Landlord and Tenant Board
The Landlord and Tenant Board () is an adjudicative tribunal operating in the province of Ontario that provides dispute resolution of landlord and tenant matters under the "Residential Tenancies Act, 2006". It is one of the 13 adjudicative tribunals overseen by the Ministry of the Attorney General that make up Tribunals Ontario. History. Historically, landlord and tenant relations in Ontario were governed by the "Landlord and Tenant Act". Disputes between landlords and tenants could only be formally addressed through the court system. In 1998, the Conservative government of Mike Harris enacted the "Tenant Protection Act", which created  a new regime governing residential tenancies. The act established the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal as a quasi-judicial body to adjudicate disputes, thus largely removing landlord-tenant law from the court system. The act and the tribunal were criticized by some people as being biased in favour of landlords. In 2006, the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty repealed the act and replaced it with the current "Residential Tenancies Act", which dissolved the Rental Housing Tribunal and established the Landlord and Tenant Board to replace it. Process. Either landlords or tenants may file an application to the Board. The parties can  choose to first attempt to resolve the matter through mediation. If the mediation is unsuccessful or if the parties choose not to attempt mediation, then an adjudication hearing is held in which a Board member hears evidence from both parties before issuing an order. The Statutory Powers Procedure Act provides a general framework for the conduct of hearings before Ontario's administrative tribunals including the LTB. A landlord may apply to the Board to increase a unit's rent above the province's rent control guidelines or to evict a tenant. Tenants can dispute evictions, apply for rent reductions or  rebates due to a landlord's failure to meet maintenance obligations, apply for work orders or other orders, or grieve other violations of the "Residential Tenancies Act". In Ontario a landlord cannot evict a tenant without a hearing before the board The Board generally hears landlord applications for non-payment of rent within 25 days of filing the application, and a decision is usually issued within four days of the hearing. All other applications (excluding L5 - Application for an Above Guideline Increase and A4s - Application to Vary the Amount of a Rent Reduction) will be scheduled for a hearing  within 30 business days, and decisions will be issued within 10 business days of the conclusion of the final hearing. Legal representation. In Ontario a person may be represented by an individual licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada such as a lawyer or a paralegal. There are other exemptions for unpaid representatives such as direct employees of the landlord or in the case of a tenant a friend or family member. It is the obligation of the individual claiming the representation exemption to provide proof to the board of their legal authorization to represent a person or company  in front of the board. Prior to a board hearing tenants are offered the opportunity to speak to tenant duty counsel that is usually provided by a community legal aid clinic funded through Legal Aid Ontario. Landlord are not allowed to access duty counsel on the hearing day. Jurisdiction. According to the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 S.O the Board has the jurisdiction to resolve all matters between a Landlord & Tenant. There are a few important differences between applications made by landlords and applications made by tenants when it relates to matters of jurisdiction. Under the Act a tenant must be  in possession of a rental unit prior filling an application with the board. If a landlord files an application with the board when a tenant is not in possession of the rental unit the application will be dismissed. If a landlord would like to make a claim against a tenant after a tenant has vacated the rental unit the landlord must seek compensation through the Ontario Small Claims Court. Changes at the Board. In September 2016 changes were made to the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 S.O to allow victims of domestic violence to terminate their leases with only 28 days  notice. Legal decisions. Most decisions by the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board ("LTB") are not published. CanLII does publish a sample of decisions, as of 2021-06-17 there were 19,621 decisions posted to CanLII. Other website such as Caselaw.Ninja use decisions posted to CanLII to provide more targeted research help to those who are performing legal research. The LTB processes around 80,000 applications per year. A majority of those applications are non-payment of rent applications. Publication of LTB decisions. Access to Adjudicative Records at the Landlord and Tenant Board is governed by the Tribunal Adjudicative Records Act , 2019, S.O. 2019, c. 7, Sched. 60, and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31. According to "Toronto Star v. AG Ontario, 2018 ONSC 2586 (CanLII)" decisions of the Ontario landlord and Tenant Board are not subject to the privacy considerations as personal information under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31. Specifically, "Toronto Star v. AG Ontario, 2018 ONSC 2586 (CanLII)" states: