Ontario is making a series of changes to its rental rules aimed at making it easier for landlords to evict tenants who fall behind on rent starting Sept. 21. For Ottawa renter Jean-Marc Ladoucedur, the changes hit close to home. Ladoucedur recently received an N4 notice after falling behind on rent. An N4 is a formal notice requiring a tenant to pay rent they owe or face possible eviction proceedings. “Right now, I don’t have a roommate and so I’m covering mine plus his, which leaves me zero in the bank account,” he said. Ladoucedur, a veteran and stroke survivor who receives disability support, said his income is barely enough to cover his roughly $1,500 monthly rent. Under the current rules, tenants who receive an N4 have at least 14 days to pay the amount owing before a landlord can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Starting Sept. 21, that period will be cut to seven days. Tenant advocates warn the shorter timeline could put more pressure on renters who are already struggling. “It’s just going to push more tenants out of their unit, it’s going to create a bigger housing crisis than we already have,” said Christelle Azzi with Community Legal Services of Ottawa. “We know that stable housing is the solution to almost all the problems that our province faces. When individuals are housed there is less criminality, there are less frequent visits to hospitals. They are more prone to becoming members of our societies who work and who contribute to their communities, and so with all these changes, it’s going to do the exact opposite.” The changes also go beyond unpaid rent. In some non-payment cases, tenants who want to raise issues involving their landlord at the same hearing will have to pay 50 per cent of what they owe at least a week before. ACORN, a tenant advocacy group, says that could make it harder for tenants to raise concerns about issues such as harassment or outstanding repairs. “If the landlord has been harassing them and not doing repairs and all this kind of stuff, that should count against the landlord,” said ACORN leader Sharon Katz. New law strikes the right balance, landlord group says For landlords, the changes will have less of an impact. John Dickie, chair of the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization says the changes may shorten the process slightly. “Before the change, the total delay to get a hearing now would be about seven weeks,” Dickie said. “After the change and after a little bit of dust settles in terms of the transition, the delay should be about six weeks. So, one week plus the five weeks, so speeding up the process. But because this isn’t the biggest delay in the process, the impact on the process is relatively modest.” The Landlord and Tenant Board says its active caseload stood at 34,873 as of June 30, down 37 per cent from a peak of more than 55,000 in December 2023. The board says applications involving non-payment of rent are now being scheduled in under two months, compared with eight to 10 months in early 2023. Most other application types are taking an average of four to six months to reach a hearing. The province is also changing the rules around N12 evictions, which are used when a landlord or certain family members intend to move into a rental unit. Under the new rules, landlords can provide 120 days’ notice without compensation, or 60 days’ notice with one month’s rent in compensation. Dickie said those changes strike a better balance between landlords and tenants. Ottawa renoviction bylaw coming Ontario is also introducing new requirements around renovation-related evictions. Landlords will have to provide tenants with an estimated completion date for the work, update that timeline when necessary, notify tenants when a unit is ready for reoccupation and give tenants at least 60 days to return. Those changes come just months before Ottawa’s Rental Renovation Licence Bylaw takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027. The City of Ottawa says its bylaw is designed to complement the provincial system by adding municipal oversight, including requirements for a renovation licence, a building permit and an eviction information guide for tenants. “The by-law also includes measures that support a tenant’s ability to return to their unit following renovations or repairs. The provincial amendments require landlords to provide updates on renovation timelines and notify tenants when their unit is ready for reoccupation, while the by-law creates an offence for landlords who do not permit a tenant to return following renovations or repairs. The City does not have the authority to determine whether an eviction can occur. Decisions regarding evictions are governed by provincial legislation and are made through Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board,” Samantha Montreuil, the city’s manager of public policy development, said in a statement. The Landlord and Tenant Board says it does not expect the Sept. 21 changes to increase its caseload or processing times. For Ladoucedur, however, the concern is much more immediate. “There’s no housing available,” he said. “I don’t want to find myself in a shelter to be able to find myself affordable housing.”
