The Ontario Government has suspended the issuing of eviction notices until further notice. Sheriffs have been asked to suspend the enforcement of eviction orders, including scheduled eviction orders. Evictions are paused until further notice. We have heard reports that despite this, tenants are continuing to be threatened with eviction at this time. We are calling on the government to support legislation that guarantees in law that no one can be evicted for any reason during the pandemic, nor punished in any way for missing a rent payment.
Please note — this is for general information purposes only and not intended to be legal advice.
- Tenants are still expected to pay their rent on time.
- Tenants should keep copies of messages to their landlord to show that they tried to pay their rent on time. Tenants should document how they informed their landlord that they could not pay their rent on time. Tenants who pay their rent late or fail to pay their rent will enter arrears (they will owe their landlord for their late rent).
- Tenants who have reduced hours or are laid off as a result of COVID-19 or are in quarantine and unable to work and cannot pay their rent on time should inform their landlord as early as possible.
- Tenants who lose income because of COVID-19 should document changes to their finances. This includes saving letters, emails or text messages showing that you were laid off or had your hours reduced because of COVID-19.
- If your landlord files to evict you at the Landlord and Tenant Board, tenants can request that their landlord meet with them so they can negotiate a plan to pay back their arrears.
- Generally speaking if a tenant has never had problems paying their rent before and is able to show a realistic plan to both pay their rent on time and pay their landlord arrears, the Landlord and Tenant Board Members will give tenants a chance to repay any late rent before terminating a tenancy.
- Landlords can still serve notices to tenants and fax applications to the Landlord and Tenant Board. As a tenant, your landlord can still serve you notices such as an N4 if you miss your usual timeline to pay your rent.
- At present, neither the federal nor the provincial government have suspended rent payments.
- If you have more questions and live in Scarborough Southwest, please email [email protected]