Landlord Legally Required to Make an “Attempt” to Negotiate an Agreement including Terms of Payment with Tenant During COVID-19 or Eviction Denied.
July 17, 2020
As you may have heard, the provincial government is pushing through Bill 184, Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020 and soon to become Law.
https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-184
The Bill is currently in third reading. The Ontario legislature has amended the Bill to include, among many other things, the following proposed change to section 83 of the Residential Tenancies Act.
“Power of Board re eviction Section 83 is amended to provide that in determining whether to grant an application to evict a tenant based on arrears in rent arising during the period beginning on March 17, 2020, and ending on the prescribed date, the Board shall consider whether the landlord has attempted to negotiate an agreement with the tenant including terms of payment for the tenant’s arrears.“
Therefore, Landlords, if you have not already done so make an “attempt” (in writing with date stamped) to negotiate an “agreement” including “terms of payment” with your tenant and ensure that you take this written request to the Landlord and Tenant Board L1 Hearing. Otherwise, the Board Member hearing your case will be mandated under section 83 to consider your failure to do so and deny your eviction application.
Moreover, as a result of the recent Bill 184 amendments to section 206 of the RTA, now landlords can rely on section 206 Agreement to Settle of being capable of enforcement, thus promoting more landlord’s to utilize this process, take the back-log out of the Board and have their matters resolved right away rather than wait for a hearing date months down the road
Moreover, landlords entering into section 206 Agreements also cover the landlords’ obligation under the new amendment contained in section 83 of the Act. Specifically, that the landlord has attempted to negotiate an agreement with the tenant including terms of payment for the tenant’s arrears during the pandemic https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-184.
You may contact the writer of this blog, Landlord Paralegal Lisa Barder at (289) 788-4113