r/OntarioTenants

Hey! So I went to view a place yesterday and I really liked the location so I had already filled out my application. I submitted it after my visit. I was told today — by a third party — the landlord approved my application. Got them to tell said landlord to email me confirmation.

Landlord then said I had to pay first and last months plus the deposit to ‘secure the place’ before I had even SEEN the lease. I said I want the lease before I pay. Asked questions, cleared up confusion… now they are back to telling me to etransfer the money to secure my spot. I haven’t signed anything. I wanted to pay cash and meet him in person but he’s basically telling me I have to etransfer, when in the lease it says cash or etransfer accepted. I have not signed the lease. My moms said do not send any money before signing so its all laid out. But I don’t know… this is my first time renting and I don’t want to lose this place OR my money. Advice on how to word the next message?

Also trying to confirm if another location wants me as a tenant because as I said, I literally JUST viewed the place LOL

EDIT - he basically said to me “i dont know why you’re asking so many questions. These are my rules. I’ve been doing this for 30 years… i dont think you’re a good fit if you’re acting like this (essentially)” how can you be doing illegal activities for 30 years brother. He wasn’t even using a copy or a spin off of the government of Ontario’s Residential Rental Agreement.

I have a 2 bedroom apartment with a living room. The living room was technically my room with all my belongings there. I’m the only one on the lease. Anyways I subleased to a brother and sister. The arrangement was for 3 months with the option to stay longer but that I would give them a 1 month notice if I decide to return. They said that’s fine. There’s no signed contract this was mostly agreed verbally.
One month in they only send me half the months rent for August and I keep telling excuses every week why they can’t pay it right now or that they will pay it next week. We’re half way through August now and still nothing else.
Just today I decided to look up the guys Facebook marketplace profile and I find one of the rooms up for rent and advertised it as 1 room in 3 bedroom apartment. I messaged them immediately asking them what the hells going on and they deleted it immediately.
Because the ad said 3 bedroom apartment when I only authorized 2 of them to live there I have a feeling they have someone else living there as well.
I plan on returning early.
They haven’t paid the full rent and tried renting out a room without my permission what are my rights here as a tenant to get them out? I want them gone by September 1st. I plan on moving back in next week. When I move back in would they still be considered legal subtenants or roommates?

Hey all!

Brace yourselves, this could be a long one.

I started renting a place back in June 2023. It was listed on Facebook for $3000.

Fast forward to today, after three years of doing all of our own maintenance, I had the realization that it is actually the landlord's responsibility to do the lawncare and snow removal after the landlord texted me asking about a notice they received from my city's by-law regarding some weeds on the property (I had been working 15 hour days out of town and was not available to pull them). I called the LTB and they confirmed my suspicions. I also reached out to by-law, and they informed me that I had no responsibility for the lawncare, nor would I be under any obligation to pay any fines incurred. It falls onto the property owner.

I confronted my landlord over text last week and informed them of their responsibility to maintain the premises. I also requested reimbursement for the $570 I have spent so far this year to have a company come out and mow the lawn for us, and suggested a few local landscaping companies that they could reach out to for continuing maintenance of the property.

Today, they finally responded stating that "as per our lease agreement, you were provided with a $200 monthly discount on the rent specifically in consideration of the lawn care and snow removal responsibilities. We know our rights." (LOL)

Now, from what I've read in terms of the Residential Tenancies Act, even if there is a clause in your lease stating that maintenance is the tenants responsibility, it is void. On top of that, I looked at the signed lease, and there is no clause stating that there was a rent discount for maintenance. In fact, the box is checked "No rent discount".

I looked back and found the initial Facebook conversation between myself and the landlord. He stated early in our conversation that the lawn and snow removal was the tenants responsibility. It also has a Facebook update stating "(Landlord) reduced the price to $3000 for 5 beds 2 baths - House" on the listing. Before I even had a viewing at the place.

I screenshotted the conversation and sent it to him, questioning that if there was a $200 discount, why have I been paying $3000/month and not $2800? I also screenshotted and sent him my copy of the lease where it specifically states "No Rent Discount" and the box is checked. He has since stopped responding to me.

Did he just back himself into a corner? I caught him in a lie, all in writing, and now he's insisting I go through the LTB. I mostly feel bad for my neighbors who are now going to have to endure my unsightly property, as I am refusing to continue to pay for services that are not my responsibility.

I'm going to type my neighbors up a letter later this week apologizing and informing them of the situation at hand.

Anyone here dealt with a similar situation before? I'm fully prepared for the lengthy battle I'm sure is about to ensue. Does it seem pretty cut and dry?

Hi! I rented with a property in Ottawa for a year. There was no inspection done as 2 of the previous tenants stayed while 2 more moved in.
My lease ended on August 1st. My landlord sent an invoice quoting us $1,069.56 out of the blue saying we had severely damaged the house and left it incredibly filthy.
We asked for an itemized bill and quotes but he said he didn’t take any pictures as we were “well aware of the conditions we left it in” and instead just send a bill demanding us to pay $450+hst for handyman service, $450+hst for a professional cleaning service, and $86.46 for handyman supplies.
We took pictures before we left and have proof of everything but he doesn’t know that yet.
He does not and would not send photos or quotes of anything. Just a bill charging us saying he already fixed them all.
He also listed in the lease that we are to pay for the cleaning services, however that is void and illegal in the RTA.
After we asked for proof of damages, he is now threatening to double the bill as “the real cost was over $2000”.
What can I do about this? Obviously he has a very weak case but still want to know what my options are. He is demanding payment August 31st.

i'm going to keep things vague here in case something weird happens, but basically my dad is finishing up signing a rental agreement for a property in orangeville, and the person he's been communicating with just sent him a large document in addition to the rental agreement.

at the end of this document the woman that my dad has been talking to has slapped a 1600$ fee for her "Services" ... which is about half the rent of the property.

my dad's not made of money right now so this came as a shock to him, and the way he explained it made me think it was a scam, or at least a way to get extra money out of people who don't know any better.

please let me know if he can just ignore this ludicrous fee, cause all that she's been doing is being a middleman for the landlord, surely that means the landlord should be paying her??

thanks

EDIT: forgot to mention that my dad is fairly sure she didn't disclose this fee up front

EDIT 2: OKAY so everything is good, the realtor didn't tell my dad that the form that she sent is for both landlord and tenant? It's really weird but she says that he doesn't have to pay. She may just have bad communication skills.

Title says it all.

I’m applying for a rental and the landlord made me aware that the rent is $X + $35/mo for the hot water tank. Utilities extra makes sense, but the hot water tank feels wrong? That’s like renting a house and having to pay for a furnace?

My lease ended as of July 31st, so it automatically converted into a month to month lease. I plan on extending by one more month (September) but my landlord said he got an offer to move in September 1st. As far as i know, the month to month lease agreement overrides any agreement he makes with a third party. What should i tell him? Should i start looking for a place or am I legally allowed to stay as long as a wish?

Can I really just join the LTB proceedings posted by the automoderator to observe? Is there anything I should know before doing so? I am filling against my landlord at the LTB and am just interested to see how the proceedings work.

Bare with me, long post to have the most detail in it.

Hi all. So i found this subreddit and wanted to post about my current situation to hear what im supposed to do as I want to be sure i am handling it accordingly.

August 1st, my 13 year old son clogged the toilet using too much toilet paper. He decided to try and fix the issue himself rather than tell anyone, and because of that whatever he tried to do actually made it worse. The toilet ended up filling and overflowing, and the water wouldnt stop before he decided to come tell us in a panic. My husbands parents were here visiting at the time, so they seen and helped with everything.

Our first thought and focus was obviously to stop the water from overflowing and clean it off the floor before damage occurred (we live in a triplex. We have the main floor, our friends live below us and an older man is above). As soon as we were able to stop the water and clean it up, we informed our landlords of this (noting at the time the valve for the toilet was seized and the pump un the tank was failing, it kept trying to fill the tank as it was nearly empty). However, before we had the chance to, our friends downstairs had called them telling them water was leaking in their bathroom, and the ceiling paint was peeling off. - to note, they have been battling an ongoing mold issue landlords have not properly dealt with.

When we spoke to landlords that day, they asked us to help our friends if we could and they'd come on Tuesday, August 4th. August 4th he came and checked my bathroom, said the pump and valve was fine so he didnt fix anything. But it for certain was seized and pump not working that day, and there is 4 people who can confirm that. Anyway, they never went downstairs that day to assess the basement still. He said he tried but the baby was asleep (they informed me they never spoke to him, so they dont know where he got thay from), so he said see if you can go down and assess it, see what you can do to help.. and he left.

Yesterday our friends called after waiting 24hrs for a response asking why they didnt go look in their bathroom, and they said they told me it is my job to fix as I caused the damage. Which first of all, was never said to me so I was unaware? And secondly, im not contractor.. how am I supposed to fix it..

I have tried researching this and reading different things so, i came here in hopes to get the most accurate advice.

I read something about 24hrs for a category 3 leak causing damage aka toilet water. That they had to come assess or have a professional do ao in 24hrs then give me the bill, as it essentially was negligence due to son clogging toilet. But its been 7 days since it happened and they havent looked at it themselves, nor sent anyone. And there was a mold issue prior to, likely worsened now. So idk if I still am on the hook for it, if so how would I know what was caused day of with it being a whole week now with no assessment done?

Help 😅TIA

TL;DR: On Aug 1 my 13-year-old clogged the toilet, tried to fix it himself, and it overflowed. We stopped it/cleaned up and told our landlords right away, but water leaked into our downstairs friends' unit (they already had an ongoing mold issue the landlords haven't fixed). Landlord said they'd come Aug 4 - he came, said our toilet valve/pump was "fine" (it was seized/failing that day, 4 people saw it) and didn't fix anything or look downstairs. Now 7 days later he still hasn't assessed the downstairs damage, and is telling them I'm supposed to fix it, which he never told me. Who is actually liable at this point since no assessment was done within 24hrs for a toilet water leak?

I heard from my off campus advisor at my uni that although Canada is a one party state, meaning you can record without other person permission, that many times she has seen recordings not be allowed as evidence in LTB hearings. Also she said it could strain relationship with landlord (which honestly does not matter too much as he is a scammer and has strained mine and my other roommates relationships with him already).

Is this true? I am filing T1 I believe.

Are recordings often not allowed through in hearings?

Help

We signed a lease, unit was a bit dirty so we negotiated down in price. Got keys early for cleaning purposes.

Found drugs during our cleaning. Pills, baggies etc. I have two kids under two and have absolutely lost my mind and no longer want to move in.

Landlord admitted someone in the property used to do drugs but” it wasn’t our unit”, feigns ignorance about the entire thing. We asked to walk away and get our money back as it’s still a month out before our tenancy was supposed to begin, he’s now arguing about his own financial losses.

What the fuck can we do. I can’t bring my kids into this home knowing there are fucking pills under the floorboards and baggies of coke behind radiators.

So i have a question im unfortunately recently disabled and my apartment isnt accessible anymore. I dont think its possible to install a lift up the stairs and ive been meaning to get an apartment without stairs. The problem is a lot of building apartments arent accessible. There's no automatic doors or ramps. Is it true that i can complain thats its not accessible and it makes them have to comply? I had a friend who was forced to install accessibility features to their grocery store. Can i do the same thing to a residential building? I just need an automatic door and maybe a small ramp.