Landlordâs Guide to Skip Tracing and Examination Hearing in Ontario
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As a housing provider, I know first hand how mentally, physically, and financially stressful it is when a tenant stops paying rent owed. It happened to me and in total, I lost over $35,000 because of tenants who stopped paying rent for nearly a year before I went to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) for a Sheriffâs eviction.
Thatâs why Iâve put together this ultimate guide based on my discussions with Licensed Ontario Paralegal and Coach, Jordan Nieuwhof.Â
You have 1 goal:
The guide is a general walk through of how to fill out your N4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent. I also include pitfalls that may get your case thrown out, mistakes that landlords make that end up with a prolonged time to get to the eviction day, and anecdote stories that Jordan Nieuwhof had shared with me.Â
Even when someone has a legal representative helping them, there are chances the legal representative makes mistakes. Triple check their work. Always be informed YOURSELF when it comes to YOUR rental property. No one will care more than you.Â
Please consult a legal professional as each personâs situation is unique. For example through Openroomâs Expert Search.
Often times, people go straight to giving the tenants an N4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent | N4 Instructions. You can do this if you know exactly how much is owed but if you donât, start with Step 1: Your Rent Ledger.
The very first document you start with should be your rent record. The rent record details the flow of money in and out that is owed to you and paid to you from your tenants.Â
If there's a dollar out on the N4 notice, whether it be a dollar up or a dollar lower, the LTB will dismiss your application as defective. Once they do that, you have to start all over again.
According to Jordan, 6/10 of his clients have errors in their rent ledger either due to transposed numbers or missed payments or added payments.Â
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If rent is due on the 1st of the month (e.g. January 1) and there is no payment, then itâs considered late as soon as the 2nd of the month (e.g. January 2). On the immediate next day, you can give tenants the N4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent.
There are so many fatal errors involved so please be careful when you are filling out the form.
At the top of the âN4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rentâ, youâll have the Tenants (the defendant), the Landlord (the plaintiff)
You have to write the full names of the Tenants and write it accurately. Go back to the ID youâve collected or the lease as youâve written it. People who are not on the lease are not your tenants and should not be on the notice.
Writing the wrong rental unit address is a fatal error per the LTB. Lower and First floor, upper and second floor, does not mean the same thing. You cannot and should not interchange these. Check your lease and use the rental unit thatâs on the lease when entering information on your N4.Â
The sheer number of people who make this mistake is so sad. Their application to get dismissed at the Board. Itâs extremely frustrating to hear you are dismissed and have to do the ENTIRE process all over again. Donât be that person.
If itâs a basement unit, you must write that it is.
â The correct way: Basement Unit, 123 Main Street, Toronto, Ontario, M1M 1M1
đ¨ It would be wrong to identify this notice as: 123 Main Street, Toronto, Ontario, M1M 1M1
It needs to be signed by the landlord.Â
If there is a representative, then they will sign in the section titled Representative Information (if applicable). Many people self-represent or fill out the N4 without legal representation first.Â
The termination date on the N4 needs to be at least 14 days from the date that the âN4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rentâ is signed.Â
But, if you are mailing it Express Post or regular mail, you need to add 5 more days; total 19 days. Reference the section: Step 3 (Express Post) for more details on how this works.
Example:
Each period goes from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.Â
The format on the N4 is always dd/mm/yyyy which is day, month, year.
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In the N4, youâll only see 3 rent periods. In which case, you will add a separate document that outlines more rent owed.Â
Say for example your agreement with the tenant started on Monday, January 1, 2024. The rental is monthly pricing at the rate of $2,500/month.Â
You can reference the following for your needs:
Say for example your agreement with the tenant started on Monday, January 15, 2024. The rental is monthly pricing at the rate of $3,000/month.Â
You can reference the following for your needs:
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The date you give the âN4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rentâ doesnât matter in calculating the rental period section. Many landlords make this mistake.
Example:Â
You must serve the âN4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rentâ in accordance with Section 191 of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).Â
The valid methods are:
You cannot tape this type of document to the door, you canât leave it on the doorstep, and you canât put it between the storm door and the primary door.
Many landlords get tripped up by this one.Â
FedEx, Purolator, UPS, are all considered commercial couriers under the Act and you only have to add one day or the next business day if it's a holiday per service. Instead of termination being +14 days, it would be +15.Â
If it's Canada Post, Express Post, I have to add five days because it's not a Courier. Anything coming from Canada Post is treated as a mail product, even if it has tracking.
When doing tracking, do not ask for the signature of the recipient. Common practice is to get tracking to ensure it gets delivered in the mailbox but DO NOT ask the recipient to sign.Â
If the tenant is not paying rent, the last thing theyâll do is sign a piece of mail coming from their landlord. If they reject it because it requires a signature, then itâs counted as they didnât receive it.
There are two options at this point.
When you decide you need to file, youâll be using the L1: Application to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent and to collect rent the tenant owes (Form L1). Of course, youâll need to include âN4: Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rentâ, but youâll also need to fill out a Certificate of Service to tell the LTB when and how you gave the notice to the tenant.
Tip For When Tenant Pays Partial Between the Months
Example: Right now it's November 24, 2024 and if you look at your calendar, December's arrears isn't due. So it's only November's arrears that you would put on, if that's all what's owed.
Let's say they didn't pay for November 1st. That's November 1st to November 30th. It's now the 24th and weâre going ot issue the N4.Â
The termination date is December 8th. The tenant makes a payment, but the tenant pays the rent. On the second.Â
A lot of landlords would find well, they paid rent. I've applied it to November. I have to issue a new N4. But the law states that it's to satisfy an N4, you have to pay the arrears that is due, plus new arrears that have became due during the termination period.Â
So they have to pay November and December, even though only November is on that N4.Â
When you issue a N4 at the end of the month like this, the tenant has to satisfy both the November payment and the current month payment. In this case, it would be December.Â
The Board will screen the application and issue an invitation. In most cases, theyâll issue an invitation to schedule a hearing where you can pick your own hearing date in the LTBâs calendar system. If you do not get to set a hearing date, the Board will set one for you.Â
In Order to avoid adjournments, delays, and tenant tactics like âIâm not available that dayâ you should be serving the Notice of Hearing on the tenant with the Certificate of Service.Â
As soon as you know about the hearing date, you send that notice to them via mail, email, and everything. One might say that the Board will send the information to the tenant but you donât take chances! Serve it 7 days before the hearing so there is no excuse not to be there.
A landlord must offer a payment plan to the tenant. Whether the tenant accepts it or not is a different matter.
âThis area of law has been misinterpreted by landlords, because I got a lot of landlords that will sit there and try to figure out the math and try to figure out how much the tenant can pay a month. It's not the landlord's responsibility to actually sit down and figure out how much the tenant is going to pay or should be paying.Â
All that you have to do as a landlord to satisfy that component of the act is to send out a couple of emails or letters to the tenant inviting them to have a discussion about payment plans. I also like to send out the Board payment form blank and say complete this form and we will have a discussion about it.
But it's not the landlord's opportunity to write down.Â
The tenant can pay $200 a month or $500 a month or $100 by weekly. That's the tenant's responsibility. In fact, your hope is that when you send these communications out, you don't get a return on that communication. You don't get the tenant's payment plan.Â
If you do and it does happen, you have to look at the payment plan and assess the feasibility or the reasonability of the payment plan.â
Uploading your evidence documents into the LTB Portal does not count as serving the Tenant the evidence.Â
You can serve evidence by sliding it under the door, putting it in the mailbox, through UPS, or by Courier, or by email if the Tenant has given consent in the Ontario Standard Lease Agreement that they allow this type of service.
Your evidence package should be clean, easy to reference, and professional. Remember, the Adjudicator will reference this!Â
Contact us at hello@openroom.ca if you want some help on how to build a 1-PDF Evidence Package with Exhibits, Timelines, and Table of Contents.
Many landlords go to the hearing thinking itâs only going to be their case thatâs called at the hearing. In actuality, itâs 30-50 cases. Youâre all stuck in a Zoom virtual room and youâll get called upon when the Adjudicator is ready for you.Â
When the other party doesnât show up, itâs called UNCONTESTED matters. These go first.
Afterwards, they dive into the cases where both parties are present. These are called the CONTESTED matters.
Openroom has written about âTenants and Landlords Going to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) - The Ultimate Guideâ.
Many things can happen at the hearing, here are some techniques you can try.
Adjournment is basically when the day is over and your matter canât be heard today. Youâll have to wait for the Board to give you another time to come back. Â
It is extremely frustrating you waited 5+ months for this hearing, you took a day off, and then you get adjourned. Unmute yourself. and let the Adjudicator know you have something to say.Â
âMost landlords say thank you - a little bit disappointed and leave. Legal representatives, the most experienced of us say, âI appreciate that member, thank you. However, given the circumstances, I'm going to be asking for an interim order that the tenant pay rent on time moving forwardâ
In most cases the Board will grant that Interim Order that says the tenant must pay rent on time moving forward to the next hearing date. Should they fail to pay rent on time moving forward to the next hearing date, their evidence or their submissions will not be included at the next hearing date, which means they won't have the ability to present a case. It's like your case goes uncontested.
Now the counter argument is a lot of legal representatives will say you've just wasted a whole bunch of oxygen because it's up to the next Board member who decide what remedy they should apply for the tenant breaching the order.Â
But if you don't have that order, then you have no remedy to argue at all. Where, if you have that order, you can argue that remedy.Â
Because you'll get that odd Board member that takes such offense to the tenant not making payments that they'll evict the tenant on a Standard Order once you've proven your claim.Â
Another thing, waiting to use on this interim order that's so important is remember, in landlords you see it all the time instead of getting an eviction, the Board member imposed a payment plan on my tenant. You hear that a lot. You can actually use the interim order to counter the payment plan argument by going âmember, the tenant failed to abide by the interim order. There is no reasonable prospect to believe that the tenant is going to abide by your final order implementing a payment plan. They've already breached one order of this Board. The only appropriate remedy left is an eviction because they have proven that they're unable to satisfy orders of this Board. Why should they be given another opportunity to breach an order when they've breached the first order. A standard order is what we're seeking.âÂ
You can use that to your advantage. Always ask for the interim order Every single time. It matters that you're doing.Â
Ask for the interim order. You can use it later. It's an effective tool.â
Every Board member has the discretion to run their own hearing, but they must follow the statutory powers and procedures act and the decorum that's a set out to have a fair hearing that every party in Ontario has the rights to.Â
Landlordâs Turn:
Tenantâs Turn:
âIt's your case. Here you get to discredit the tenant. Don't be so polite. Why didn't you pay your rent? No, just tell them out.
A Cross-Examination Story:
I had one tenant, one tenant who spent the money on vacation. The Board member was leaning towards allowing this tenant to stay in the rental unit despite the arrears, until the tenant went on about their trip and we just went in on that and we hammered hard on their trip.
At the end of the day I know the Board member took offense that the tenant has the money to go on luxurious trips without paying the landlord and they were ultimately evicted.Â
But if it wasn't through cross-examination of these types of questions, the tenant's stories I don't pay rent because I'm on government assistance, I don't have a lot of money and they just went on and on about that.Â
In cross examination, delivering effective questions, he slipped up and said he went on a trip and we just explored that.â
It can take anywhere from 7 to 60+ days to receive an order. After 60 days, one can contact the Ombudsman of Ontario to inquire about your order because the standard time is within 30 days. Itâs abnormal to take so long. Contacting the Ombudsman can be a very effective tool to follow up with.Â
Contact the Ombudsman | File a complaint with the Ombudsman
Read your order carefully. There are 3 outcomes.
For dismissed applications, the order will state the reasons why. When these scenarios occur, youâll likely know that it got dismissed before you even get your order. The Board member will verbally dismiss it at the hearing.
Most of the reasons are the technical fatal errors such as: wasnât served properly, termination date was wrong, address of the unit is wrong.Â
Commonly known as Section 78 is when the Tenant is required to do something to maintain the tenancy. Typically, this could mean a payment plan, pay rent by a certain date, or pay intermittently on a payment plan.
In an Eviction Order, the tenant is required to pay all of the arrears by a certain date or the landlords will file with the Sheriff for eviction. The Standard Order is what people usually request for. This gives tenants 11 days from the date of the hearing to pay all of the amounts due.
Sometimes, the Board might decide to give a bit more time (Delayed) to the Tenant to pay or a little bit more time before the Sheriff comes.Â
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Per Section 83, the Tenant gets to make submissions for extenuating circumstances in order to delay the eviction date. The most often one heard is kids.
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âWhen you get the rent arrears, I always argue the standard order, but I always also provide the board a suggestion because the tenant is going to make their own suggestions.Â
âI need 60 to 90 days.â Sometimes more brazen tenants say âI need 120 days to vacateâ.Â
My argument for the board, because I don't want to just argue a standard order, I want to argue a counter. So I'm going to say âmember, if last month's rent is paid, in almost all cases we find that there's a last month's rent deposit. So I argue that if there's any extension, if the board is looking to grant any extension, I argue to the end of the month.Â
So today is the 24th of November. I would argue for a standard order on a rent arrears application. In the alternative, because last month's rent is paid, I would argue eviction no later than December 31st and I would give them the alternatives.Â
The board members not, or should be, you know try to balance between 60, 90 days.Â
Hopefully gives us that 30 day order rather than the tenant's 60 or 90 day suggestion, kind of meeting in the middle. We want a standard order. We'll settle for 30 days because last month's rent is paid, but we don't think it's fair for 60 or 90."
Upload the order to Openroomâs Court Order System to help everyone in the rental ecosystem.
As of July 2024, Openroom has crowdsourced over 17,500 court records to help you make informed decisions. Contributing back to the system would mean you are paying it forward for others.
When you have an order for eviction or delayed order for eviction, then the landlord has the right to go to the local court house or Sherrifâs office to file for the official eviction. There is a fee and some paperwork that you will fill out on the day of.Â
When you go, make sure to bring a copy of the LTB Order. Their office will check in their system to ensure there are no STAYS but having it all ready will ensure you move faster along the line.
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âThe sheriff actually has a duty to the administration, the justice system, just like an illegal representative does or the tribunal does, and a sheriff has the authority and the jurisdiction not to carry out the mandate in the order.Â
If the rental unit is ambiguous and they're not sure where to evict or who should be evicted, they can halt that eviction. Other things that require the sheriff to stop are if you get a Stay Motion. If that stay motion comes in before the sheriff evicts, they're obligated to stop.
I had one case where the sheriff called us on the way to evict a tenant and we were excited because the tenant was being evicted and the Sheriff didn't end up showing up. But the sheriff's office or the enforcement office called because they got to stay in before the eviction happened, moments before.â
In most cases, the tenant has already gone by the date the Sheriff arrives. Sheriff usually posts a notice on the door stating âVACANT POSSESSIONâ.Â
Get ready for eviction day with Openroomâs 23-Page Template Document.Â
Get it here: https://dsgf.short.gy/eviction-day-prep-template-share
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The law has the 72 hours where the tenant is permitted to come and claim their property.Â
Once the sheriff has came and given you vacant possession, for goodness sakes, the landlord needs to understand that the rental unit is theirs. The property is theirs now, not the contents inside the home as that's still the tenants.Â
The actual physical property. Your rental unit is now yours. You don't need to give them that 24 hour notice to access it anymore. You can go in, access the property, throw anything that seemed unhygienic, but in doing so there's a trade off because the landlord has the responsibility to preserve the property.Â
When we say property, the tenants contents of what we're talking about their furniture, their personal belongings, things like that that's inside. The landlord can't just take it all and put it on the front yard and say âokay, tenant, you have 72 hours to take your stuffâ while it's raining.
Property is yours after the 72 hours, all the property. You can tell the property, you can dispose of the property.Â
âI get a lot of landlords it's actually funny that they complain about the rental arrears and then the tenant leaves stuff behind, like televisions and some bikes and some couches, and you know some appliances like not like you know kitchen appliances, countercots appliances, some pressure cookers, you know grills, things like that.Â
I read once in a while a barbecue. You get these landlords that are complaining that they don't have rental arrears and now they have to throw out all this stuff.Â
And you're looking in the photos they send you and you're like throw out all that stuff, put it on marketplace, that's good stuff. That's good stuff, exactly Like put it on marketplace. You know, even if you give a couple hundred dollars back, use it to hire a cleaner to get your unit back, to re-rent it or something. But you know you got televisions and couches and sometimes there's actual garbage left behind, I mean.â
Per the instructions within the N4, you can call the LTB at 416-645-8080 from within the Toronto calling area, or toll-free at 1-888-332-3234 from outside Toronto, and speak to one of our Customer Service Officers.Â
Customer Service Officers are available Monday to Friday, except holidays, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Â
They can provide you with information about the Residential Tenancies Act and the LTB's processes; they cannot provide you with legal advice.Â
You can also access our automated information menu at the same numbers listed above 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Weiting's entrepreneurial journey began with a costly lesson in rental property management, where she experienced losses exceeding $35,000 due to non-paying tenants. Determined to prevent others from facing similar challenges, she built Openroom to pave a future towards a transparent and connected rental ecosystem.
Drawing from her extensive background in software product management spanning education, telecommunications, insurance, and artificial intelligence, Weiting has become a trusted advisor to founders of venture-backed companies. Beyond the tech sphere, Weiting managed properties for over a decade and made significant contributions to community leadership. Sheâs served on the Board of Rotary District 7070 and chaired various organizational committees.
Weiting balances her professional endeavours with being a parent of two kids under two. Alongside thousands of other parents, she was awarded participation trophies in innovative improvisation, ever-changing expectations management, daily roadmap planning, and hardcore patience!
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