This informational pamphlet examines the issue of renovations and upgrading that lead to evictions from rental housing, which denies people their right to security of tenure – a key component of the right to housing. We outline how “renovictions” are playing out across Canada, and how advancing the right to housing can help to address these issues.
This pamphlet was produced by the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) and the National Right to Housing Network (NRHN).
The right to adequate housing is derived from international human rights law. In international law, housing is seen as more than four walls and a roof. For housing to be considered adequate, it should meet a number of minimum conditions. One of these conditions is habitability, which means that adequate housing should guarantee its residents a place that is physically safe to live, provides adequate space where residents aren’t living in overcrowded conditions, and protects its residents against weather conditions like the cold, as well as other health or structural hazards.
Another minimum condition for a home to be considered adequate is the availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure. This means that its residents can access safe drinking water, have proper sanitation and disposal facilities, and can heat their home to just name a few examples. These minimum conditions ensure that a home is a safe and adequate place for its residents. When the right to housing and the conditions mentioned above are translated on the ground, it means that people can live in well maintained homes that are in a good state of repair. For Ontario renters, it is the responsibility of landlords to carry out maintenance and repairs, with regulations in place to hold them accountable.
The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) is the Law that regulates the relationship between landlords and renters. The RTA applies to most rental housing in Ontario, such as rooms, apartments, houses, mobile home parks, and retirement homes. The RTA says that landlords are responsible for the maintenance and repair of everything that comes with renters’ homes, including appliances in the home and the common areas, such as hallways, parking garages and elevators. The RTA also says that landlords are responsible for taking steps to get rid of any pests and vermin, provide heat in cold weather, and are not allowed to cut off or interfere with any vital services such as the supply of water, electricity, or heat.
If a renter has a problem in their home, the first step is to inform their landlord about it and ask them to fix it. It is best to do this in writing, such as sending it in an email. If the landlord does not fix the problem, the next thing the renter can do is to call 311. This move will connect the renter to the City’s services department, such as those enforcing Property Standards, who can send an inspector to investigate the problem and order the landlord to fix it.
At the City of Toronto, another resource for tenants dealing with repair and maintenance issues is RentSafeTO, which can also be reached by calling 311. RentSafeTO is a bylaw enforcement program that launched in 2017 to ensure that owners of multi-unit housing structures (with three or more storeys and 10 or more units), such as apartment building owners, adhere to the building maintenance standards in the city. One of the goals of the program is to ensure that tenants are living in safe and adequate conditions, and to hold landlords accountable to keeping their buildings in a good state of repair. Owners of these apartment buildings are required to register with RentSafeTO and are responsible for complying with the rules of the program. If a landlord is not complying with the maintenance standards, the RentSafeTO team can issue orders and charge landlords.
The RentSafeTO program can be a critical component of ensuring that rental homes are safe and adequate places for their residents. Since its launch, the RentSafeTO program has audited most apartment buildings across the city. However, the program has also been criticized for failing to effectively carry out its mandate. Some have pointed out that not all buildings registered with the program have been audited. Others have pointed to the lack of standard operating procedures, which has left tenants waiting to know when their maintenance and repair problem will be resolved. Housing advocates have also raised issues with the lack of knowledge about the program across various communities.
If a renter continues to face maintenance and repair issues that their landlord is not responding to, and there is no resolution at the municipal level, they can then apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) – the body that resolves disputes between tenants and landlords. Renters can make an application based on maintenance and repair issues and ask the LTB for remedies like ordering the landlord to fix the problem or for a reduction in rent for the months during which the problem persisted. After renters make an application, a hearing is scheduled at the LTB where they can present their case, and show evidence to support it.
While it is crucial to have the LTB process in place, there are a number of challenges that renters face. Many renters often have to navigate the process by themselves without legal representation. They have to prepare for hearings on their own and gather the evidence they need to support their case. This requires legal know how. Additionally, sometimes hearings may take several months to be scheduled, which means that the problems in their rental home may not be fixed for a long period of time. Depending on the issue at hand, waiting for the hearing can mean living in unhealthy and hazardous situations. Meanwhile, if renters are successful at their LTB hearing, the financial remedies awarded, such as rent reductions, are not typically very high. In some cases, if the LTB orders a landlord to fix a problem, landlords may not follow the order and it can be challenging for tenants to get their landlord to do so.
The gaps in protections for renters, coupled with an affordable housing crisis, means that many individuals living on lower incomes are forced to stay in homes that are in a state of disrepair as there are limited alternatives they can afford. This has become a widespread phenomenon that can be identified as a systemic housing issue.
In order to respond to systemic housing issues plaguing the living conditions of many renters living in Canada, it is important that the voices of those most impacted are heard by decision-makers. One of the main ways that people living in Canada can bring forward these systemic housing issues is through the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA), which recognizes the right to housing domestically. The NHSA requires the government to create mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the right to housing and address systemic housing issues. One of these mechanisms is the Federal Housing Advocate, who is an independent human rights expert located within the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The role of the Housing Advocate is to investigate systemic housing issues and to hold our government accountable to meet its own policy to progressively realize the right to housing over time.
Once the Housing Advocate is appointed, submissions can be made by impacted communities on systemic housing issues. It is the hope that as renters learn more about these mechanisms, they can use them to push our governments to address systemic housing issues, such as those related to maintenance and repair.
Throughout the spring, summer and fall of 2021, the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) and the Right to Housing Toronto (R2HTO) ran a 5-part virtual workshop series across Toronto and the GTA to address critical challenges in advancing the right to housing, and to build awareness of how to claim the right to housing under the National Housing Strategy Act and HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan.
#1: Using the National Housing Strategy Act and HousingTO Plan
Participants at this workshop had a rich conversation about systemic housing issues and how people can claim their right to housing under the National Housing Strategy Act and the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan.
#2: Addressing Systemic Discrimination in Housing
Participants heard from people who have experienced discrimination in their housing and learned about the frameworks that protect communities from these issues. They also joined small groups to propose solutions to address these issues.
#3: Evictions and the Right to Housing
This workshop provided an overview of the international frameworks and provincial laws that protect renters from eviction and focused on trends in evictions during the pandemic. Participants learned about the National Housing Strategy Act and eviction prevention policies, and discussed how the right to housing can be realized over time.
#4: Addressing Maintenance & Repairs
This workshop provided an overview of the legal frameworks that protect renters’ right to adequate housing by ensuring that housing is habitable and in a good state of repair. Participants learned how maintenance and repairs in rental homes can be a systemic housing issue and discussed how communities can address these issues and claim their right to housing.
#5: Ways Forward in Claiming the Right to Housing in the GTA
The final workshop in our series provided an overview of the key issues we learned from our four previous workshops on the National Housing Strategy Act, discrimination in housing, evictions, and maintenance and repairs. A panel of advocates discussed solutions proposed in previous workshops and how to take collective action to claim the right to housing in the GTA.
It can be stressful dealing with a pest problem in a unit or a building, especially if the landlord has not taken steps to fix the issue. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords have a responsibility to deal with pest issues, however a tenant does not have the right to withhold rent when a landlord fails to properly address the issue. Tenants may have legitimate concerns about the condition of their building or unit, however if they choose to withhold rent, they could be at risk of eviction if they do not pay the full amount of their rent on time.
If you have a persistent pest issue in your unit or building and your landlord is not addressing the problem, you can:
If a tenant is unable to prepare their unit for a pest treatment due to a disability, they may be able to request assistance or extra time to prepare the unit as an accommodation under the Ontario Human Rights Code. Under the Code, landlords have a duty to accommodate their tenants to the point of ‘undue hardship’.
Landlords have a right to request medical information from tenants who make a disability-related request for accommodation. Before asking for an accommodation, tenants should be prepared to provide medical information from a health professional about their needs.
If you need to request an accommodation from your landlord:
It can be difficult for tenants to know where to start when they are dealing with a pest issue.
If you have a persistent pest issue in your unit or building and your landlord is not addressing the problem, you can:
As a tenant, you are responsible for the ordinary cleanliness of your rental unit. However, your landlord is still expected to work with you to address the issue in your unit. Landlords have a responsibility to maintain the building and your unit in a good state of repair and fit for habitation. Landlords and tenants therefore often need to work together to address a pest issue.
If your unit is attracting pests due to a lack of cleanliness, your landlord may take steps to evict you. A landlord’s application for eviction can be supported if you fail to comply with notices of entry, to prepare your unit for inspection or treatment, or to follow guidelines from a pest control company
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) provides free, individualized services to renters in Ontario who are facing challenges in their housing.
It can be stressful dealing with maintenance issues in a unit or building, especially if the landlord has not taken steps to fix the issue. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords are obligated to deal with maintenance issues, however a tenant does not have the right to withhold rent when a landlord fails to properly address a maintenance issue. Tenants may have legitimate concerns about the condition of their building or unit, however if they choose to withhold rent, they could be at risk of eviction if they do not pay the full amount of their rent on time.
If you have a maintenance concern in your unit or building and your landlord is not addressing the problem, you can:
It can be difficult for tenants to know where to start when they are dealing with a maintenance issue.
If you have a maintenance concern in your unit or building, you can:
Tenants who live in condominiums are considered “tenants” under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), and the owner of the condominium is the tenant’s landlord. Under the RTA, the landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining the unit in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, and for complying with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards.
The landlord may refer some repairs or maintenance concerns to the condominium corporation depending on the nature of the issue, but it is still the landlord’s responsibility to manage the repair request from the tenant. If the landlord thinks that the condominium corporation should be responsible for the repair, it is the landlord’s responsibility to bring that concern to the condominium board.
If you are a tenant in a condominium and have a maintenance concern, you can:
Often, the responsibility for repairs in housing co-operatives will be set out in either the co-operative’s Occupancy By-law or a Maintenance and Repair By-law. Typically, the co-operative’s Board is responsible to address maintenance issues within a member’s unit, but not always. Members of housing co-operatives should consult their by-laws to find out who is responsible for specific repairs, and to confirm if the members are responsible for any repairs themselves.
Members of housing co-operatives are not considered “tenants” under the Residential Tenancies Act. This means that housing co-op members cannot file applications with the Landlord and Tenant Board if they have maintenance or repair concerns. Any concerns must be brought to the co-operative board.
enants who have damaged something in their unit are usually responsible for the cost of the repairs, unless the damage is caused by regular wear and tear over time. If tenants cause damage to their unit or the common area and they do not cover the cost of repairs, they could receive a notice of eviction from their landlord. If the damage is very serious, tenants could face an eviction notice even if they pay for the repairs. Tenants are also responsible for any damage caused by their guests.
If you or a guest have damaged something in your unit or building, you can contact your landlord to discuss how much the repairs may cost.
If you have received a notice of eviction for causing damage to your unit or building, you can:
Tenants do not need to pay for repairs for maintenance issues that are caused by regular wear and tear or use over time. Unless a tenant or their guest caused the damage, they are not responsible for the cost of the repairs. Landlords are responsible for making the repairs and for covering the cost.
If you are concerned about your rights when requesting repairs, you can:
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) provides free, individualized services to renters in Ontario who are facing challenges in their housing.
It’s common for tenants to be concerned about their landlord entering their unit, especially during the pandemic. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is permitted to carry out renovations on a unit.
To enter your unit, a landlord must provide you with:
The Ontario government has asked that landlords take additional safety measures when entering a unit by limiting their notices of entry, working collaboratively with tenants, and following public health guidelines. Landlords are still able to issue notices of entry and they will expect to be able to enter the unit.
If you have concerns about your landlord and contractors entering your unit for renovations, you can:
Generally, landlords are permitted to enter a tenant’s unit if they provide a minimum of 24 hours of notice in advance, and if they provide a valid reason.
The previous Emergency Orders and the different pandemic re-opening phases do not contain any rules or restrictions that prevent landlords from entering a tenant’s unit.
The Ontario government has asked that landlords and tenants act with patience and understanding and follow public health guidelines. The government has also encouraged landlords to limit their notices to enter, but there have been no changes to the law surrounding landlords entering a unit. Landlords are still able to issue notices of entry and they will expect to be able to enter a tenant’s unit.
More information is available on the Ontario government’s COVID-19 page:
If you have a disability-related concern with your landlord entering your unit, we recommend that you:
If your landlord refuses to take any health or safety precautions in line with public health guidelines, you may:
If you would like to refuse your landlord entry to your unit, we recommend that you:
It can be frustrating and inconvenient when your landlord decides to renovate your unit when you do not think changes need to be made.
Under the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is permitted to carry out renovations on a unit.
To enter your unit, a landlord must provide you with:
As a tenant, your landlord is not permitted to substantially interfere with your right to the “reasonable enjoyment” of your unit.
If your landlord performs extensive renovations, they may be interfering with your right, and they will be expected to:
If your landlord did not do all of the above, and the renovations have interfered with your reasonable enjoyment of the unit, you can:
Sometimes a landlord will claim they need to renovate a unit, and use it as a reason to evict existing tenants. This is called an eviction in “bad faith,” and is colloquially referred to as a “renoviction.”
Tenants facing a renoviction often receive an N13 notice from their landlords, which is the proper legal process created by the Landlord and Tenant Board to terminate a tenancy for the purpose of carrying out renovations. However, some landlords only provide tenants with notice verbally, by text or by email. This is not the legal process to terminate a tenancy.
If your landlord wants you to move out to renovate your unit, they cannot evict you without going through the proper legal process at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
If your landlord wants to terminate your tenancy to renovate your unit, they must:
If you are facing eviction due to renovations or repairs:
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) provides free, individualized services to renters in Ontario who are facing challenges in their housing.
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.
