Bill 60 Passes: Landlords Get Relief From Persistent Non-Paying Tenants With Significant RTA Overhauls
Bill 60, or The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act was passed on November 24. It contains the first overhaul of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) in the favour of landlords for a very long time. The Act will go into force in the near future once it receives Royal Assent.
The Act addresses several pain points for landlords, the largest one being a simplification of the process for evicting non-paying tenants. For many years, there’s been a media story once every few months about a landlord being out tens of thousands of dollars from the eviction process taking so long, and the Ontario government rightly believes that this has had a chilling effect on rental supply. Most small landlords simply can’t take the risk of having a non-paying tenant.
Measures to Simplify Eviction of Non-Paying Tenants
Contrary to what tenant groups are saying, the new regulations specifically target chronic non-paying tenants rather than those who are simply a bit late with rent. They close specific loopholes in the RTA, such as being able to bring up their own complaints at an eviction hearing, which are used by “professional” tenants to lengthen the eviction process. They are:
-A tenant must pay at least half of the rent arrears prior to an eviction hearing before being allowed to formally address their own issues at that hearing
-Narrow the definition of “persistent late payment”
-Reduce the waiting time required to issue an eviction notice to 7 days after non-payment versus the current 14 days
-Hiring of more sheriffs to enforce eviction orders
-Reduce time to review a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) decision from 30 to 15 days
-Defining factors for personal circumstances to delay an eviction
Most small landlords issue an eviction notice when rent isn’t paid so that they can more quickly get a hearing if the tenant continues to not pay. Once the tenant pays, most landlords cancel the notice since the LTB is unlikely to find in their favour unless there is persistent late payment. Nearly all of the measures are meant to speed lawful evictions based on persistent non-payment.
No Financial Penalty for Own-Use Eviction With Advance Notice
There is no longer any financial penalty for issuing an eviction to move into your own property, provided that you give four months advance notice. This is likely due to the fact that many own-use evictions arise from financial hardship or a change in the circumstance of the property owner that would cause hardship if they don’t move back into their own unit. Own-use evictions skyrocketed 85% between 2023 and 2024, signalling a need for this to be addressed.
Note that all fines for issuing a false own-use eviction still remain in place, and they are significant. There was also a recent change to the RTA that corporations cannot file own-use evictions, so if you are holding your property in a corporation and foresee needing to move back in, you need to remove your property from the corporation’s holdings first.
The most effective measure to limit the risk from non-paying tenants doesn’t happen at the government level. Proper tenant screening by a professional property management company is your best defense against non-paying tenants.
Highgate will make sure that you get good, paying tenants in your property and that all their needs and concerns are addressed. We’re cheaper than insurance, and deliver more return on investment. Contact us to find out how we can help you today.
