Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA)
The RTA contains the laws that govern residential tenancies in Ontario. The relationship between landlords and tenants in Ontario is regulated by the RTA. It applies to all residential rental units in Ontario except for those that are exempted under s.5 of the Act. There are special regulations for care homes, mobile home parks, government housing and land lease communities. The RTA describes the rights, responsibilities and obligations of landlords and tenants in Ontario. It includes the tenancy agreement, eviction, right to remain in occupation, assignments and sublet of tenancies, entry, changing locks, maintenance, repair, cleanliness obligation, rent increases, notice requirements, and harassments by landlords, etc.
The Ontario Human Rights Code
The Ontario Human Rights Code gives equal rights to everyone when buying, selling, renting, or being evicted from a house, apartment, condominium, or commercial property, including renting, or being evicted from a hotel room. It ensures suitable access to doors, laundry rooms, swimming pools and other common areas. The Code applies to rental agreements, contracts, leases, the amount of rent, security deposits, lease termination, eviction, occupants’ rules and regulations and requirement of guarantors. It applies to municipalities and their bylaws, processes, and decisions too. The Ontario Human Rights Code enforces your right to housing without discrimination and harassment.
Rental Fairness Act, 2017(RFA)
The Rental Fairness Act came into effect in 2017, as part of Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan which aims to promote affordable housing in Toronto. The RFA has made significant changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. One major change is the introduction of a new mandatory standard lease template, for all new leases, with the most updated version to be used for new residential tenancy agreements signed on or after March1, 2021. Another significant change that was brought forth by the RFA is that landlords can no longer impose above-guideline rent increases due to their high utility costs. The most important victory for tenants that was introduced by the RTA is that tenants, former tenants, or prospective tenants can no longer be locked into a fixed term lease by landlords.
Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020
The Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020 made amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, the Housing Services Act, 2011, the Building Code Act, 1992, and entirely repealed the Ontario Mortgage and Housing Corporations Act. The changes made by this act give more protection to Ontario tenants, while helping both landlords and tenants resolve disputes. Among many other things, it encourages repayment agreements for Covid-19 for rent arrears from March 17, 2020, or later. While the new changes prevent unlawful evictions, tenants are also compensated for “no fault” evictions.
Rent Freeze
The Ontario government passed legislation to freeze rent at 2020 levels for tenants living in rented houses, apartments, condos, basement apartments, retirement homes, care homes, mobile home parks, land lease communities, community housing units and other housing units created by federally and /or provincially funded programs.
Note: This article is for general information purposes only. The contents of this article are not legal advice or opinion and should not be relied upon as such. YFLaw Professional Corporation owns the copyright to this article and its contents. The article and its contents are not to be copied or reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the express permission of YFLaw Professional Corporation.
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