Tenant Eviction in Ontario – A Guide (Coming soon)
In my experience it is very rare to have to go through the formal process of formally evicting a tenant. The purpose of evicting a tenant is to:
- Retrieve possession of your property; and (less importantly to)
- Recover any back rent you are owed or to be compensated for damages.
Notice the GOAL is retrieve possession of your property. The eviction is simply the mechanism that you use to achieve that goal. Therefore, let’s NOT call this a process of “eviction”. Let’s call it a process of retrieving the property. In fact, the “formal eviction process” should be a LAST resort. You should always begin with attempting to get the tenant to leave on his/her own.
The FORMAL eviction process is:
- expensive
- controlled the statutes (Residential Tenancies Act, Statutory Powers Procedure Act, and (sometimes) the rules of Civil Procedure
- biased in favor of the tenant (the Landlord Tenant Board has the power to refuse the application on humanitarian grounds)
The informal discussion process is:
- less expensive
- not controlled by statutes
- not biased in favor of the Tenant
Therefore, you should begin by (unfortunately it’s too late to find another tenant) negotiating with the tenant to leave. Be flexible. Be reasonable. Be giving. Be generous. You should do everything you can (within reason) to avoid having to begin the formal eviction process.
Part A – Informal Negotiations – Goal: Get the tenant to leave on their own
Part B – Formal Eviction – Goal: Obtain an eviction order and follow through with the eviction