Our office hears that question a lot. The answer is always “It depends.”
What is your legal reason to evict the tenant? A tenancy that is governed by the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act can only end if the tenant decides to vacate or the landlord has a legal reason to evict the tenant. The landlord must obtain an eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board, and file the order with the sheriff.
The legal reasons used most often by landlords to evict a tenant include;
- the tenant is seriously interfering with the reasonable enjoyment of another tenant or is interfering the landlords lawful rights and privileges,
- the tenant has committed an illegal act on the premises
- Non-payment of rent
- the tenant has damaged the property
- the tenant has seriously impaired the safety of another person
- the tenant is persistently late in paying rent
- the landlord or an immediate member of the landlord’s family in good faith plans to move into the apartment for at least a year,
- the purchaser of a property or a member of their immediate family plans to move in
- The landlord needs to make major repairs to the unit which requires vacant possession and a building permit
Non-payment of rent accounts for two thirds of all the applications filed with the landlord tenant board Ontario.
Some of the above reasons for bringing an application to the board can be done at any time. Some can only be done at the end of the rental period. If there is a written lease term still in effect some of these options only become available at the end of the lease period.
Every landlord’s eviction starts with an initial notice give to the tenant. You must use the official notices from the Landlord and Tenant Board. There are different notices for every possible eviction application.
The notice must be filled out properly and completely. Many self represented landlords make errors filing out these notices.
Errors such as failing to provide a unit number, filling in dates incorrectly, using the wrong termination date, and not providing enough details of the problem, can deem the notice void. No eviction can flow from an initial notice that the board member finds is void.
I recommend that every landlord, unless they are experienced preparing these notices, hire a paralegal Ontario to prepare the notices.
If you make a mistake completing the notice and the application is dismissed as a result, it
may delay eviction by months. That could cost you thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, damages to the apartment, or delay the closing of a sale as the new purchaser cannot move in as planned.
Every Ontario paralegal is required to carry insurance to protect you. If a paralegal make a mistake their insurance covers them for up one million dollars per claim.
How to evict a tenant in Ontario can be difficult. Without a properly trained Ontario paralegal on your side you may learn some expensive and time consuming lessons.
Your time is valuable. In certain types of evictions your attendance at the hearing is not necessary if you have a paralegal in your side.
Need help to evict a tenant? Our firm, Civil Litigations, would be happy to represent you. Contact Marshall Yarmus at 416-229-1479 or visit our website at www.CivilParalegal.com