u/After-Sir4786

Ontario (London). I'm a tenant in a shared house with 3 housemates.

In Oct 2025 I tripped on something in my garage and fell into the garage door while it was opening. This broke a component in the opener system. At the time, my landlord verbally told me not to worry about it and that we'd "figure it out later." Nothing was put in writing.

Fast forward to now (8 months later). My landlord sent someone to the property to get a repair estimate. The tech told him the motor is old and they no longer make parts for it, so the whole system would need to be replaced. The quote for a brand-new system is $800. The landlord forwarded me this and said I either need to contact his tech or find my own contractor to get it fixed out of my own pocket.

I did some digging: the company that made the motor stopped making them in 2001, which puts the unit at minimum 25 years old. From what I've read, the LTB only makes a tenant pay the depreciated value of what they damaged. The useful life of this kind of equipment is well under 25 years — so by my math, the residual value is basically $0, and a brand-new $800 system would be putting him in a better position than he was in before.

When I raised this, he replied: "Please don't bring up any legal small print!! Please proceed with common sense and get the garage door repaired by whoever, and just take responsibility for the issue."

He's also now claiming the garage door itself has dents — even though the door was replaced before I moved in. I've never noticed any dents. There are 4 of us living here, and that sounds like wear and tear to me. He only brought this up after I pushed back on the opener.

Finally, he mentioned I could go through my tenant insurance, and asked me to provide proof of it (it's stipulated in my lease).

My questions:

1. Does he actually have a valid claim to this money, given the opener is ~25 years old and past its useful life?
2. Can he file a claim against my tenant insurance himself, or is filing a claim only something I can choose to do? Can he force me to file one?
3. Is there a deadline or limitation period for him to take this to the LTB? It's been almost a year — does that delay affect whether he can still come after me?
4. Since this was an accident (I tripped), does it even count as the kind of "wilful or negligent" damage a tenant is responsible for?
5. Does his verbal "don't worry about it" back in October mean anything, or is it worthless because it wasn't in writing?
6. Can he legally just demand I pay out of pocket and pick a contractor, or does he have to go through the LTB to get any money from me? Can he take it out of my last month's rent deposit?

Happy to provide more detail if it helps. Thanks in advance, as I am a student navigating an issue like this for the first time.

Ontario (London). I'm a tenant in a shared house with 3 housemates.

In Oct 2025 I tripped on something in my garage and fell into the garage door while it was opening. This broke a component in the opener system. At the time, my landlord verbally told me not to worry about it and that we'd "figure it out later." Nothing was put in writing.

Fast forward to now (8 months later). My landlord sent someone to the property to get a repair estimate. The tech told him the motor is old and they no longer make parts for it, so the whole system would need to be replaced. The quote for a brand-new system is $800. The landlord forwarded me this and said I either need to contact his tech or find my own contractor to get it fixed out of my own pocket.

I did some digging: the company that made the motor stopped making them in 2001, which puts the unit at minimum 25 years old. From what I've read, the LTB only makes a tenant pay the depreciated value of what they damaged. The useful life of this kind of equipment is well under 25 years — so by my math, the residual value is basically $0, and a brand-new $800 system would be putting him in a better position than he was in before.

When I raised this, he replied: "Please don't bring up any legal small print!! Please proceed with common sense and get the garage door repaired by whoever, and just take responsibility for the issue."

He's also now claiming the garage door itself has dents — even though the door was replaced before I moved in. I've never noticed any dents. There are 4 of us living here, and that sounds like wear and tear to me. He only brought this up after I pushed back on the opener.

Finally, he mentioned I could go through my tenant insurance, and asked me to provide proof of it (it's stipulated in my lease).

My questions:

1. Does he actually have a valid claim to this money, given the opener is ~25 years old and past its useful life?
2. Can he file a claim against my tenant insurance himself, or is filing a claim only something I can choose to do? Can he force me to file one?
3. Is there a deadline or limitation period for him to take this to the LTB? It's been almost a year — does that delay affect whether he can still come after me?
4. Since this was an accident (I tripped), does it even count as the kind of "wilful or negligent" damage a tenant is responsible for?
5. Does his verbal "don't worry about it" back in October mean anything, or is it worthless because it wasn't in writing?
6. Can he legally just demand I pay out of pocket and pick a contractor, or does he have to go through the LTB to get any money from me? Can he take it out of my last month's rent deposit?

Happy to provide more detail if it helps. Thanks in advance, as I am a student navigating an issue like this for the first time.