The Maintenance Standards Of Rental Units | Nava Wilson LLP

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Under s. 20(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, the landlord must keep the rental unit and property in good repair and comply with all health, safety and maintenance standards. 

The tenant on the other hand, under s. 33 and s. 34, the tenant is responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the rental unit. The tenant must repair or pay for any undue damage to the rental unit or property caused by the wilful or negligent conduct of the tenant, the tenant’s guest or another person who lives in the rental unit.

The tenant must pay their rent, even if they are having problems with repair and maintenance.  If there is an issue, they should let the landlord know and if necessary, the tenant can apply to the Board. 

A tenant of a rental unit may complain in writing to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing concerning the standard of maintenance. The Minister shall cause an inspection of the rental unit or the residential complex to be made with whatever inspection the Minister considers necessary and may charge a municipality with the cost of such inspection. 

The inspector may give a landlord a work order to comply with the prescribed maintenance standard.The landlord who has received an inspector’s work order may within 20 days after the order is issued, apply to the Board for a review of the order.The Board may confirm, vary, rescind or quash the work order.

 A landlord may apply to the Board for an order requiring a tenant to pay the reasonable costs that the landlord has incurred or will incur for the repair or, when repairing was not reasonable, replacement of damaged property, if the tenant, another occupant of the rental unit or a person, who the tenant permits in the residential complex, wilfully or negligently causes undue damage to the rental unit or the residential complex and the tenant is in possession of the rental unit.

 The Board shall set off the rent deposit and the interest on the rent deposit if the Board orders payment of costs from the tenant and the termination of the tenancy.

Source: Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17

 

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