If a landlord makes an application for the eviction of a tenant on the grounds of non-payment of rent, and the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) finds that rent is owed, the landlord can request a standard pay-and-stay order. This is a conditional eviction order. If the tenant becomes up-to-date with their rent as outlined in the conditions of the order, the eviction order will be voided and an eviction will not take place.

The LTB allows the tenant a minimum of 11 days, from the date that the order was written, to pay the rent. However, depending on the circumstances involved, the board member may delay an eviction by giving the tenant a longer time to pay.

If the tenant pays all of the rent owed (the previous monthly rent arrears and the daily rent that has occurred since) within the timeframe specified in the order, the tenant will be allowed to stay and continue their tenancy.

If the tenant has not complied with the pay-and-stay order, and has not vacated the apartment, the landlord can take the pay-and-stay order to the sheriff’s office in the jurisdiction where the tenant lives and file and pay for the sheriff to evict the tenant from the premises. The sheriff’s office will notify the tenant, by correspondence, that they will remove them from the premises if they do not move out by the date and time specified in the letter.

If there are no previous filings with the sheriff to evict the tenant for non-payment of rent during this tenancy, the tenant is allowed one more chance to void the eviction order.

If the tenant pays all of the money owed to the landlord or the LTB in trust for the landlord (the previous monthly rent arrears, the daily rent that has occurred since, AND the sheriff fees) no later than the day before the sheriff arrives, the eviction order will be voided and the eviction will not occur.

A tenant who has been contacted by the sheriff’s office should not delay paying their debts as the sheriff will arrive, on an unknown, not-too-distant date.

Once the sheriff arrives, the eviction will take place. The tenant will no longer be able to prevent their eviction; their opportunity to become up-to-date with the rent will have expired.
In Toronto, the sheriff usually arrives within 3-5 weeks, or less. This time period will vary, by jurisdiction, across Ontario.

The opportunity to pay-and-stay after the landlord has filed with the sheriff can only be used once during the tenancy.

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If the tenant disagrees with the outcome of their LTB hearing, they have the right to file a Request to Review to the LTB and/or file an appeal with the Divisional Court within 30 days after the order was issued.

A judgment merits consideration for an appeal only if it is based on an error of law. A Request to Review within the Landlord and Tenant Board can be either based on a serious error of law, or a serious error of interpreting the facts.

A Request for Review will be read by a LTB member within 72 hours. If upon reading the documents they find that there might be a serious error, they will issue an order to stay the eviction order. In other words, an eviction is held and not permitted to be enforced until after a   hearing is held on the Request to Review.  If there is no apparent serious error, they will dismiss the review without holding a hearing.

If a Request to Review is dismissed, the tenant has 30 days to file an appeal with the Divisional Court. It may take many months before an appeal in Divisional Court is heard.

Since all orders, including an eviction order, are automatically stayed when an appeal to the Divisional Court is filed, an unscrupulous tenant may attempt to use this tactic to delay an eviction.
A landlord should hire a lawyer to request a special hearing to quash a baseless appeal request in its early stages.

Paralegals are not permitted to prepare any documents or represent a client in Divisional Court.

Also see our blog on Eviction for Non-Payment of Rent at: https://www.civilparalegal.com/eviction-for-non-payment-of-rent/

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Paralegal Representation

Every day I receive calls from landlords wanting to hire me for LTB matters.

If you need to hire an experienced, licensed paralegal, contact me:

Marshall Yarmus
Civil Litigations
(416) 229-1479 or (343) 600-7722
https://civilparalegal.com/home_services/landlord-and-tenant-board/