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Skip tracing and examination hearings are methods you as a landlord can employ to find out important information about your tenant. These include your tenant's contact information, current address (if they have moved out of your property), place of employment and where they bank. You need to know these things about their tenants when filing a claim with the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) or with Small Claims Court. Not knowing can cause a delay in the the court process.
For example, with any landlord application you file with the LTB, it is your responsibility to know where your tenant is to serve them with a notice, known as process serving. Learn about one of these applications in A Landlord's Guide to the LTB's N4 - Notice to End a Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent. Similarly, if you are seeking to garnish your tenant's wages to recover arrears owed to you, you need to know where your tenant banks in order to pursue this route. Learn more about the garnishment process in this Openroom article about debt recovery.
This table below summarizes when you would need to know more about your client:
Over the past year, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has faced heavy criticism for its inefficiency. According to Tribunals Ontario's 2022-23 Annual Report, there were 53,507 unresolved applications in the LTB's backlog. Tribunal Watch Ontario in February 2024 released an LTB Statement of Concern showing an increase in outstanding applications from 14,276 in the 2018/19 fiscal year to a worrying 53,507 in 2022/23. The table below illustrates this.
The Ontario Ombudsman released a 92-page report in May 2023 titled “Administrative Justice Delayed, Fairness Denied”. This was an investigation into whether the Ministry of the Attorney General, Tribunals Ontario and the Landlord and Tenant Board are taking adequate steps to address delays and case backlogs at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
A quote from this report by Ombudsman Paul Dubé reads:
“Excruciatingly long delays have had immense negative impacts on thousands of landlords and tenants who depend on the Board to resolve their tenancy issues. We heard from many of those trapped in the queue on both sides of the landlord/ tenant relationship – some forced to live in unsafe and substandard conditions, and others facing financial ruin.”
-Paul Dubé, Ontario Ombudsman
Landlords must be well-prepared to navigate the legal processes effectively, whether with the LTB and/or Small Claims Court. In the current environment where there are high levels of outstanding cases, small mistakes have large repercussions. Take this example from a CBC coverage on the experiences of landlords contending with the LTB backlog:
“Salwan filed a complaint in April 2022, and received his first hearing date in February 2023. But the tribunal ran out of time that day and his case was adjourned. He received his next hearing in August 2023, but his case was thrown out due to a mistake made in the filing. Now he's starting the process all over.”
-CBC, Sep 15, 2023
As a landlord, it can be frustrating to experience these things. You may not have the power to speed up these processes, but you can definitely ensure you are doing everything you can to be prepared when your case is being heard.
Skip tracing is the process of locating an individual who has gone missing or is deliberately avoiding contact, often to evade financial obligations or legal responsibilities. In essence, skip tracing is detective work focused on finding people who are difficult to locate, using various research methods and information sources.
For landlords, this most often applies to two scenarios. The first is process serving, which is when you need to serve a notice to your tenant of claims made against them with the LTB and/or Small Claims Court. The second is debtor tracing, for when you need to locate your tenant's bank account or place of employment in order to recover arrears owed to you. Read on below for concrete examples on when you would consider hiring a skip tracer.
Skip tracers are used by many type of creditors and law enforcement bodies to search for missing persons. For landlords, here are reasons you may seek the services of a skip tracers:
To illustrate, these are some scenarios that may prompt some landlords to hire a skip tracer to find out missing information about your client:
Skip tracing falls within the professional scope of a private investigator. In short, a private investigator is who you hire to perform skip tracing for you.
Private investigators come under the private security and investigative services, which is a regulated industry in Ontario. Professionals in this industry must abide by the Private Security and Investigative Services Act. Additionally, private investigators are bound by various federal and provincial laws on privacy.
Professional skip tracers have access to extensive databases and specialized tools that aren't available to the public. They're trained in advanced search techniques and know how to piece together fragmented information. They're also well-versed in privacy laws and ethical guidelines, reducing your risk of legal complications.
Federally, skip tracing, under private investigating, is bound by Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Under PIPEDA, personal information can only be collected for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.
PIPEDA requires that personal information be as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used. Skip tracers operating in Canada must carefully balance their investigative techniques with the legal requirements of PIPEDA to ensure they remain compliant while carrying out their work.
Skip tracers are also bound by the following provincial legislations. In Ontario, these include Private Security and Investigative Services Act, Personal Health Information Protection Act, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Consumer Protection Act
These laws are not meant to dissuade you from trusting in a skip tracer’s reach to find answers. On the contrary, it is important for these laws to be in effect to ensure that you find what you need the legal and ethical way. Skip tracers in Canada still produce results under these laws. This is because what you need to know about your tenant in legal proceedings are legally available to skip tracers.
Trusted skip tracers will ask you why you need their services. You will have to provide documentation such as your court order, tenant’s basic information, a lease agreement, etc. The more information you provide, the easier it will be for the skip tracer to locate them.
Remember, skip tracers must also ensure that your reason for locating someone is legitimate. This protects the integrity of what they do.
You also need to ensure that you perform your due diligence when hiring a skip tracer. All skip tracers must have two things:
When you meet with a private investigator for skip tracing services, ask for their license number and the name of the agency they are attached to.
With this information, head on over to the Ontario Public Registry to Search Individual Licences. This is how the page will look like:
As you can see, I didn’t have a license number but I could search for the investigator by name.
The results will show me whether their license is active and their license number. Check!
Next, I will note the firm/agency they claim they are attached to and head on over to the Ontario Registry to Search Agency Licences. I will type in the name of the firm into the search bar.
Here, I can verify that the agency/firm they claim they are from is active and licensed. Good to go!
An examination hearing is a process of Small Claims Court. It helps you find out more about your tenant’s finances. Simply put, an examination hearing helps you decide how best to get your money back by telling you how much your tenant has and their financial situation.
When you win a case with Small Claims Court, the court order gives you permission and lets you choose how you want to get your money back. This can be through garnishment, writ of seizure, or even placing a lien on your tenants’ assets. Read about these methods in an article I wrote about Debt Recovery: How to enforce a Small Claims Court Order
If you read the article I cited above, you know that to enforce garnishment, you need to know certain things about your tenant, like where they bank or where they work. If you don’t know this, you cannot enforce the court order. In some cases, even if you know your tenant’s information, they may still find ways to evade payment. This is where an examination hearing comes in.
You can find out the following information about your tenant during the examination hearing:
To request an examination hearing with Small Claims Court, you first need to file a claim with the court and win it. And before you file a claim with Small Claims Court, you first need an LTB order stating what your tenants owe you.
Learn how to file a claim by reading Small Claims Court of Ontario: Basics a Landlord Needs to Know. This resource provides a step-by-step guide to navigating the forms, fees, and preparing for your hearing by Weiting, who has gone through this very process and documented everything for you!
You can also refer to Small claims court: suing someone provided by the provincial government to understand the process better.
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Once you have won your case with Small Claims Court and you have an order, you can request an examination hearing to find out what you need to know from your tenant.
Here are the steps you need to take:
Being a landlord in Ontario today requires more than just managing rental properties—it demands being proactive in legal and financial matters, especially when dealing with rent arrears and damages. The LTB backlog has made it more difficult for landlords to resolve disputes, so knowing how to gather the required tenant information is crucial. Skip tracing, while regulated, can be an effective tool for locating elusive tenants. Examination hearings provide a legal avenue to uncover a tenant's financial situation, aiding in debt recovery efforts. Remember, knowledge is power in landlord-tenant matters. By understanding these methods and the legal processes involved, you can better protect your interests and navigate the challenges of property management more effectively. Always ensure you're operating within legal boundaries and consider seeking professional assistance when needed.
Jasmine Jasani is the Growth Advisor at Openroom, specializing in strategic planning and customer retention. With a background in psychology, law, digital tools, and communication, she effectively leverages technology to drive organizational success.
As the Executive Director of Brockville’s Business Improvement Area (BIA), she spearheaded the city’s first digital gift card program and secured federal funding to support digital transformation initiatives for SMEs. Previously, at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Jasmine played a key role in implementing digital solutions to overcome COVID-19 challenges and streamlined intra-organizational case processing modalities.
Jasmine's belief in the power of knowledge was shaped by her personal experiences as a renter. While working as a legal assistant earlier in her career, she encountered issues with her landlord. Her boss, a partner at the firm, quickly assessed her situation and cited the relevant law, empowering her to assert her rights. This experience reinforced Jasmine's commitment to using knowledge to foster healthy and informed communities.
