Harassment and Illegal Evictions by Landlords: Things You Must Know!

Posted December 12, 2022

Finding a rental unit in Toronto can be difficult. With inflation in the market, rental unit prices are going up every day. And even if you find a rental unit in your budget to stay in Toronto, you might face issues due to the landlord’s behaviour. As a tenant, you must know the rights stipulated by the local administration for the landlord and tenant Toronto. This will help you understand whether your landlord is following all the rules and regulations or causing you harassment.

Harassment by the Landlord: What is it?

There have been several cases where landlords have harassed their tenants and forced them to leave the property without following proper guidelines. Hence, knowing what harassment by the landlord entails will keep you alert as a tenant. Harassment by the landlord will include any activity that makes your stay in the rental unit uncomfortable or unsafe. It can also include forceful evictions without following the right channel.

Common ways a landlord may harass a tenant are:

Withholding keys. This is usually done in situations where the rental unit is shared by 2 people, but the landlord only provides one key to the unit.
Disrupting or not providing services like electricity, water supply, heat, and more.
If your landlord continually refuses to carry out crucial repairs in the rental unit
The landlord threatens you or uses physical violence
There have been cases where someone who knows the landlord moves into a nearby rental unit and causes issues for the tenant. This is categorized as anti-social behaviour of the landlord or landlord’s agent.

All of these ways are used by landlords to harass a tenant. If you are being harassed by your landlord in any way, you can get legal advice Toronto and file a case in court for rightful compensation.

Illegal Evictions

Landlords are also known to threaten and implement illegal evictions compromising the living situations of the tenant. If you are going through any of the below illegal eviction scenarios, you must contact the landlord and tenant board which is set up by the Ontario administration.

Your landlord didn’t provide you with an eviction notice in due time.
Your landlord changed the locks of your rental unit without notice.
You are evicted without proper court order.
The rental unit was taken by the landlord’s mortgage lender. And you had no idea as the landlord didn’t provide you with an eviction notice in due time.

As you can see, tenants must know the signs of harassment or illegal evictions to take legal action on the landlord via right channels. If you are facing any such issues, you can get in touch with us at SW Legal Service PC. We offer the best paralegal Toronto services especially on the matter of landlord and tenant disputes.