Commercial

Your Commercial Tenant Walked Out Mid-Lease — Do You Have to Re-Let Right Away? Ontario’s Duty to Mitigate Isn’t Yes-or-No, It’s Which-Road-You-Take

Ontario landlords are often stunned to learn the Commercial Tenancies Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. L.7) says nothing about mitigation, re-letting, or abandonment — so whether you must re-let after a commercial tenant walks out is settled by the Supreme Court of Canada’s Highway Properties (1971) framework, not by statute. It lays out four landlord remedies: three carry no duty to mitigate, and only terminating to claim the whole future loss over the unexpired term does — and only if you gave notice at termination. Broker Arthur Zhao maps the four roads, what each one costs, how commercial differs from residential, and the pending Aphria appeal that could rewrite the rule.

商业租客提前跑了，房东必须马上重新招租吗？——安省「减损义务」的真相：不是有没有，而是看你走哪条路

商业租客中途弃租、把钥匙一扔，安省房东到底要不要马上重新出租（减损）？答案不是简单的有或没有——安省《商业租赁法》(CTA, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.7) 全文对「减损／重新出租／弃租」只字未提，规则藏在最高法院判例 Highway Properties (1971) 的「四条路」里：维持租约照收租、终止追欠租、代租客重租，都无须减损；唯独「终止＋追未来整段租期损失」这条路才触发减损义务，且必须终止时书面通知。本文讲清四条路各自的代价、与住宅侧的差别，以及正在审理中的 Aphria 上诉可能带来的改变。持牌经纪 Arthur Zhao 拆解。

Can You Take the Walk-In Cooler When You Move Out? The Trade Fixtures Test at the End of a Commercial Lease in Ontario

Here is what catches Ontario business tenants off guard: no statute decides whether your fit-out leaves with you. The Commercial Tenancies Act never mentions fixtures, so the question is settled entirely by the common law and your own lease. This guide sorts your equipment into chattels, trade fixtures and the landlord’s fixtures, explains the two-part annexation test courts apply, and flags the two traps that cost tenants the most — a removal right that expires the moment you give up possession, and a make-good duty for the damage you leave behind. Broker Arthur Zhao breaks down what stays and what goes.

搬走时能不能把冷藏柜、货架一起带走？商业租约到期，「营业固定装置」到底归谁

商业租客搬离时，冷藏柜、货架、招牌、空调这些自己花钱装的东西，哪些能带走、哪些已归房东？安省《商业租赁法》全文对 fixture 只字未提，答案由两层决定：先看租约的 leasehold improvements 与拆除复原条款，租约没写才落到普通法的「营业固定装置」规则（附着程度＋附着目的两要件）。持牌经纪 Arthur Zhao 讲清三分法、取回时间窗与修复义务。

You Asked to Sublet Your Storefront — Your Landlord Took It Back Instead: The Recapture Clause in Ontario Commercial Leases

You ask your landlord to consent to assigning or subletting your commercial space, and instead of yes or no you get the answer “I am taking it back.” Is that legal in Ontario? The answer is not in the statute — it is in your lease. This piece explains why a recapture clause is negotiated contract language rather than a right the Commercial Tenancies Act gives landlords, how the s.23(1) reasonable-consent default can be contracted out, why landlords want recapture, what a tenant can negotiate, and why commercial disputes go to the Superior Court rather than the LTB. Educational content, not legal advice.

你想把铺子转租出去，房东却把它收回了：商业租约里的「收回权」条款

你申请把商铺转让或转租给下家，房东却回一句「我不同意，但这个空间我要收回」——这合法吗？关键不在安省法律，而在你那份商业租约的文字。本文讲清：收回权（recapture）是协商出来的合同条款、不是法定权利；CTA s.23(1)「同意不得无理拒绝」这个可被排除的默认规则；房东为什么要这条；租客签约时能争取什么；以及商业租赁走高等法院而非 LTB。本文为一般性教育内容，非法律意见。

Those Tables Out Front Aren’t in the Space You Leased: Toronto’s Rules for Restaurant Patios

On the sidewalk, a Toronto restaurant patio has a second landlord: the City. Broker Arthur Zhao walks Municipal Code Chapter 742 as the obligations most tenants never price in — a City permit and signed agreement before a single table goes out (§742-2.1), a default ban on amplified sound (§742-9.9), an 11 p.m. close on local roads (§742-9.10), and Commercial General Liability insurance throughout — plus the one that stings: only the City, not your landlord, can pull the patio, and a cancellation bars you for a year.

门口那排露台桌，其实不在你租的铺子里：多伦多餐厅露台的市政边界

餐厅门口摆到人行道上的露台桌，出了噪音投诉到底谁管？很多租客以为归房东、或归多伦多噪音条例管——其实那块地是市政的 road allowance，不在你的商业租约里。地产经纪 Arthur Zhao 用多伦多 Chapter 742 现行条文讲清：那排桌子要市政许可加与市府签的书面协议，默认禁扩音，local road 上须 11 点前清场，能收走它的也是市府不是房东。