Landlord and Tenant Disputes
Our office receives calls from Tenants who are bewildered after getting an eviction notice when they never got a Hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board. They ask me if it is legal to do this. My answer to this as always, is “it depends”.
I will often ask the Tenant if anything had taken place between them and the Landlord recently. Was there a Board appearance, a mediation, or did they sign an agreement to terminate (N11)? We have been told by Tenants that their Landlords put them to duress to sign a form to say they will move by a particular date. Many Tenants are not aware of what these Forms are. When I ask them if they signed any forms, they often say, “Yes, I did. Did I do something wrong?”.
No. As a Tenant, you did nothing wrong. You probably did not know what you were signing. Many Tenants have not planned to move from their rental units before their Landlords came in to get them to sign. One concern is if the Tenant does not in fact leave by the date set in the form, they can be evicted. There will be no Hearing. There will be no opportunity to present their side of the story to the Board. Read more… “TENANTS – A NEW EVICTION TRICK BY SOME LANDLORDS”