Ontario Housing Co-op Terminations: The Half the LTB Is Barred From Reviewing
Two forums, one eviction. The vote that actually ends your right to stay happens in a boardroom the LTB is legally forbidden from second-guessing.
When an Ontario housing co-op wants a member out, does the case go to the LTB — and if so, can the member use that hearing to argue the co-op had no right to end their membership?
Yes — and that is exactly the trap, because the LTB hearing you get is only half the hearing you actually need. When a co-op moves to remove a member, the file does reach the Landlord and Tenant Board — but the Board is handed only one of the two questions. RTA s.94.9 forbids it from inquiring into, or ruling on, whether your membership and occupancy rights were properly ended, so the argument “the co-op had no right to terminate me” is one the LTB is simply not permitted to entertain.
That question was never the LTB’s to answer. It was settled a step earlier, inside the co-op: under the Co-operative Corporations Act s.171.8 the board of directors must first vote to end your membership and occupancy rights together — on written notice delivered at least 10 days out, at a meeting you have the right to attend and address. Only once that vote is done may the co-op serve a Part V.1 notice on one of eleven statutory grounds and ask the LTB for possession. (There is a single shortcut: on the eleventh, repeat-offence ground, s.94.2(2) deems the rights already terminated and the board vote is skipped.) So the LTB does hear you — it just cannot reach back and re-open the decision that already determined the outcome.
Sources: Ontario Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 5(c), 94.1(2), 94.2, 94.8, 94.9, 94.10; Co-operative Corporations Act, ss. 171.7(1.1), 171.8, 95.2(2); e-Laws current consolidation, verified 2026-08-17.
I am Arthur Zhao. Here is the trap that catches almost everyone facing a co-op eviction in Ontario: they assume it works like any other rental dispute, so they save their arguments for the Landlord and Tenant Board — the forum they have heard handles evictions. By the time they get there, the decision that actually mattered has already been made somewhere else, and the LTB is legally forbidden from touching it.
Co-op terminations run on two tracks and two forums, in a fixed order. The vote that ends your right to live there happens in the co-op boardroom, not at a tribunal. This piece walks the whole chain — so you know which room to fight in, and when.
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Members, not tenants — the word that rewires the whole process
The RTA toolkit most people know — N4 for arrears, N12 for own-use, T2 for tenant rights, T6 for repairs — largely does not apply inside a housing co-op, because you and the co-op were never in a landlord-tenant relationship to begin with.
The statute is blunt about it. RTA s.5(c) excludes a member unit of a non-profit housing co-op from the RTA except for Part V.1 (and the provisions in other Parts needed to give Part V.1 effect). The Co-operative Corporations Act s.171.7(1.1) says the same from the other side: the RTA does not apply to member units except as the CCA or the RTA otherwise provides.
The load-bearing line is RTA s.94.1(2): nothing in this Part shall be construed as altering the relationship between a co-op and a member, and in particular that relationship shall not be construed as one of landlord and tenant. So even when a co-op eviction does land at the LTB, you appear as a member, not a tenant — and that is not a semantic nicety. It dictates how the entire procedure runs.
Two forums, one eviction — the order, and its one exception
As a rule, a co-op cannot walk into the LTB cold. RTA s.94.2(1) makes the internal step a precondition: the co-op must first terminate your membership and occupancy rights under CCA s.171.8, and only then may it serve a notice of termination of occupancy.
That ordering has one statutory exception, buried in RTA s.94.2(2), and it targets the eleventh ground — a repeat offence. If a member who was already served a notice for a paragraph 6, 8 or 10 circumstance triggers the same circumstance again more than seven days but less than six months later, their membership and occupancy rights are deemed already terminated — the board does not reconvene to vote a second time. The practical sting for a repeat offender: there is no second boardroom hearing; the law skips stage one on its own. With that carve-out noted, here is how the two stages normally run.
Stage one: the boardroom vote — this is the real hearing
• termination can be done only by a resolution of the board of directors — not a manager, not one director acting alone;
• the ground must be that the member no longer occupies, or a ground set out in the by-laws — and the statute adds a hard limit: membership may not be terminated on a by-law ground that is unreasonable or arbitrary;
• the member must receive written notice at least 10 days before the board meeting that considers the resolution.
One more guardrail: CCA s.95.2(2) says a written resolution signed in lieu of a meeting does not apply to a s.171.8 resolution. The co-op cannot paper it over with a signature round-robin — the meeting has to actually happen.
⚠️That 10-day window is not a formality. CCA s.171.8(2) frames it as a minimum — “ten days or more.” If you are the member, the first thing to do on receiving that notice is count the days: a gap shorter than 10 days between service and the meeting is itself a procedural defect you can raise later.
What the 10-day notice must actually say
• the date, time and place of the board meeting (and, where practicable, how to attend electronically);
• the grounds on which termination is sought;
• which member unit is involved and the proposed termination date;
• that the member may attend the meeting and make submissions;
• that, if the by-laws give a right of appeal, the member may appeal to the members.
And one disclosure that reads like fine print but matters enormously (s.171.8(2), item 4.1): the notice must tell the member they do not have to move out immediately, and set out the two ways the co-op can later get possession — i. apply to the LTB if RTA Part V.1 applies, or ii. obtain a writ of possession from a court if it does not. Losing your membership and physically leaving are two different events, on two different clocks.
Stage two: getting possession — LTB or court
RTA s.94.8 then lets the co-op apply to the LTB immediately for an order terminating occupancy and evicting the member (subject to s.94.7(3) and (4)). This is where the familiar LTB finally enters — but its job is possession, not the question of whether you should have been terminated in the first place.
The membership half vs the possession half — who decides what
The core of this article: the LTB is barred from reviewing the board
This is the one line to remember. RTA s.94.9 provides that, in an application under s.94.7 or s.94.8, the Board shall not inquire into or make any determination as to whether the member’s membership and occupancy rights were properly terminated under CCA s.171.8.
Translated into consequences: when you stand before the LTB, the questions “did the board have grounds, did it follow procedure, was the reason valid” are ones the adjudicator will not decide for you. The LTB treats stage one as already complete and handles only occupancy and eviction. If you believe the board got stage one wrong, the place to say so is at the board meeting, through any member appeal the by-laws provide, and — if necessary — by challenging that internal resolution through the appropriate legal channel, not by asking the LTB to second-guess it.
The no-notice fast track — and your window to undo it
RTA s.94.10(1) lets a co-op apply to the LTB without serving a notice of termination of occupancy in four situations: the member gave written notice to withdraw, a written agreed occupancy period expired, the member did not confirm continued occupancy under CCA s.171.9(3), or a termination notice was given under s.171.9.1. A fast-track application must be supported by an affidavit (s.94.10(2)) and brought within 30 days after the rights ended (s.94.10(3)).
The member’s protection: after the LTB issues an order on such an application, the member may move to set it aside within 10 days (s.94.10(6)), and the moment that motion is made, the order is stayed (s.94.10(7)). Even on the fast track, there is a defined window to push back.
ℹ️Bottom line on timing: “membership terminated” and “must move out” run on separate clocks, and even the fast track carries a 10-day set-aside window. Termination does not mean you must leave that week — but do use every window, because they are short.
💡 My own read: in a co-op termination, the member’s leverage peaks at stage one and decays fast after that. Because s.94.9 walls the board’s decision off from the LTB, arriving at the tribunal to “finally tell your side” is usually arriving too late. Treat the 10-day notice the way a litigator treats a summons — because functionally that is what it is: your one scheduled hearing is the board meeting, not the LTB.
When Part V.1 does not apply
This matters because CCA s.171.8(2) itself assumes cases where Part V.1 does not apply — that is when the co-op goes to court for a writ of possession instead. The boundary the statute lets us fix with confidence: Part V.1 is switched on only for a member unit of a non-profit housing co-operative (RTA s.5(c)). Both conditions must hold — “non-profit housing co-operative” and “member unit” — for the LTB track to open.
The clearest excluded case follows directly: an equity or market co-op, where members hold a financial stake they can take with them, is not a “non-profit housing co-operative,” so its units sit outside the RTA entirely and possession runs through the courts. Beyond that, the finer edges — for instance a unit left occupied by a non-member after a death or move-out, or an abandoned unit — are mapped mostly in law-firm commentary rather than in the statute’s own text, so I will not state a hard rule on those here.
Toronto Co-op Apartments Explained: Cheaper Than a Condo, Much Harder to Finance →Landlord Won’t Repair or Keeps Barging In? Filing a T2 or T6 With Ontario’s LTB →Ontario Eviction Process Landlord Ltb →First-Time Renter Guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a housing co-op eviction in Ontario go to the Landlord and Tenant Board?
Only for the second half. A co-op must first pass a board resolution ending your membership and occupancy rights under Co-operative Corporations Act s.171.8. Only after that can it serve a Part V.1 notice and apply to the LTB for an eviction order (RTA s.94.2). The LTB decides possession — not whether your membership should have been ended.
Can I argue at the LTB that the co-op wrongly terminated my membership?
No. RTA s.94.9 says the LTB shall not inquire into or determine whether your membership and occupancy rights were properly terminated under CCA s.171.8. To challenge the board’s decision you have to act at the board meeting, use any member appeal your by-laws allow, and if necessary pursue it through the appropriate court channel — not the LTB.
How much notice must a co-op give before ending my membership, and what must the notice say?
Under CCA s.171.8(2), you must receive written notice at least 10 days before the board meeting that considers the resolution. It must state the meeting’s date, time and place, the grounds for termination, the unit and proposed termination date, that you may attend and make submissions, and — if the by-laws allow — that you may appeal to the members. A missing item or a short window can be a procedural defect.
Could a co-op eviction go to court instead of the LTB?
Yes, depending on the co-op. If RTA Part V.1 applies — a member unit of a non-profit housing co-op — possession runs through the LTB. If it does not apply — for example an equity co-op whose units fall outside the RTA — the co-op seeks a writ of possession from a court instead. The CCA s.171.8(2) notice itself has to say which of the two routes applies.
The board terminated my membership — do I have to move out right away?
Not immediately. CCA s.171.8(2) requires the notice to tell you that you do not have to leave right away — losing membership and being made to leave are separate steps. The co-op still has to complete the LTB (or court) stage to force you out, and on a no-notice fast-track application you can move to set the order aside within 10 days of it being issued (RTA s.94.10).
Arthur Zhao
Real Estate Broker · FRI · ABR · SRS · PSA · MCNE · E-PRO · CLHMS & GUILD Elite · REAIS
VP & Branch Manager, Bay Street Group Inc.
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