For Ontario, Canada, renters already stretched by high housing costs, a new set of rules could make it easier for them to fall into crisis. Changes to the province's Residential Tenancies Act shorten key deadlines and add new hurdles for tenants trying to defend themselves.
The measures, drawn from Bill 60 and Bill 97, apply to both sides of Ontario's rental market, CBC News reported.
Here's what to know
Tenants who receive an N4 eviction notice over unpaid rent have less time to prevent the next step. The deadline to pay what is owed before a landlord can seek an eviction has been cut from two weeks to one.
The law defines "persistent late payment" as rent being more than a week overdue on at least three occasions within a six-month period. It also requires tenants who want to raise separate issues at an eviction hearing, including problems with their unit, to first pay 50 percent of the rent they are alleged to owe.
While the housing minister's office has framed the overhaul as a way to "restore balance and rebuild confidence in Ontario's rental housing market," not everyone expects it to ease Landlord and Tenant Board delays.
Ontario Landlords Watch, the Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario, and the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations have all questioned that premise.
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Personal-use evictions are changing too. A landlord who gives 120 days' notice for their own use or a family member's use no longer has to offer compensation or another unit, and if the intended new occupant does not move in within 60 days, the eviction is presumed to be in bad faith.
More background
The province's government has presented the amendments as part of its response to long delays at the board. Even so, Tribunals Ontario, which oversees the Landlord and Tenant Board, said it has been preparing for the changes with "no impact anticipated on caseload or application processing times."
Kayla Andrade, founder of landlord advocacy group Ontario Landlords Watch, said the shorter repayment period "just means you can file the paperwork a little sooner at the LTB."
"It doesn't mean that you're going to get your hearing any faster," she said.
Tenant advocates have voiced doubts as well. The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations said in a release that efficiency was merely a "smokescreen" for "eroding tenants' rights."
What can be done?
Dania Majid, director of duty counsel for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, warned that the new seven-day window could have effects beyond individual cases.
"That's going to trigger more hearings. And that's going to trigger a backlog," she said.
Majid also argued that forcing tenants to raise housing-condition complaints separately could create more inefficiency, not less.
"Now the tenant has to file a separate application to raise these issues… when the entire matter could have just been handled at the same hearing," she said.
Where can I learn more?
Housing-rule fights are playing out elsewhere too, from heat protections and solar access to disputes over property changes.
• Arizona lawmakers are weighing indoor temperature protections that would force landlords to address dangerous heat.
• A tenant sought legal help after a short-notice demand to clear belongings from a rental.
• California lawmakers are pushing community solar access so renters can share lower energy costs.
• One homeowner says an HOA delivered costly changes with little explanation and threats.
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