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14 THE RURAL VOICE
Agrilaw
Farmhouse rentals covered by province's new rent law
By Paul Cappa
The Ontario Government
proclaimed the Tenant Protection Act
(TPA) in force on June 17, 1998. The
TPA replaces the Landlord and
Tenant Act which governed
residential landlord and tenant
relationships
for the past 30
years. The new
law establishes
the legal
obligations of
landlords and
tenants;
procedures for
enforcing the
parties'
obligations;
and new rules
relating to rent.
The TPA is
administered
by a quasi-judicial board known as
the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal.
The creation of the Ontario Rental
Housing Tribunal will result in the
removal of landlord and tenant
disputes from the courts.This move
has been promoted as a means of
streamlining the dispute settlement
process.
Rural property owners should be
aware that certain living
accommodations are exempted from
the TPA, including those situations
where tenancies have been created •
for farm employment purposes or the
premises are occupied for agricultural
purposes with living accommodations
attached, all of which is under a
single lease. The legislation relates
only to the rental of residential
dwellings, sites for mobile homes and
care homes, while commercial land
leases for agricultural operations will
be governed by the Commercial
Tenancies Act (formerly parts 1 to 3
of the Landlord and Tenant Act).
A residential landlord is not
required to enter into a written
tenancy agreement with a tenant;
however, the TPA requires that a
tenant be provided with written
A residential
landlord need
not enter into a
written
agreement but
certain rules
still apply
notice of the legal name and address
of the landlord to be used for giving
notice and documents under the Act
at the outset of the tenancy
agreement. If the landlord fails to
provide this information, the tenant's
obligation to pay rent is suspended.
Landlords retain the right under the
TPA to ask a tenant to pay a rent
deposit, provided it is collected at the
outset of the tenancy agreement. The
amount of the rent deposit is
restricted to the amount of rent for
one rent period. The Act requires the
landlord to pay interest to the tenant
annually on the amount of the rent
deposit at the rate of six per cent
(6%) per year.
The TPA simplifies procedures for
landlords to obtain access to an
occupied rental unit to carry out
inspections or repairs. The new
provisions are a substantial
improvement over the Landlord and
Tenant Act where the landlord had to
reserve a right to entry within a
written tenancy agreement in order to
gain access to the dwelling.
The new legislation requires
landlords to maintain vital services
contracted for with the tenant under
the tenancy agreement and to refrain
from harassing each other. An
infringement of the above is an
offence which carries a maximum
penalty of $10,000.00 per person or
$50,000.00 for a corporation.
The government has adopted very
specific rules to deal with the
termination of a tenancy agreement
and the disposal of a tenant's
property upon the death of the tenant
or abandonment of the dwelling by
the tenant. These provisions are
regarded as an improvement over the
Landlord and Tenant Act which did
not specify the rights and obligations
in these situations.
Most of the grounds for
termination of a tenancy have been
carried over from the Landlord and
Tenant Act, including the landlord's
right to obtain an Order for
termination from the Tribunal for