reasonable and timely steps to resolve the issue.
Some examples of what a landlord can do include:
If smoke is coming from outside through windows or vents, a landlord may ask the tenant not to smoke within a specified distance from the building.
A landlord may start eviction proceedings against the tenant causing the second-hand smoke. Sometimes the tenant who smokes may not be evicted. Instead, they may be ordered to stop smoking where they had been smoking before.
If your landlord tells you that they have been unable to stop the smoking, you may wish to write to the landlord and request they provide the details of the steps they have taken to address your complaint.
Yes, provided your tenancy is protected under the Residential Tenancies Act. However, a landlord should be given a reasonable amount of time to remedy the situation as described in the section above on second-hand smoke exposure. Tenants cannot file applications against other tenants at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) but they may file an application against a landlord if the landlord does not take timely and reasonable steps to come up with a solution. As an applicant, you will have to provide evidence that shows:
The LTB will rely on the best and most credible evidence that is presented, which in some cases is simply the spoken testimony of the tenant who is experiencing the second-hand smoke. Other evidence that a tenant can produce to help the LTB make a decision includes notes they have written that describe what they have experienced and how they have tried to remedy the issues, or photos they have taken that show what has happened.
Although it can be helpful, it is not always necessary to have scientific evidence of second-hand smoke. Air quality, hair, and urine sample tests may show exposure to second-hand smoke, but the LTB may require this type of evidence to be interpreted by an expert or the professional who conducted the test. It is not certain that a tenant will be compensated for the costs of these types of tests. It is important to seek legal advice before filing an application at the LTB.
Through the course of a hearing, the LTB will first hear evidence and arguments from each side, then determine whether the tenant who complained about second-hand smoke has experienced substantial interference with their reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit or the complex, and finally grant appropriate remedies. Depending on the circumstances of each case, these remedies may include:
A landlord is required to balance conflicting rights between tenants, when an accommodation granted to one tenant impacts the rights of another tenant. In doing this, the landlord must address the degree of harm caused to another person by the accommodation provided. For example, a person with a tobacco addiction may be harmed if they are not allowed to smoke, and a person with a smoke allergy may be harmed if they are exposed to second-hand smoke. In this scenario, a landlord must consider the degree of harm endured by both of these tenants and decide who will experience the greatest degree of harm as a result of any remedies the landlord takes to resolve the issue.
If you are experiencing a situation where your rights conflict with someone else’s, it is important to seek legal advice and to work with your landlord to find a solution. This may include the landlord making changes to the building to make it more inclusive or allowing a tenant to smoke while also protecting the person being harmed by the second-hand smoke. Alternatively, it may involve relocating one of the tenants or ending the tenancy of the tenant interfering with the reasonable enjoyment of the other.
For more information about conflicting rights, please see the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy on Human Rights and Rental Housing and Policy on ableism and discrimination based on disability.
City of Toronto – Smoke-free Apartments, Condos and Co-ops: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/health-wellness-care/health-programs-advice/live-tobacco-free/second-hand-smoke-and-the-law/smoke-free-apartments-condos-and-co-ops/
Smoke Free Housing Ontario: https://smokefreehousingon.ca/taking-action/
Canadian Lung Association: https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/smoking-and-tobacco/second-hand-smoke-also-dangerous
Some information about testing from Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety: https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/ets_health.html. Link on “Can Exposure to ETS be measured?” https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/ets_health.html
TEL-87743-18 (Re), 2018 CanLII 42920 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/hs1d5>, retrieved on 2022-09-22
EAL-65791-17 (Re), 2017 CanLII 60551 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/h5xz3>, retrieved on 2022-09-20
TET-09767-10 (Re), 2010 CanLII 79604 (ON LTB), <https://canlii.ca/t/2f8fv>, retrieved on 2022-09-19
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) provides free, individualized services to renters in Ontario who are facing challenges in their housing.
While financially supported by The Law Foundation of Ontario, the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights is solely responsible for all content on this page.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
