One of the complaints that many landlords have is around the level of complexity of the termination process. A recent change that takes effect July 1, 2015 will help to simplify this process.

I’m going to use the example of the process of eviction for non-payment of rent by a landlord. In the past the landlord and tenant board would send letters to the landlord with the notice of hearing as well as a copy of the L1 application. The landlord would then provide the tenants a copy of the notice of hearing with the application. Once that was done the landlord would then complete a certificate of service indicating that they had given the documents to the tenant.

This could lead to a variety of objections by the tenant from not receiving the documentation or not getting the documents in a timely manner, therefore delaying the process. The other component of the process is the landlord completing a certificate of service relating to the delivery of the documentation. Not completing the certificate of service is problematic as it is necessary for the termination process.

Effective July 1, 2015 the landlord and tenant board will in many cases take on the task of serving the notice of hearing an application to the tenant and the landlord. This really is an improvement to the process for everyone. You can see in the diagram how this simplifies the process for landlords.

The landlord tenant board may still order a landlord to serve a copy of the documents with a notice of hearing depending on the application. An example of this would be an above the guideline rent increase application or applications to vary the amount of rent deduction.

Happy Canada Day everyone!