January 21, 2021
TO: Ontario Landlords Association Stakeholders
FROM: Karen Restoule, Associate Chair, Lynn Dicaire, Registrar
RE: Expedited Enforcement of Eviction Orders
On January 13, 2021, the Government of Ontario introduced Ontario Regulation 13/21 made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.
This regulation states that the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff) cannot enforce any Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) eviction order unless the order asks the Sheriff to expedite the enforcement. The Sheriff can resume enforcing all eviction orders after the Government of Ontario removes the regulation.
As shared with you last week, the LTB continues to hold hearings for all types of applications and issue orders, including orders for evictions. This will help ensure that tenants and landlords seeking resolution from the LTB are provided access to justice with minimal service delays.
The purpose of this memo is to provide information on when an eviction order issued by the LTB may include a request to the Sheriff to expedite enforcement.
Section 84 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (“RTA”) says that the LTB must include such a request to the Sheriff in the order where the tenant is being evicted for certain types of very serious conduct, and the adjudicator has not delayed the enforcement date pursuant to section 83(1)(b) of the RTA. The grounds for eviction in section 84 are:
Willfully damaging the rental unit
Using the unit in a way which is inconsistent with residential use and caused, or is likely to cause, significant damage
Committing an illegal act in the unit involving the production or trafficking of illegal drugs
Seriously impairing someone’s safety
Substantially interfering with the landlord’s reasonable enjoyment - in cases where the landlord and tenant live in the same building and the building has three or fewer residential units
If a landlord believes that an eviction order should include a request to the Sheriff to expedite enforcement, but the application is not based on any of the grounds contained in section 84 of the RTA, the landlord may raise this issue during the hearing. The adjudicator may consider whether the tenant is responsible for an urgent problem such as a serious and ongoing health or safety issue at the residential complex or a serious illegal act that occurred at the residential complex. The tenant will have the opportunity to make submissions on this issue if they are at the hearing.
If the hearing for the landlord’s eviction application has already been completed but the order has not been issued, the landlord may contact the LTB to ask the adjudicator who held the hearing to consider adding to the order a request to the Sheriff to expedite enforcement of eviction. Landlords can submit a request to expedite enforcement of the eviction by fax, mail or email. The tenant will have an opportunity to make submissions on this issue.
Eviction orders that have already been issued can only be changed if the order contains a serious error or a clerical mistake. If a landlord believes that an order contains a serious error, the landlord may file a request to review the order. If the landlord believes that the order contains a clerical mistake, the landlord may file a request to amend the order. More information on this process is available on the Application and Hearing Process page of our website.
We remain committed to updating you about operational planning and we are appreciative of your patience and cooperation as we continue to adjust our operations in response to the ongoing pandemic.
If you have any questions, please contact us at LTB@ontario.ca.