Rental

Ontario Housing Co-op Terminations: The Half the LTB Is Barred From Reviewing

Facing removal from an Ontario housing co-op, most people save their arguments for the Landlord and Tenant Board — the wrong room. Co-op terminations usually run on two tracks in a set order: the board first ends your membership under the Co-operative Corporations Act s.171.8, then the co-op seeks possession, at the LTB if Part V.1 applies or by court writ if it does not. The catch in RTA s.94.9: the LTB is barred from reviewing whether the board terminated you properly. Broker Arthur Zhao maps where the real fight happens.

A Debt That Runs With the House: How a Tenant’s Unpaid Water Bill Becomes the Owner’s Property-Tax Problem in Ontario

You buy a house, close, and months later discover you have inherited an unpaid water bill run up by the previous owner’s tenant. That is not a billing error — it is how Ontario law is built. Water is a service supplied to a property, so the arrears can be added to that property’s tax roll, gain priority lien status under O. Reg. 581/06, and be recovered from the owner at the time it was added and from any subsequent owner. Broker Arthur Zhao walks through the Toronto timeline, the two parallel statutes, and the one due-diligence step that stops it.

A Tenant Left Their Stuff Behind in Ontario: When You Can Toss It, and When Tossing It Is Illegal

Your tenant moved out and left furniture, boxes, maybe a fridge full of food — can you just throw it out? In Ontario the answer never turns on the stuff itself; it turns on how the tenancy ended. If it was properly terminated (RTA s.41) you can dispose immediately, with no storage period — except after a Sheriff-enforced eviction, where a 72-hour hold applies. If the tenant simply abandoned the unit while the lease was still running (s.42), you must first get an LTB order or notify both the tenant and the LTB, then wait a full 30 days. Broker Arthur Zhao maps the two routes and the one move that turns a cleanup into an illegal disposal.

Why a “No Pets” Clause Is Void in Ontario Leases — and Why That Doesn’t Mean Anything Goes

You wrote “No Pets” into your Ontario lease, the tenant signed it, and now there’s a dog. Can you enforce it? Under RTA s.14 that clause was void from day one — a signature changes nothing. But s.14 killing the clause is not the same as tenants having a free hand: landlords keep a narrow route under s.76 (substantial interference, serious allergic reaction, inherently dangerous animals). Broker Arthur Zhao maps the line for both sides.

RentSafeTO Explained: Which Toronto Buildings Are Covered, How They Are Scored, and What Tenants Can Look Up

Which Toronto apartment buildings actually fall under RentSafeTO — and which do not? The line is three or more storeys AND ten or more units, both at once, so plenty of smaller walk-ups, condos, and houses sit outside it entirely. Ontario real estate broker Arthur Zhao breaks down who has to register, how the City scores qualifying buildings every two years across 50 items, what the green/yellow/red lobby sign means, what tenants can look up on the public map, and what happens to owners who fall short. RentSafeTO is a City of Toronto program under Municipal Code Chapter 354 — not provincial; confirm specifics on toronto.ca.

Renting Out a Condo? You Owe One Duty an Ordinary Landlord Doesn’t: Section 83 of the Condominium Act

Renting out a condo means a second set of duties an ordinary landlord never has to think about. Beyond the RTA and the LTB, Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998 makes you answerable to the condo corporation — and section 83 is the core of it. Toronto broker Arthur Zhao breaks it down clause by clause: within 10 days of signing or renewing a lease you must tell the corporation the unit is leased, give it the tenant’s name, your address, and either a copy of the lease or the Minister’s prescribed summary, and hand your tenant the declaration, by-laws and rules — and if the tenancy ends without renewal you have 10 more days to notify in writing. It covers the three parts owners most often miss, and the real consequences of skipping it: no fixed fine, but a compliance order, costs added to your common expenses, and a lien on your unit.

A Tenant Asks You to Install Grab Bars and a Ramp. As an Ontario Landlord, Can You Say No?

Can an Ontario landlord refuse when a tenant with a disability asks to install grab bars, a ramp, a widened doorway or a visual doorbell — and who ends up paying? Toronto broker Arthur Zhao maps the duty to accommodate under the Human Rights Code: by default the landlord funds the work up to the point of undue hardship, a bar the law measures on just three things — cost, available outside funding, and genuine health and safety requirements. The guide separates repairs a landlord already owes under RTA s.20 from an added accessibility modification, walks through the request-and-consult process, covers who restores the unit at move-out, points to Ontario’s $15,000 HVMP funding, and explains the one-year HRTO deadline versus raising the Code at the LTB. General information, not legal advice — consult a licensed professional.

When a Sole Tenant Dies: What Ontario Landlords Must Actually Do (and Why It Isn’t an N14)

A sole tenant has died in your Ontario rental — what now? Despite what you may have read, there's no N14 to serve and no application to file with the Landlord and Tenant Board. Under s.91 of the Residential Tenancies Act, the tenancy is deemed terminated 30 days after death, automatically. During those 30 days you must preserve the tenant's belongings (except anything unsafe or unhygienic) and give the estate's executor, administrator, or a family member reasonable access. This guide covers when the tenancy ends, your duty to safeguard property, dealing with next of kin versus the estate representative, rent and deposit, and what N14 is actually for.